Contrary to the ambience of the club with blasting music and fluorescent lights, the streets outside were as silent as a grave. Dark grey clouds had appeared in the sky warning of the heavy rainfall that would drench the city by midnight. The temperature had dropped slightly and the wind blew fiercely that sent a howling noise to echo around the area.

The long queue had scattered away by judging the bad weather and the club entrance appeared to be deserted. Once in a while individuals or groups would emerge out of the club and rush to their vehicles while dragging their overcoat closer to their bodies.

The rough weather, however, seemed to have no effect on the bouncers standing at guard. They had the usual blank look on their face and appeared to be unfazed when two shiny black SUVs stopped outside their club.

Four men stepped out of the vehicles and two of them came to stand near the entrance in line with the club bouncers. The other two men, on the other hand, went inside through the VIP entrance at the back.

Dylan and Markus walked through the dancing crowd towards the balcony, a part of which was already reserved for them for the evening. It gave them a clear view of the entire club and Markus pulled out his phone and placed it on the glass table. The screen had a smiling picture of the man, they were here to get their hands on.

"The fucker comes here every Tuesday night," Markus told his friend, whose eyes were already scanning the crowd.

"2 o'clock. At the bar" Dylan spotted the man, who quaffed down his whiskey and placed his glass on the counter in front of the bartender. The glass was refilled instantly and the act was repeated.

Dylan leaned back and rested his hand on the arm of the couch. His hazel eyes were fixed on the man who was passed another glass of whisky by the bartender. Unlike the other two times, he took small sips from his glass while laughing at something the bartender said. Both turned their heads to look at the left corner of the club where a couple was making out against the wall.

"The bartender and the guy over there kissing the girl are his friends. They make the explosives together. We only have the video footage of the drunkard in our records but, the CCTV cameras from the streets show that the other two helped him get inside our domain" Markus briefed it for his friend. He was about to ask Dylan how he wished to question the guy about the little stunt he pulled inside their company but, stopped when he noticed a waiter coming towards him.

"Good evening, sir. What can I get you?"

"Just some water" Marcus replied and waited for him to leave so that he could discuss the plan further.

Instead of walking away, the young waiter scribbled something on his notepad and asked again, "Sure, sir. Would you like to add some snacks along with it?"

"No," Markus told the boy curtly and sighed when he didn't leave immediately.

"Is there anything else that I can get for you, sir?"

"Yes, some solitude will be highly appreciated" Dylan moved his eyes away from the bar to glare at the waiter. Startled by the tone used, he gave the two men a short nod and walked away quickly.

Turning his attention back to the bar, Dylan frowned when he saw the girl with honey blonde hair standing next to the drunkard they were there to meet.

"Ain't… ain't that your Hayden from Leamington?" Markus asked as he watched the girl step away from the drunkard, who slid a blue drink towards her. Markus had seen her only once at Leamington from far away and he wasn't sure if he had recognised her correctly. But, the frown on his friend's normally expressionless face confirmed his doubt.

The man stepped closer to Nadia once again but, she caught his hand before he could touch her and twisted his fingers at a painful angle. A subtle smile made way to Dylan's lips as she poured the blue drink offered to her in the drunkard's whiskey glass and walked away.

"Woah ho! Now I know why you're interested in her" Markus teased.

It took the drunkard a few seconds to recover from it. Dylan watched as the guy wiped his hands while still glaring at Nadia. Then, he signalled both of his friends and took off towards the ladies room.

"I'm not," Dylan told Markus and got up from the couch, deserting his earlier plans of dealing with the men and creating a new one instantly.

They treaded inside the narrow entrance of the washroom and saw the men moving towards Nadia. Markus went ahead and pushed the two creeps away, making way for Dylan, who grabbed the drunkard by the back of his collar and pulled him backwards with a jerk.

Dylan noticed the panic in Nadia's unfocused eyes as she clutched the basin counter to support herself from falling. Her knuckles had turned white from the tight grip and her lips were apart, trying to breathe in more oxygen. Not even at Leamington with a gun held to her head did she appear to be as defenceless as she did at the moment.

