SWNOVELS Chapter Before the Storm: Prologue
I was born to rule. Born to look out over Chicago like a king does his kingdom.
But my life is anything but a fairy tale, the city is very different to the storybooks’ definition of a kingdom, and I’m not the king you read to your children about at night.
The city is dirty and gritty. Full of people who will do anything to get ahead in the world. They would sell their own family if it meant they got a leg up.
That’s what separates me from them. So many see their loved ones as being a weakness, but recently I’ve come to know them for what they really are. Allies.
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect I would allow my little sisters to be a part of our organization. It’s not the way the mafia works. Women are to be seen and not heard. They should be protected at all costs. They should never be involved in the darkness.
But times have changed, and although my father would roll over in his grave if he knew about his princesses playing with the big boys, I will never be able to regret the decision to allow it.
I lean my hip into the railing, looking down upon the club I usually spend my nights in. It was the first property I acquired on my own, and the part of the business I feel most at home. I’ve never found being the boss particularly stressful, but from the moment it was thrust upon me, years before it should have been, it’s felt… empty. This place reminds me of what it was like before. Before the future of this family rested on my shoulders.
This club is the only place I can allow my walls down, because no one here gives a fuck who I am or what I do, they’re here for their own enjoyment, their own selfish needs. It’s one of the reasons I conduct so much of my business within these walls, because the oblivious patrons wouldn’t know there was something illegal happening if the arms deal hit them in the face.
But I don’t have any business tonight, I’m just here to breathe. This war is taking it out of not only me, but the whole family. Everett is trying to keep Wynter out of it because stress isn’t good for the baby, and he’s been extra protective since the church incident. Elijah doesn’t want Snow to know anything because she’s a flight risk. And Rayne is one step away from packing Emerson up and putting her on a plane until all of this is over. They all have one person to worry about, one priority, but I have all of them. Their safety rests solely on my shoulders, and I’ve failed them too often recently.
My father would roll over in his grave if he knew I allowed my baby sisters to be kidnapped, and then rise from the dead to kill me if he knew that I’m no closer to having a solution than I was three weeks ago. Hell, I’m no closer to having a first step.
The moment the Lounder Cartel became involved, things got a whole lot more complicated, and every step we take, every decision I make, has to be carefully planned so as not to set off a chain reaction of things we can’t take back.
We’re in a delicate situation, and I will not put my family in an even more precarious situation than the one we find ourselves in now, even if it means we have to bide our time until I can work out how we go about taking out the largest human trafficking operation in North America.
“Sir,” Candy says, interrupting my thoughts.
I drag my attention from the club below to the waitress who quickly became my club manager. She’s been here since the day I bought the place, and she’s the only reason it runs as well as it does. I asked her last year to oversee all our clubs in the hope she would be able to make them run as well as this place, but she turned me down. She’s happy where she is, and she doesn’t want to take any more time from her son. “Yes, Candy.”
“I thought you would want to know. There’s a woman who I think may have been drugged.” She looks down at the dance floor before turning toward the far booth and pointing. “See the small girl in the corner booth, she can barely keep her eyes open, and the men with her and the other woman met look like they’re ready to eat her for breakfast.”
I nod, following her eye line. The booth in question is on the other side of the club, and being the cynic fuck I am, I can only assume they’ve chosen it for a reason. It’s more secluded than any of the other public areas, and they’re almost completely hidden from prying eyes. Except for those above.
Four people sit on the black leather bench seat, two women and two men. To the outside, it probably looks like a double date, but when you’ve seen the darker sides of society the way I have, you learn to see the world a little differently.
The two women are closest to the exit of the booth, while the men seem to have been there for a while. Their hungry eyes roam over the smooth planes of the woman closest to them, while the other looks at them with disgust. The men are too old for either woman, but especially the one they’re leering at. She looks barely legal in a tiny black dress that only just covers the tops of her thighs.
The man closest to her brushes his fingers up her bare thigh and irrational anger plows into me. I don’t know this woman, and I shouldn’t give a fuck what happens to her. After all, that’s how we got into all this trouble. Caring about strangers. Trying to stop the trafficking of those who can’t protect themselves. But the way they look at her like she’s their next meal makes my gut churn, and my feet move before I’m conscious of the decision to intervene.
“I want those men banned. And get me the security footage from the moment each of them arrived. I want to know every move they’ve made since they stepped foot inside this club,” I order over my shoulder, not stopping for long enough to hear Candy’s response.
She’s used to me now. We’ve worked together for long enough that she knows I’m a bossy bastard, and she doesn’t seem to mind. I compensate her well enough to deal with it after all.
I take the steps two at a time and push my way across the dance floor. It’s not until I’m halfway that I realize I should have gone around. But I can’t tear my eyes off the girl I’m on my way to save for long enough to consider the mistakes I’m making.
I’m vaguely aware of the security guards who are following me, and the people who have stopped dancing to watch whatever is about to unfold in front of them, but I can’t bring myself to care about any of that.
She’s all I see. There’s something about the barely legal girl that grabs me by the collar and shakes me. That holds my attention when everything else bores me, and the sooner I get her the fuck away from the men who are leering at her, the better.