Femme Fatale

Chapter 26

For the next two months or so, Nicolas had his men constantly searching for one of those few men that allegedly had direct contact with Amy and Shawn, the whole inner circle of his mafia, especially Luke and his parents, went through all the info they had on the two more than once, trying to find something - anything - that could give them an idea as to why they were doing this, there were so many things that did not add up, things that Ryan and Ash could easily point out and use against them in the worst-case scenario, which would be them not finding a solid proof and having no other option than to just go directly to Ashton, who is crazy about Amy, and tell him about what they could only call a "suspicion". 

Nicolas also made sure to have them constantly followed, but it seemed that the "slip-up" they somewhat expected after Scar's little performance the day Ash announced his relationship never came, on the contrary, both Shawn and Amy seemed to be much more careful.

While Nicolas and Luke were busy finishing up some business in his office there was a loud knock on the door, after letting whoever that was in, one of his IT guys walked up to his desk, happily waving a file, 
"We finally located one of them," he said, handing Nicolas the file.
"Tell Scar to come here immediately, I'll text the rest," he commanded Luke urgently. 
Barely ten minutes later everyone except for Scar was gathered in his office, including Kat. 
"Where is she?" Federico asked. 
"She had to go to our warehouse to take some files to Ash and the rest who are there working on sorting out some of our shipments," Kat answered, careful not to give away any important information on their mafia. 

Moments later the sound of the engine could be heard, looking out the big window through which she had a clear view of the front yard, Claire saw Scar parking one of her many bikes in front of the mansion, 
"There she is," she announced. 

"What did you find?" Scar asked after barging into the office. 
"His name is Anthony, 30 years old, here's his picture," Nicolas started, showing them the most recent photo they had of him.
 
"Not bad, have to admit," Kat mumbled, which earned her an are-you-for-real look from Scar. 
"What, you can't possibly think different," she defended. 
"He looks like he is about fucking ready to fall apart, anywaay," she dragged out, looking at Nicolas.
Taking the sign, he continued, "We got some of his personal info, where he goes, etc., etc., it would appear that lately he's been going to one popular club nearby every Friday." 
"So tomorrow," Luke pointed out.

"So we go clubbing, have a little fun while waiting for him to appear, grab him, and voila," Kat shrugged, looking at Scar who nodded in agreement.
"You do realize it can't possibly be that easy, right?" Federico asked. 
"Yes it can," Scar countered. 
"Elaborate?" Nic asked. 
"She has an idea, all in all, use me and/or my parents as bait," Luke answered. 
"And what if we don't agree?" Claire challenged Scarlett. 
"You will," she stated with a smirk, practically oozing with confidence, "we all know that you are not just some damsel in distress, you are an assassin who knows how to defend herself all too well, so luring him out of the club, where we would be waiting, wouldn't be a problem," she finished while Claire didn't even bother to try and mask her impressed look. 
"Plus, judging by this profile we have on him," Kat started, looking through the file, "he's one arrogant son of a bitch, so I bet if he sees that there is only one of you, not all three, he will follow you out without giving it a second thought."
"Alright, but why us?" Dave asked. 
"Because they already went to extremes trying to get you. Followed the two of you throughout many countries. Not surprised, given your status in your mafia," Scarlett answered.  
"Let's be real, they followed you because you were more approachable away from the Devils, so if he sees Luke all alone for example..." Kat dragged out with a small shrug.

"Okay, so I could go there a bit earlier, accompanied by you and Kat, pretend to have a heated argument with two Skulls, leave the club alone, and hope for the best?" 
"Exactly," Scar confirmed. 
"That's one shitty plan," he countered. 
"Have a better one?"
After not getting a response, she smirked. 
"That way we make as little fuss as possible, make sure we have no possible witnesses, so it buys us some time before anyone figures out he is gone, enough time for Scar and Kade to get some answers out of him and get to Ash before Amy and Shawn find out and try to do something," Kat explained. 