"Nadia? What's taking you so long? Are you okay?" Someone called from outside the washroom.

With a final look at Nadia, Dylan tightened his grip on the back of the collar of the guy's shirt and dragged him out of the restroom. He paused briefly for the man, who had come looking for Nadia and recognised him to be the idiot from Leamington.

"Go, help her," Dylan told the man whose eyes widened hearing the words and he instantly dashed inside.

The creep tried to reach over his head to free himself from the grasp but, was once again, pulled backwards. The sudden jerk in the reverse direction made him lose his balance and he struggled hard to not fall, as Dylan dragged him out of the club through the back entrance.

With little to no effort, Dylan threw him in the vacant alley. The creep stumbled back and balanced himself that prevented him from falling flat on his face.

"You asshole!" He screamed as he turned around with clenched fists to punch the man who had dared to yank him out of the club.

Taking a step to his right was all Dylan had to do to dodge his punch. The man, with an impressive amount of alcohol in his system, tripped over his own feet and quite ungracefully crashed into the trashcan kept at the side.

One of Dylan's guards rushed forward to pull him back to his feet and held his hands back, restricting his motions.

The bouncers watched how the man was dragged out and thrown like a rag doll but, they didn't bother to interrupt. They were, no doubt, hired by the club owner for security and to ensure a peaceful environment inside and outside of the club but, under no circumstances were they going to defy the man who owned the company they were hired from.

The next moment, the doors to the club opened and Nadia stormed outside. The wind had gotten milder but the temperature remained low. She had forgotten her coat inside and the cold, light wind made a shiver run down her spine.

Nadia looked around the deserted alleyway and spotted the creep to her right. Dylan was standing next to him. One of his guards was holding the creep's hands at his back as he screamed and struggled to free himself.

Dylan heard the music briefly fill the deadly silence on the streets as the doors to the club opened and closed. He watched as Nadia's eyes wandered around momentarily then settled on the guy, his guard was holding back. The gentle wind blew her hair away from her face as she took furious steps towards him. Noticing how her lips were pressed together as well as the fury in her beautiful blue eyes, Dylan stepped aside and allowed her to pass by him to slap the drunkard across his face.

Seconds later, the club doors opened once again and a man emerged. It was Derek, who had followed Nadia out of the club. Still not knowing exactly what had happened inside but recalling how vulnerable his friend looked, moments before recovering and storming outside, Derek followed suit. With few easy steps, he moved towards the creep, who had barely recovered from the previous slap, and punched him in the face.

"That'll sober you up, shithead" Derek spat.

"Let go of me, asshole!" The creep screamed on top of his lungs. The punch had cut his lower lip and red, hot blood oozed out. He licked his lower lip and the metallic taste of the liquid only boosted his anger. With a sudden movement, he lunged forward towards Derek, trying to free himself and strike the guy. The guard, holding him back, had anticipated the action and skillfully restrained him.

When the creep continued to struggle out of the tight grip and scream his guts out, the guard twisted his right hand to his back and pinned him to the wall. With his other hand, he held the creep's neck, restricting both his motion and words.

"Go back, Hayden. I'll deal with him" Dylan instructed Nadia, who was still glaring at the guy.

With her mind still clouded with fury, Nadia looked at him. "No, you go. I'm going to call the cops and they will deal with this douchebag."

Dylan sighed. He didn't want to involve her in the mess any more than she already was. "Stay out of this, Hayden. This doesn't concern you. Or the cops."

"It does concern me" Nadia argued back. "He tried to choke me!"

"And he bombed my car!" Dylan's raised his voice slightly, intending to intimidate her.

He had come to the club with a purpose. He had a perfect plan to catch the three men off guard and peacefully extract information from them. But, that had all went to the gutter, thanks to the girl standing in front of him, and he had to improvise it all.

Now, Dylan still had to obtain information from the man and the last thing he wanted was to argue with Nadia over a man who made explosives for a living.

