"Let me know if there are any strange movements. You guys can go ahead," Darcy declared, dismissing her underlings.
They hooted in excitement, dispersing to various directions, eager to indulge in both their mission and the nightclub festivities simultaneously, but mostly the latter one.
Although Darcy had taken care of the 'Peter' situation, the underground drug business was still ongoing, and she demanded complete control over it one way or another.
Her subordinates were permitted to enjoy the night and do whatever they wanted as long as they maintained their limits and kept themselves alert of any suspicious activities around them.
"It includes you as well," she stated, hands in the pockets of her gray pants, her eyes piercing through the surroundings.
Dominic, with his proactive nature, shook his head assertively. "I'm fine by your side," he declared, his resolve evident.
Darcy, with a scrutinizing look, ran her gaze over Dominic from top to bottom, causing him to clear his throat in embarrassment. "Suits you," she sighed, shaking her head slightly. Her murmured words, just audible above the pulsating music of the nightclub. If Dominic hadn't been standing right beside her, he might have missed the comment.
Through her sharp gaze, Darcy meticulously observed every detail, ensuring that no secret deal going about the drugs escaped her siren eyes.
Ravens had their hands involved in various underground illegal businesses, excluding only a selected few. Drug smuggling happened to be one of those businesses, making it challenging to obtain precise intel about the spread of it.
Nevertheless, Darcy was well aware that drugs were illegally being distributed in the town, and she aimed to seize the main players orchestrating it. Operating discreetly, she worked behind the scenes, waiting for the opportune moment.
Settling on a red velvet sofa in an area privately separated from the rest, Darcy lit up her cigar, taking a deep puff. The smoke curled around her as she kept a watchful eye on the surroundings.
Dominic, positioned behind her, maintained his watch over the public while simultaneously ensuring Darcy's safety.
Amidst all of this, Cayden entered the nightclub accompanied by four other men. He looked visibly uncomfortable, displaying a distaste for the overwhelming scents of alcohol, sweaty bodies dancing in close proximity, and the air thick with low oxygen.
All of that just left him nauseous and dizzy, but despite his dread, Cayden found himself there for a friend's bachelor party.
His reluctance, however, couldn't outweigh the zeal of the friend who had invited him. Cayden, a softie at heart, couldn't refuse the invitation when his friend approached him with genuine enthusiasm.
As he stepped into the pulsating atmosphere of the nightclub, Cayden couldn't help but feel like a fish out of water in the midst of the wild crowd.
Despite his attempts to resist, he ended up with two shots of alcohol in his system because of his relentless friends, feeling the effects keenly as a lightweight.
And his night took a turn for the worse as he found himself separated from his friends, with a persistent girl in a lavender dress trying to get him to drink what looked like a martini.
"Just take a sip, I swear you will realize what you're missing in your life," that girl said, pushing the drink closer to his face and Cayden being considerably drunk could not really comprehend everything very well but he knew one thing and it was not to drink anything more than what he already had.
But that girl was persistent, taking her chances with a dizzy guy to get one more addict and a potential customer.
Regret, that was what Cayden felt in the moment, and he wished he had never stepped foot into the nightclub.
But relief washed over him the next second, when the intrusive hand of the lavender dress girl was finally removed from his face. He struggled to open his eyes wider, battling the dizziness induced by the alcohol.
To his surprise, he found the girl he had mistaken for his friend's secretary glaring at the woman in the lavender dress with intense green siren eyes.
Darcy firmly held the wrist of the other girl, snatching the martini glass away and bringing it closer to her nose for a sniff. A scoff escaped her as she glared at the girl who, in turn, glared back, futilely trying to free herself from Darcy's strong grip.
"How dare you try to drug him?" Darcy's words cut through the air, spoken through gritted teeth. An inexplicable anger surged within her.
Perhaps it was witnessing someone innocent almost being drugged or the pathetic sight of Cayden unable to fend for himself. Whatever the reason, Darcy's protective instincts flared up, and the air crackled with tension as she confronted the other girl.