That night sleep just couldn't come to Scarlett, after a lot of twists and turns, Luke walked into her room and lay in bed beside her, 
"Figured you would probably have trouble falling asleep," he chuckled. 
"I swear, whenever someone, for any reason, told me "Minutes feel like hours now," I would scoff, thinking it's just in their heads or something, and now..."
"It happens when you can't wait for something, but let's try to get some sleep, big day ahead," he mumbled while cuddling her. 

Finally, the time came for them to make their way to the club, Luke's parents, along with Nicolas and the rest, went out a few hours prior, with the excuse that they have some business to finish at their warehouse. Luke said that he is taking Scar to the club on their third or fourth date, and Kat joined them by saying something like, 
"Club? Good, then I'm third-wheeling you," to which Ash and the rest cluelessly laughed. 

After sitting there for an hour, drinking whiskey, Kat and Luke were starting to lose hope, 
"Maybe he decided to skip it today?" Kat asked.
"Or maybe he just walked in," Scar smirked after spotting him, 
Federico, who was in a black SUV behind the building with the rest and heard it over the earpiece they all had, immediately responded, 
"Are you completely sure that's him?" 
"Positive, and he just spotted us, give it about five more minutes before we start so as to not raise suspicion. He is alone, seemingly looking for a girl to hit on," Kat answered after spotting him as well. 

Just like that, a few minutes later, "the argument" started, the music was so loud, there was no way he could hear what they were arguing about, especially not from the other side of the club, it was a good thing because the argument was ridiculous, Scar and Luke started brawling over Fast&Furious movies, the argument started with Scar saying that the fifth was the best, and Luke claiming sixth was much better, at one point they moved on to actors, arguing about which one is the best looking. 
Kat just sat there for some time, listening to the argument which was becoming more heated by the minute, and banging her head at the table. A few minutes later she finally broke, 
"I think that's more than enough!" 
Luke used that as an opportunity to storm out. After seeing Scar downing her drink, with Kat trying to "calm her down", Anthony stormed out after Luke. 
"Bingo!" they both exclaimed, running out of the club as fast as they could.

In the alleyway, they were greeted by the sight of Luke beating the shit out of him, while his parents, Nic and Federico ran towards them, joined by the two of their men, who carried away the now unconscious man. 
 "I see why you like him," Kat told Scar, which earned her an eye roll.

A few hours later, it was already well past midnight, they were in one of Nicolas' warehouses, now accompanied by Kaden who joined them as soon as Ryan and the rest went to sleep. He and Scar tortured the man for about an hour, Kaden being as good of a torturer as Scarlett, gave him some nasty bruises, broke his fingers, and made him scream in enormous pain over and over again, but the man wouldn't budge. 
They went out of the basement they were holding him in, now in the sitting area, everyone except for Scar and him decided to call it a night and continue in the morning. 

"You should've gone with them," Scar mumbled in frustration. 
"No way in hell, those two are most probably the reason Ryan almost died on me that time about a year ago, I'll be damned if I gave up now," he said, taking the laptop which was on the coffee table. 
"What are you searching for?" 
"A way to break him emotionally, he is obviously not gonna talk no matter how much physical pain we inflict" 

 An hour later, Scar went to torture Anthony two more times, after coming out for the second time, she was ready to ask Kade if he found anything, but his happy jump gave her the answer, 
"What did you find?" 
"He was married, has a daughter who is living with his ex," he stated, showing her the picture he found. 
"Back in we go," Scar said happily after printing out the photo. 
"Let's see how ready you'll be to talk now," she told the barely alive, badly beaten man covered in his own blood. With a sinister smile, she showed him the picture. 

"Not only are we going to kill her, but we will bring her and her mother here and kill them both in front of your eyes, they don't live too far away, we could have everything done in under 2 hours," Kaden stated, his voice even and cold, void of any emotion. 
"You're bluffing," he said confidently, 
"Are we now?" Kade asked rhetorically, bringing his phone out, seemingly starting to dial someone. Scar knew he was calling her, he knew she left her phone on the coffee table, and as soon as Anthony heard Kade's phone ring, he panicked,
"Noo!" he started sobbing, "I'll talk, just don't go near my little girl! I already failed her and her mom one too many times," the last sentence he whispered brokenly. 
"That's not our problem," Scar started coldly, "now talk."