***ZANE’S POV***
It has been twenty minutes since London left to use the bathroom and I am starting to get worried.
I shouldn’t have let her go alone.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is now dark and I notice the worn-out faces of the men sitting around me.
How haven’t I noticed something was wrong?
Picking my phone, I dial Reaper’s number and thank God, he picks up the first ring.
“Get the men to the restaurant, London has gone to the bathroom and hasn’t shown up till now. I want to go check on her,” I say hanging up.
Since Reaper, Sinner, Pierre, and Jesse were trailing us behind and had stayed on alert, they showed up in less than a minute.
“Be discrete while I go to the bathroom. Reaper, you come with me,” I tell him walking away.
I remove the gun from my holster and facing it down, I walk towards the restroom.
“Do you think this was the trap London was asking you to involve her in?” Reaper asks halfway to the women’s restroom and I stand, transfixed and my eyes wide with bewilderment.
Turning towards him, I put my gun at him, but I don’t uncork it.
“The fuck is that you are talking about?” I ask waving my gun in front of Reaper’s face.
He puts his hands in front of me where I can see them.
The bravado I see on Reaper’s face makes me know that he has the situation at hand. He isn’t scared that I might lose my shit and put a bullet in his head.
Asshole.
“You said London had asked you to use her as bait, what if this was one since you refused to comply with her?” he demands bracing his head on one side.
My brain is racing at a high speed, I feel weird and the long face I put on is evident.
I know the kind of things London would do, and this is exactly what she can do.
“How would you guess such things?” I ask starting to doubt Reaper’s authenticity.
“What? You don’t believe me? We both know it is common knowledge that Michael will have his men on the street and the news would have reached him that your little wife was here at this moment. And with London playing over you since you didn’t accept her bait, she would distract you while she meets up with him,” he finishes.
I was pale as I connected the dots, I secured the gun and pushed it away from Reaper’s face. He was a very big man, but not as big as me, and I could control him if he went too violent.
London had used the excuse of staining her dress to excuse herself. She had poured the drink on her dress
“Shit!” Reaper cusses out bringing me from my daze.
I blink severally, focusing my attention on his face which seems to be mirroring the horrifying expression I have right now.
“What is the matter?” I ask staring at him.
“I saw a car pull up a few minutes ago. It must have been when Michael Logan arrived at the restaurant,” he explains.
In anger, I grab the front of Reaper’s shirt and squeeze tightly, bringing him towards me, anger blinding me.
“If you had done your job perfectly, you wouldn’t have missed a small man entering the restaurant right before four pairs of eyes,” I screamed at him.
Reaper gave me this bold look that I knew what those unspoken words were.
If I had protected my wife and looked into her little game, we wouldn’t have been here right now.
“Let’s go get her now,” I say as I start running towards the bathroom.
We arrive at the same time a smashing sound is heard on the inside.
I try the handle and to my utter shock, it is locked.
“London? Little girl, are you there?” I ask forcing the handle to no avail.
It is locked from the inside and there is nothing I can do unless she opens it. If breaking it becomes an option, I will blow the lockout with my Glock.
I lean my ears close to the door and I hear little whisperings, and then, it all gets quiet.
“London?” I call out again, my body itching to break the damn door.
There is shuffling inside and then the tap starts running.
“Come on, open the door now!” I scream as I use my shoulder to try and force through.
In anger, Reaper shifts me to the side and blows off the lock, and using his booted foot, he kicks the door down.
I rush inside to see a broken mirror on the side and London is there on the sink washing her hands.
She doesn’t meet my eyes, the front of her dress is soaked and I see a tear on her dress.
That’s a new dress I bought for her, it wasn’t torn.
“I called you three times to open the door, and you didn’t come, we had to blow it off, why didn’t you open it?” I bark out.
Reaper goes to each of the stores, supervising it, making sure that Michael isn’t hiding there.
London doesn’t look at me, she just fumbles more on what she is doing, and in anger, I walk up to her, grab her by the arm, and swirl her around to face me.
“The fuck game are you playing with me, London Vincenzo?” I bark out using her marital name.
A small gasp escapes her lips as she glances at me.
And then, I see it in plain sight. If I wasn’t this close to London, I would have missed her slightly swollen lips. The puff of her eyes signaled she had been crying and that tear on her dress meant one fucking thing.
London hadn’t been alone in this bathroom, someone had been with her. There had been some sort of resistance and that definitely explains the broken mirror.
“Say something,” I urge her, shaking her a little.
“You can’t be here. This is the ladies’ restroom,” she says.
I saw red at that moment. Whatever London knew she was hiding it for me. Or was she just buying time for her little friend to escape me?
I wondered.