"Bitch, what the fuck are you talking about? Leave my hand!" The girl in the lavender dress shouted, still struggling to break free from Darcy's firm grip.
The commotion drew the attention of everyone around, and even the music faded into the background to extremely faint whispers.
Dominic had caught up to Darcy, realizing she had dashed to Cayden's side upon seeing his distress. Her protective instincts had taken over, prompting her to intervene, even though she might not have fully understood the reason behind her own actions.
Darcy couldn't help but smirk at being called a bitch. With a deliberate move, she threw the martini glass to the floor, creating a resounding crash that silenced the surrounding crowd.
The sudden attention on them seemed to amuse Darcy, while Dominic merely rubbed his forehead, accustomed to Darcy involving herself in other people's business.
As the tension hung in the air, Darcy, with an air of calm authority, asked the girl, "Do you know who I am?"
"Why the fuck would I know!" the girl retorted, unaware that she was far from being in an advantageous position.
Grabbing the girl by her hair, Darcy pulled her close, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Hello, Name's Darcy. You should know when to shut up because a Raven is standing in front of you," she declared, her words laced with authority.
The realization dawned in the girl's widened eyes, eliciting a slight smirk from Darcy.
Cayden, in his somewhat slurred speech, tried to intervene, his big puppy eyes capturing Darcy's full attention. Despite his evident intoxication, he managed to convey concern.
"Wait-- wait!" he exclaimed, his pout tugging at Darcy's internal defenses. His interruption didn't irritate her as much as he might have expected.
"What is it?" Darcy asked, feigning irritation, though an unspoken softness lingered beneath the surface and Dominic sure did catch it.
"You-- you should not pull her hair like that; it-- it must hurt," Cayden expressed, his concern genuine. Darcy felt a flicker inside her, a response to the unexpected sincerity in Cayden's words. He was proving to be a unique individual, a piece of work unlike anyone else she had encountered.
"She was about to drug you," Darcy stated matter-of-factly, her gaze cold as she stared at Cayden. The gravity of the situation seemed to escape him.
"No! I was not. I swear," the girl pleaded, but Darcy silenced her by pulling her hair even tighter.
"Look-- she said, she did not," Cayden, still concerned for the girl, urged Darcy to let her go.
Darcy scoffed, finding it hard to believe that he was taking her side. She didn't feel the need to explain herself to him, willingly helping him avoid a potential trap.
The girl's intentions were clear to Dracy—to introduce drugs into Cayden's life, creating an addiction and ultimately increasing the number of their customers in general. The drug being spread around was not of any low potential to brush off about either.
Darcy shoved away the lavender dress girl to the ground, gesturing to one of her female underlings with her eyes to follow that girl, so they would not let the intel of the drugs get out of their hands which had come walking into her hands almost by itself.
Placing her hands on her hips, Darcy stared at Cayden with no expression on her face, who nervously scrambled under her intense siren gaze. "You have a knack for getting into awkward and dangerous situations, don't you?" Darcy mocked with an expression of ridicule, but her voice was not so harsh.
Cayden sniffed, looking down at his shoes, feeling a pang of sadness as he was scolded. Darcy blinked twice in astonishment, unaccustomed to seeing someone in such a vulnerable state, especially a guy.
Dominic, observing their interaction, felt uneasy. This was the first time he had seen Cayden, and he couldn't comprehend what Darcy was talking about. The unexpected softness in her tone, despite glaring at Cayden, puzzled Dominic and brought out an insecurity from within that he was unaware of until now.
"I am sorry, I did not mean it," Cayden mumbled, stumbling over his words, which annoyed Darcy quite a bit.
"You, come here," she instructed another one of her underlings. "Take care of this mess," she said, pointing at Cayden, who pouted yet again at being referred to as a mess. "Make sure he reaches home safely," Darcy mentioned at last and the sadness in Cayden's eyes was replaced instantly with brightness, which instantly made Darcy look away.
