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“Who the fuck is this guy and who is he looking for?” Nicholis questions.
Scarlett finally snaps, pulling her ever present blade from her hip and deftly throws it in his direction. I snort as it lands in the wall an inch from his head. “None of your fucking business. Get that through your thick skull.”
He arches a brow at her, unfazed by the threat. “I want to know what has the infallible Scar shaken.”
My lips twitch as Scarlett straightens, turning away from Charles to meet Nic’s eyes. His dickish behavior is drawing her out of her own mind. The endless storm that rages inside of her threatening to turn her inside out every time she’s forced to face her past.
“Does this have to do with Romano?” he continues pushing. He comes off the wall and starts to make a move toward her. “Is that who he is looking for?” His eyes dart down to the papers in Charles’ hand. “Are those answers to how and why you lot got my brother killed?” He cocks his head to the side as he gets closer to where the three women stand at the center of the room. Scarlett’s manic grin keeps any of us from making a move to stop him. She needs this distraction to regain control before facing whatever news Charles has.
“Or does it have to do with your sordid past?” His arrogance is on another level. An astounding lack of self preservation. “Something to do with a certain fallen prom queen? Is this guy someone from your hay day?”
In the blink of an eye, he’s laid out on the ground, Scarlett hovering over his body, blade to his throat. Rage lights in his eyes, battling the surprise already there. He didn’t expect her to lash out, forgotten how quick she can move, how lethal she really is. “Keep digging, but it’ll only be your grave you end up in,” she promises.
Nic doesn’t back down. “If he has answers about Alec then I deserve to hear them too.”
“You deserve nothing from us except this blade embedded in your sternum,” she spits.
“He was my brother,” he argues.
Scarlett laughs, a slow, deep, menacing sound. “Then you should know better than anyone Alec would agree with me. Better my blade in your chest than the one you planted in Rachel’s back.”
His large body shakes under her, but he makes no move to get out from under her. “I never betrayed her.”
Her hollow laughter rings out through the room, making Rachel shiver, though she doesn’t cower again. “That’ll be for us to decide,” Scarlett tells him. “So will be finding answers to Alec’s death. He’s our family.”
“He’s my blood,” he curses her.
“Then find your own answers.” She climbs off of him. “Now, get the fuck out of my house so the adults can talk.” There’s no sign of the broken girl Charles always seems to draw out in her. Never thought I would be grateful to dark and douchey but here we are. His antics pissed her right off into her normal badass self.
He doesn’t move, studying her as if he’s weighing how serious she is. She doesn’t give him long to contemplate. “Now,” she snaps. “Before I drag your body out of here. Being Alec’s brother only gets you so many allowances and you’re quickly running out.”
Nic slowly climbs to his feet, refusing to back down even as he relents to her demands. “I didn’t have to bring you the news about the Alvarados,” he comments.
She scoffs. “You got us the information a few measly minutes sooner than we would have otherwise received it. Don’t pat yourself on the back too hard.”
He arches a brow as if he doesn’t believe her. After several seconds of silence, the moment is broken by her phone ringing. She huffs in amusement, showing him the name Max Foster on her screen. “Look at that, almost on cue.”
“Hey, Max. You’re on speaker.”
He doesn’t waste any time. “When did you get in bed with the Alvarados?”
She gives Nic a look that says it all. We don’t need him and she’d be more than happy to disabuse him of that notion. “Don’t know,” she answers Max. “Keep your ear to the ground about any motivations for backing us.”
“You got it,” he says before she ends the call.
“Leave.” She turns her back on him, not giving him an ounce more of her attention.
Nic hesitates, his eyes landing back on Rachel as he slowly exits the room. He holds his head high, every step measured belying the fact this is his retreat. He’s steady all the way out, never shaken over the fact he’s not only been dismissed, but even Rachel refused to watch him go.
At least that’s one battle down.
On to the next.
“Show me what you have,” Scarlett commands, walking up to a still shaken Charles. He watches her with something close to appreciation as she moves. I crack my knuckles in irritation.
He’s quick to hand over the papers to her and launch into his explanation over how he’s been pouring over his father’s various business finances. We already knew this, but there has to be a point to this drivel.
“There were the expected shell companies he uses to cover the discrepancies of his embezzling and illegal funds. I was able to track all of those to known criminal activity he’s been involved in,” he continues. It sounds like a win, it would be enough to have him arrested, however, that’s never been our end goal. We want answers and I can’t see how this gives us those.