Markus, along with the other guard, appeared at the corner of the alley as they had dragged the other two men through the front exit of the club. Spotting Dylan and his bodyguard, he sprinted towards them.

"Go away," Dylan told Nadia. His voice became gentler as she glared back at him with such an intensity that made him wonder if it was about bombing the car thing or him raising his voice at her.

"Let's go, Nadie" Derek nudged her arm but Nadia didn't move. Her eyes seemed to be fixed on Dylan's face, who stared back at her with the same intensity.

"Come on" Derek placed his hand on her back and pushed gently and Nadia, throwing a final glare at the man, turned around to walk away towards the entrance at the front.

Dylan waited for the duo to turn around the corner of the alley and disappear from his sight before asking Markus about the other two men.

"They know nothing. The bartender says this guy" Markus jutted his chin towards the guy, whose face was still pressed to the wall, "he gets the clients for them and the two of them only help him in making and planting the bombs."

"Who paid you to plant the explosives?" Dylan questioned.

The guard loosened his grip on the guy's neck to allow him to answer. "What explosives? And who the fuck are you guys?" He screamed only for his face to be, once again, crushed into the wall.

"We're the ones asking questions here" Markus gestured the guard to step back, "who paid you?"

The guard let go of the guy's neck but didn't loosen the grip on his arm. Not wanting his skull to hit the wall again, he didn't try to free himself from the grasp this time.

"I don't snitch my clients," the man said, leaning closer to Markus, "asshole" he added.

Even though Markus was aware it was the alcohol in his system that was doing the talking, he could feel his patience get thinner with every passing second.

"Let's take him to the facility. We can question him once he is sober" Markus turned to Dylan, who was staring at the creep with a bored expression trying to analyse the man.

"I don't think we can get anything out of him even when he is sober. He has a strict work ethic after all" Dylan tilted his head, reading every single emotion pass on the man's face effortlessly.

Anger. Surprise. Mirth.

"That's right. I'm of no use to you fuckers" the creep smirked.

"Exactly," Dylan said, his voice becoming menacing as a sinister smile made way to his lips, "he's of no use. Take him away. Tear off his limbs and make it look like he died in an accidental explosion of his own explosives".

"Yes, sir" the guard nodded instantly and pulled the man away to proceed with what he was ordered to do.

The smirk on the creep's face dropped as he felt the first tug on his hands. He dug his feet in the ground with all his strength to prevent himself from being pulled back but, it was all futile as the guard dragged him away.

"No. Stop. Stop. Please. No!" He screamed on top of his lungs, "Wait. I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything. Stop. Please!"

Shock. Determination. Fear.

Dylan smirked.

"Stop!" Dylan's booming voice echoed in the alleyway over the creep's screaming. The guard stopped instantly and released the man only for him to fall to the ground and wail in self-pity.

Markus chuckled to himself as Dylan gestured with his hand for him to take the lead. Markus did. And when he asked his previous questions to the drunkard this time, he got quick answers with extreme elaboration in return.

Several minuted later when Dylan and Markus were done asking questions and strolled out of the dark alley, Nadia was still standing outside the club waiting for her friend.

Derek had gone back inside to pay for the drinks and retrieve her stuff while she waited outside as she didn't want her colleagues to question her about the bruises on her neck. Nadia touched the sensitive skin of her neck and winced. The cool breeze brushing against the finger marks, that had started to turn from red to blue, did nothing to ease the burning sensation.

"What took you so long?" Nadia asked as soon as Derek appeared through the exit.

He was carrying her coat and purse in one hand and her stilettos in the other. With all the adrenaline rush she felt at that moment, Nadia had stormed out of the place, barefoot, forgetting everything else and Derek had followed suit.

"You know them, Nadie. Everyone started pressuring me to stay and have more drinks. I had to prepare a really convincing story, about you slipping inside the washroom and losing your memory for a few minutes and the urgent need for me to take you to a doctor, for them to finally allow me to go" Derek said as Nadia took her coat from him.

