Chapter 1

Chapter One Declan

“Charlotte?”

The blood in my veins runs cold as Scarlett freezes at my side. Without looking, I can feel the change emanating from her body. She’s no longer the strong, fierce, slightly crazed woman that I’ve fallen for. She’s a scared and lost little girl, shaking at my side as she stares at the blonde stranger. Her eyes are glazed and doe-eyed, not really seeing what is in front of her but replaying some horrors from her past.

The guys are all cursing down the line, but I can’t stop to focus on them for even a second. Too worried about the state of shock Scarlett is going into.

I lightly squeeze her hip and stare down the stranger. Who is he to have such an effect on her? He must sense my deadly intentions as he releases her arm and turns his attention to me. Confusion, pain, and guilt warring in his eyes. He’s far too young to be one of the perpetrators of her destruction. He can’t be much older than her.

I stroke my thumb over her hip, trying to draw her back into reality without causing a scene. So far, no one has noticed our interaction and no one has overheard what he called her. We can’t risk that changing now. Not when we are so close to answers. Not when someone in this room could be capable of disintegrating the entire life she has fought so hard to build for herself. Away from being Charlotte.

A shiver runs down her spine and I tuck her closer into my side. The haze over her eyes starts to clear, but she still isn’t the same ferocious predator I know. She’s shaken. Something about this fucker in front of her has been enough to shake her. To rock her in a way I’ve never seen before, not even the night I first met her. That was loss and regret, this is a different beast entirely. Fear and hopelessness.

He deserves to die for that alone.

“Not here,” she whispers. For me or for him, I couldn’t gauge. Either way, we can’t risk causing a scene. I smile, a baring of my teeth at this stranger. He swallows thickly. Good, he got my message. It’s an invitation to follow us and a threat for what will happen if he chooses not to.

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.

“Oh shit,” I whisper.

“Turn off your fucking mics, you fucking idiots,” she curses, a flare of her temper we hardly ever see. The sound cuts off immediately. The following silence speaks louder than anything they could have said. Her control is one of the coping mechanisms she uses to keep herself grounded. To avoid getting lost in the chaos her mind creates. She craves control, needs it, and she hates to lose it. Especially in front of someone outside our family.

She shakes her hands, trying to force herself back into a semi-reasonable state of mind. I just don’t know if it’s possible. I hardly recognize the fragile yet explosive woman in front of me and I’m not sure I’m enough to keep her from going off. She is a short fuse, already sparking, begging to catch fire and blow the whole building down.

“Charlotte,” Charles whispers. “I don’t know why you’re back, but you can’t be. You need to leave. Now. And never come back.”

“It’s Scarlett,” I snap.

She smirks. “It’s actually Scar. He’s the only one who really calls me Scarlett.”

“Scarlett,” he repeats slowly, as if he’s having trouble forming the name. “Please leave and don’t come back,” he pleads again.

If anything, his words at least tell me we are on exactly the right track by coming here tonight. If I wasn’t sure, her sudden change in attitude would be enough to tell me she agrees.

“Why?” she cocks her head at him as she asks the question. She pushes off from the table where she was leaning on it and slowly moves towards him. Circling around him. A predator that has found her prey. A version of her that I recognize. My heartbeat slows, though my body doesn’t relax. The tension lining my shoulders won’t dissipate until I know my girl is free from harm. Safe back in my arms. Whole once again.

“Because your father was one of the men who raped and tortured me?”

Ice pushes through my veins and my finger is brushing the trigger before I can even react. Only the quick flash of her hand toward me stops me from pulling it. I lower it, only slightly.

“Because Daddy is here now? Been hunting me down all these years?”

The air in my lungs constricts and nearly chokes me as I force myself to hold still, to not react. To not murder this man in front of me only to massacre the entire ballroom we left behind.

“You knew?” he gasps.

She lifts her shoulder in a shrug. “Figured it out when you grabbed me. Those ice-blue eyes you share with Daddy Dearest have haunted me for years,” she whispers as she leans in close, making me tense. I lift the gun once more, exercising every ounce of control I can to not just blow his head off. Fucking Scarlett. She always has to push it.

My mind is still reeling from the bomb she just dropped. There’s no way she’s nearly as calm as she’s pretending to be. We just got the confirmation that one of the men who attacked her is only a few hundred feet away. In the same building as my pretty girl, drinking champagne and laughing with the crowd. Are they all here? My own anxiety threatens to overwhelm me. I want to shoot this fucker all the more now and pull her into my arms and get out of here. Maybe blow the whole building up on our way out.

His head dips forward and his body slouches, falling into her. I dart across the room, ready to rip him away from her before I see her smug grin. She slips the cap back on the needle and puts the now-emptied syringe back into its holder on her wrist.

A hoarse chuckle is drawn from my lips. “You drugged him?”

She scrunches her nose at me. “Did you think we were just going to leave him? We can use him.”

The mics are turned back on, I’m shocked that it took them this long. “You’re not staying in the hotel for a second longer, Letty,” Luca growls. “Don’t worry about your room, just get that fucker out the service exit.”

