Beauty & The Beast (Book 1)

14. Man with the knife

Cat had only one goal in mind that night. Find Iris's car keys and prove that Dane was involved in the judge's murder.
She moved undetected through the throng of bodies, dancing, and drinking young people. She saw Dane at one of the tables talking to some girls, glad he wouldn't be in his office.
She made sure no one was looking, then went down the stairs, clipping the chain that seperated the club from the office back in place.

Sia's Titanium was still blaring loudly through into the office after she enters and starts looking around. She had to be quick, but she also had to be thorough.
There were papers, files, boxes and accounting books. Cat is busy going through a drawer in Dane's desk, when the office door opens and Dane walks in.

"Dane," she looks at him. She was caught.

"What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Looking for you."

"In my desk?"

Cat looks at the desk, sees a pen and picks it up, a smile on her face. "Needed a pen." She takes the pen and walks slowly around to Dane's side of the desk. "So, turns out that you're Iris's ex boyfriend," she looks him straight in the eye. "Any reason you didn't mention that?"

Dane lifts his brows, then he chuckles nervously, looking down. "Because I knew it would lead to this kind of BS. Which isn't exactly great for business." He walks around Cat, so he is now next to her, playing with the ring on his left pinky finger.

"I have two witnesses that saw a man on Tuesday taking Iris's keys out of her apartment. I'm betting they'll recognise your face." She had him.

"The hell they will," he shakes his head, "I got two hundred witnesses that can confirm I was here all night Tuesday." Cat frowns. Dane looks down at her legs and back up. "So why don't you turn around, and let me watch you walk that skinny little ass the hell outta my club." He gives her half a smirk.

"Charming," Cat says before she hands him the pen back. She would have been more than ready to use it as a weapon if he'd tried something. Then she walks past him and out the door.

What Cat didn't know was that Vincent was there, listening in from outside in the rain, perched on the roof. He was doing what he always did, making sure she was fine.
He heard Dane make a call as soon as Cat left, and then he followed Dane, who wasn't too happy with being under investigation, outside for a smoke.

Before Dane could get his Zippo lit, Vincent had him by the throat, arm around his neck, pulling back and slamming him against the wall, his face hidden well because Dane was facing the wall. He grunts in pain.

"Who was that on the phone?!" Vincent growls. Dane grabbed his arm. "You just called someone! Who was it?!"

Cat had been about to get into her car when she saw the commotion reflected in her window. She was alarmed right away, at Vincent being there but also at the way he was treating Dane. She rushed over and found Vincent laying Dane on the floor. The man was unconscious.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Cat kneels next to Dane to check on him.

"He is fine," Vincent assures her.

"He doesn't look fine," she says, looking up at Vincent. "What are you doing here?"

He takes a deep breath, looking at Dane and then Cat. He just wanted to help her. "You said you didn't have a gun."

"I also said that I would take it from here," she states. She wasn't happy about this. Vincent was going too far.

"Look, he called someone after you left his office, okay, it was about the girls. It sounded like it was to whoever did this."

"So you thought you would squeeze the information out of him?" She huffs.