"Or you could have just said that I wasn't feeling well and you need to take me home" Nadia offered as she put on her coat.

"Well, I actually did start the story from there" Derek smiled slyly.

While Nadia fixed the coat around her body, Derek caught sight of the two men walking out from the side alley of the club. They were talking to each other when one of them stopped in his track and turned to look at him.

Nadia tied the belt of her coat around her waist then reached out for the stilettos that were dangling from Derek's fingers. Instead of handing them back to her, he knelt to the ground and offered to help her wear them.

Nadia raised her brows, surprised by the action. "Aren't you being a little too nice to me right now?"

"I'm always too nice to you, Nadie" Derek claimed.

Now that was a blatant lie. Nadia had met him, a couple of years ago, at her workplace, for the first time. He had, sure as hell, always been protective of her but, never once in these years of friendship did he act as sweet and caring as he did right at the moment.

She eyed him suspiciously as he passed a sly smile but, allowed him to help her with the heels. While Derek was fixing the strap of the heels around her ankles, Nadia heard footsteps coming towards her.

"You need to stop looking for trouble, Hayden" she heard Dylan speak and quickly turned to look at him, "that's the second time I've helped you in just two days".

That was true, Nadia thought, but she was hardly at fault. At Leamington, it was the owner who was to be blamed. No one could have thought that he was hiding a truckload of weapons inside his hotel, not to mention she had gone there only to help her friend. Then at the club tonight, it was the creep who so desperately wanted to buy her a drink. It was only fair she hit him for being the pathetic excuse of human he was.

Derek fastened the straps and stood up next to her. He moved closer to whisper in her ear. "that's right. Thank him, Nadie" he nudged her towards Dylan. The action earned him a deathly glare from her.

Then all of a sudden Nadia remembered something and turned back to Dylan, "did he really bomb your car?"

"He did" Dylan agreed, "it blew up quite spectacularly, to be honest".

Nadia's eyes went wide hearing him and brows furrowed when the man standing before her didn't seem to be much bothered about the incident. Although she did saw him pull the creep to the alley to question him about the same, but isn't one supposed to be worried when someone blows their vehicles up?

"When are you going to start working for me, Hayden?" The question snapped her out of her thoughts and Nadia's head shot up to look him in the eyes. The sudden mindless movement sent seething pain run down her neck. She flinched slightly but instantly masked the pain when she saw Dylan's eyes drop to her neck.

"Why- why will I work for you?" Nadia questioned back, confused.

"Why not? Did you not get my letter?" Dylan pretended to be worried about the non-delivery of the letter when, in actual fact, he was already aware of the letter being sent and received at her apartment the first thing in the morning.

Nadia narrowed her eyes at him and folded her arms across her chest, "I did". Jutting her chin out carefully to not put more stress on her neck muscles, she continued, "but, you don't need to send fake letters to mock me, Mr VanAssche. I already know how highly you think of me."

A smile appeared on his lips that only made her narrow her eyes further. "This one is different from the last one, Hayden. Did you even read it?"

"No" came the quick, honest reply, "I didn't. And I'm not going to read it. Because I don't care if it's different. And I'm not going to work for you." She told him, taking short pauses and stressing over every sentence to drill her words in his head.

"Well then, I have some news for you" Dylan took a couple of steps closer to her and leaned forward as if intending to tell her a secret, "I'm going to buy your company, Hayden. So even if you don't want to, you are going to work for me."

Nadia stared back at him dumbfounded as he pulled back with a triumphant smirk on his lips. A man came running towards them, from inside the club, holding an ice pack. Dylan took the pack from him and placed it in the palm of Nadia's hand while she stood stupefied.

"Apply it to your neck."

"You're lying!" Nadia declared angrily.

Dylan couldn't help but chuckle heartily at the shock on her face mixed with the anger in her tone, "Maybe. I'll see you soon, Hayden."

With that, he turned around on his heels and walked away towards the black SUV where a man was holding the door open for him. Nadia stood at her spot, glaring holes in his head through the car till the vehicle was out of her sight.