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I gently guide Scarlett out of the room, leading the way to give her time to reinforce those steel walls I know she’s capable of.
“Shut the fuck up,” I whisper harshly. My ear is being filled with a cacophony so loud I can barely sort out my own thoughts from everyone else’s yells. We’re all losing our fucking minds, but it does nothing to help when my attention is already being torn in multiple directions. Thankfully, immediate silence fills the line save a few last grumbles. Not even those get a hint of a smirk from my girl, worrying me more than ever.
The stranger gives me an odd look that I catch out of the corner of my eye. There is no way I am going to give this man my back. Even if Scarlett were her normal self, he is an unknown factor that has already gotten too close. My eyes flicker to her as I analyze her mental state. She’s slowly coming back into herself as we move away from the crowd and out of the ballroom. Her spine snaps straight and she stops leaning on me as her strides become more confident with every step. Her vibrant green eyes harden and lose the soft, confused look they had only a moment ago. Even her lips have lost their pout and are now pressed into a hard line as her power radiates off of her. She’s as stunning and cold as ever.
There’s my pretty girl.
As we pass an open doorway, she spins on her heel and enters the empty room. I let go of her hip and pause, letting the stranger walk in front of me. He looks more unsure of himself now than he did in the ballroom.
I let my eyes rove over him as I try to determine where exactly this situation is going to lead.
Whoever he is, he’s a mystery. His wealth and status are clear, but he lacks a certain edge that keeps him from being intimidating. He’s tall, almost the same height as I am, but leaner. I study him carefully, trying to pinpoint what it is about him that shook Scarlett. But I can’t. He looks…soft. His wide eyes and downturned lips don’t strike me as formidable, but rather stoke a growing sense of pity in my gut.
He doesn’t hold the air of danger that so many people in this world hold, he’s on the other end. A victim of circumstance, of his own last name. He must have an impressive one to keep him afloat in this cutthroat world because I don’t think he would be capable of half the shit I’ve had to do to survive. If he wasn’t causing my girl pain, I might even feel for him. Forced into a mold that doesn’t suit him. It’s something you see all the time when you grow up the way Scarlett and I did.
I flick my gaze away from him and take in the room we’ve found ourselves in. It’s small, intimate, probably for meetings with the long conference table down the center. It’s empty except for the three of us, making it the perfect place for us to make some decisions about what happens next.
I close the door behind me and lean up against it, pulling the gun from my waistband and holding it loosely at my side. I may recognize his type, but in no way does that dismiss him from being a threat. A cornered animal is always the most dangerous. He hasn’t even noticed, his eyes glued to Scarlett with a mix of horror and wonder right alongside his fear and confusion.
“Charles,” she greets cooly. Her panic from early dissipated as if it had never happened. She’s fully back in control, even if she was unprepared and caught off guard.
“It’s really you,” he breathes softly in amazement, reaching out for her.
I click the safety off on my gun and rise to aim directly between his eyes. “Don’t fucking touch her.”
“Just fucking kill the bastard,” Kade curses.
“I said shut up,” I hiss. I’ve never been more annoyed about having the loudmouth in my head.
“He isn’t speaking to you,” Scarlett clarifies, her voice pure ice. Colder than I’ve ever heard her before. I almost worry that she’s slipping away from me once more. I pin him with my eyes, nodding to the gun to ensure he’s damn well aware of his position in this room. Maybe Kade has the right idea after all.
“How did you recognize me?” she asks.
Charles, stupid name, shakes his head as he continues to stare at her with a look in his eyes that makes me want to pluck the eyeballs right out of his arrogant face. There’s too much familiarity in the way he looks at my girl. A feeling I know isn’t reciprocated by the fear that shook her and the cold treatment she gives him now.
I tear my eyes away from him to watch her. She’s putting up a good front, no one but one of us would be able to notice the slight tremor of her fingers as she casually taps them against her arm. Or the way her chest doesn’t rise and fall with each breath as she’s wound too tight for the movement.
“How?” he whispers, clearly still in shock. “It can’t be.” Real fear threads his voice as his eyes go wide and he stares at her. “You can’t be here.” It sounds like a warning and a plea all in one.
Friend or foe? With every moment of this conversation, it becomes more and more muddled.
Maybe we should kill him and be done with it. It wouldn't be the easiest cleanup in the world, but hell. It can’t be harder than a senator, mayor, or a famous movie producer, right?
The silence in my ears is deafening. Almost worse than the cacophony of panic and anger that was blasting through the earpiece only moments ago. At least then I knew what they were doing, even if it was distracting. I wouldn’t know if Kade and Ryder were about to tear down the door any second now.
Scarlett takes a deep breath, narrowing her eyes like a wolf ready to sink its teeth into its prey. “Tell me how,” she demands.
He laughs, a nervous, shocked sort of sound that spills from his lips as he shakes his head. He hasn’t even reacted to the gun being trained on him this entire time. Who the fuck are we dealing with here? He seems like the furthest thing from a threat, yet I can’t bring myself to completely dismiss him either. He’s not innocent. Who doesn’t at least flinch when a gun is aimed at their head? But he’s ignored me this entire time, not saving even an ounce of his attention for me. Too locked on Scarlett.
“Your laugh,” he finally answers. “I thought I was going crazy when I first heard it as you two went on the balcony. Thought there was no way it could be you.” He gets a faraway look in his eyes as if he’s remembering something from long ago. I will kill him if he’s thinking about a past he had with my girl. “I couldn’t help but keep looking for you, hoping you’d laugh again and I’d realize I had been hearing things. But you turned,” he pauses, looking up at her with such sorrowful eyes a new burning emotion starts in the pit of my gut. “You put the empty flute on the tray, turned and lifted your eyes. I’d know those green eyes anywhere.” He ends in a soft smile, one still full of so much pain. His answer staggers Scarlett too. She wasn’t expecting that.
“Okay,” I agree. “Let’s kill him.”
They must turn the mics back on because a burst of agreements erupts in my ear all at once. Based on Scarlett’s flinch, it’s the same for her.
“I fucking told you,” Kade yells.
Noah argues with him in the background but he holds his own. “If D knew who that fucker was, he’d already be dead,” he yells. The sound of more yelling and banging fills the line and Scarlett tenses with every passing second.