Cayden was too much for her eyes and maybe for her heart too, she was not someone who belonged to a bright world, neither was she accustomed to anything similar and Cayden was the definition of the brightness.
Darcy's underling complied, leading Cayden out of the nightclub. Meanwhile, she began walking toward the exit, followed by Dominic, who had been suspiciously watching her till now. "What is it with you?" Dominic asked, his curiosity and hesitancy both evident.
Darcy sent him a frown as she did not understand his question as to what was he referring to.
"I'm talking about that guy from earlier. If it were a woman or a child, I could understand, but you going ahead and helping a guy is out of the ordinary for me," Dominic stated, his gaze piercing into her.
Darcy chuckled dryly, looking ahead without glancing back. "That guy is no less than a child, always getting into trouble and--" She stopped herself from saying more, realizing that expressing how he looked pure and innocent would be revealing too much of what went on in her head.
"And?" Dominic pressed, his seriousness obvious.
"And stop asking questions; we have somewhere else to be," Darcy rushed, leaving Dominic with a lingering sense of unease.
No matter how many men he had seen with Darcy, her behavior around Cayden was unlike anything he had witnessed before. The subtle shift in dynamics left Dominic pondering over the possibilities of what could be going under the surface.
...
With the intel on the drug mafia successfully secured, Darcy found herself in a particularly good mood.
As she headed to an important meeting for her company, Ravens & Co., she settled into the chairperson's seat, ready to discuss business matters.
However, the surprise struck her most unexpectedly when, just before the meeting started, Cayden entered the conference room. He greeted each person quietly, going about placing everyone's coffee orders in front of them.
When he finally reached Darcy, they locked eyes, both seemingly perplexed by the unexpected encounter.
Darcy couldn't fathom why Cayden, who appeared to belong to a well-off family, would be working at a coffee shop and delivering orders. His constant expression of vulnerability suggested that he had led a life of privilege and pampering, and Darcy was now even more intrigued by him.
On the other hand, Cayden was equally shocked, not by the fact that Darcy could be the chairwoman of a substantial company like Ravens & Co., but by the unexpected reunion after their encounter in the nightclub.
The conference room buzzed with an unspoken tension as their eyes held together for quite some time.
Despite being a lightweight, Cayden remembered everything from the previous night, even after blacking out with alcohol. He felt both gratitude and embarrassment at the same time.
"Ma'am, Ma'am!" The CEO was addressing her as both Cayden and Darcy, looked away from each other finally, clearing their throats in embarrassment.
"The meeting is about to start soon," the CEO informed them as Darcy nodded her head and Cayden too excused himself from the conference room.
As the meeting progressed, plans were laid out for the company's global expansion, starting from the Middle East countries.
And once the meeting concluded, Darcy exited the conference room, only to find Cayden still standing there, drawing the attention of everyone leaving after her.
"What are you doing here still?" Darcy questioned without hesitation.
"I-- actually remember everything from last night, so I wanted to thank you and apologize as well," Cayden, nervously fidgeting with his fingers, explained, making Darcy feel a certain kind of way.
For now, Darcy has established the fact that she indeed had grown a soft spot for Cayden, but she still was not going to say it out loud assuming it was solely for the reason of him being so innocent and child-like.
"No need to thank me or apologize. I would have done that regardless of anyone being there," she replied, concealing her true feelings. The truth was that she wouldn't have shown the same concern for any other guy in a similar situation. He had made her do so and she herself had yet to realize why was she so affected because of his problem.
"Still, you were trying to help me, and I kept telling you to let that girl go. Thank you very much," Cayden expressed his gratitude, his soft smile and sincere gaze piercing through Darcy's defenses. "You're a very nice person." Once again, an unexpected flip occurred within Darcy, prompting her to take a sharp breath to regain composure.
She questioned the authenticity of these feelings, baffled by how a single man could evoke emotions she didn't know she was capable of feeling.