Scarlett rolls her eyes as she looks up at me, pointedly keeping her gaze off the slumping body in front of her. Charles mumbles sleepily, not fully unconscious, but not present either. I sling his arm over my shoulder and carry most of his weight while keeping him on his feet. I keep a cautious eye on her as she leads the way out of the conference room, taking small, hurried steps, feigning an air of concern and embarrassment as we move. She may seem back to normal, but the mask she’s wearing isn’t enough to fool me and it won’t be enough for the guys either.

There’s something else ticking in that beautiful head of hers. Something that I can’t help but think is going to bring up all of the old trauma she has worked so hard to bury. That we’ve worked so hard to help her overcome. I hate to admit it, but maybe it’s the push she needed to confront the horrors of her past and truly heal. Getting her revenge won’t fill the holes in her life, rather a new gaping one will be left for us to fill if she doesn’t also work through the feelings she has buried for so long.

As soon as we pass a waiter, she grabs his elbow and bats her long lashes. “I’m so sorry, but our friend had too much to drink.” She looks around nervously, dropping her voice to a whisper. “We can’t have anyone see him like this.” She grimaces. A nice touch. A look of understanding dawns on him as he nods his head at her.

“Of course, Miss. I understand,” he assures her with a look that says it happens all the time. He must be used to the wealthy over indulging and having to get them out of sticky situations. “Right this way,” he says as he leads us off the main hallway and out to the side of the building.

It’s not much longer until we reach the service exit to find the van ready and waiting.

I stop and shake hands with the waiter, thanking him once more as I slip a hundred dollar bill into his hand. He’ll know to keep this entire incident quiet. He’s quick to turn and hurry away, not sparing another glance for us as I move back to assist Scarlett in getting Charles down the ramp used for deliveries.

As soon as the waiter is out of sight, the back doors to the van are thrown open and Kade jumps out, ripping Charles out of mine and Scarlett’s arms.

She huffs but I can see her visibly shaking. “Keep him in one piece dammit,” she curses. I move to rest my hand on her hip, attempting to draw her in closer to me, only for her to flinch at the contact. I pull away sharply. Kade doesn’t miss a beat and I can see the beast that rides him on the verge of breaking loose as he tosses Charles’ almost lifeless body into the van.

“Fucking hell,” Scarlett murmurs to herself as she wraps her arms around her midsection. I want to pull her against my chest, envelop her in my warmth, but everything about her body language and her earlier reaction is telling me not to.

I trade looks with Kade and subtly shake my head without her noticing. He tightens his fists at his side, but shows more restraint than I thought he was capable of as he stomps around the side of the car and climbs into the passenger seat. I’m impressed even if he does slam the door behind him.

I meet Luca’s eyes in the rearview mirror to see them blazing with the same barely constrained need to destroy the man slumped on the ground at my feet. He hasn’t said a word since he demanded for us to get our asses out of that hotel. I can only imagine it isn’t because he doesn’t have a whole lot to say on the events of tonight, but rather a fear of his last thread of control snapping once he opens his mouth.

Ryder sits tensely at Scarlett’s side, obviously feeling the same need to comfort her all while knowing it isn’t what she needs right now. The problem is I don’t think any of us can pinpoint what it is she does need. There’s not a single rational person in this van currently, I’m not even sure how we figure out our next step, let alone how to help Scarlett.

I’ve never felt so useless and lost. Especially not since finding her. I’ve never floundered so badly with how to anchor her back to the here and now, but I can see in her eyes that she’s being ripped into the darkest parts of her past. Drowned in the painful memories that have haunted her nightmares.

She was finally free from the restless nights, but it’s easy to see that was only a short break before they would come rearing back with a new purpose. To destroy her all over again.

Maybe I really should have just killed this man who brought her worst fears to life the moment her name passed his lips. But even with her fragile state of mind, Scarlett was right. She made the right call. We showed up here in search of leads and this man is so much more than just that. He has answers.

Luca pulls to the front of the hotel at the same time Noah, Ian, and Joe walk out the front doors with our luggage. They barely slow in stride as they spot us and head straight towards the van, waving off the valets.

As soon as the door closes behind them Scarlett speaks for the first time since we left the waiter behind. “The house on Coleman.”

Luca’s fists tighten around the steering wheel as the rest of us trade looks. It’s one of our safehouses just outside of town. We don’t have many options this far North, but none of us were exactly surprised to realize Scarlett has safehouses in every big city that often caters to these types of grand events. Bringing him there, however, is a huge surprise. One that feels like a miscalculation on her part. I know it isn’t because she trusts him. Even if I can see her grappling to understand her own feelings as she sits there silently.

“That address and every other one associated with it will be burned,” Noah says gently. His eyes locked on her warily as her whole body tightens at his words.

“I don’t see another choice.” Noah’s frown deepens at her succinct response. She doesn’t snap at him but she used her last thread of control not to do so. Kade starts to open his mouth and I already know that whatever comes out of it next will break her thinly tethered control.

I clear my throat, drawing the attention of everyone to myself before giving the address to a family estate in the area. It’s not a safe house that will be burned as soon as Charles wakes up if we choose not to kill him. It’s a property owned in the James name as my father had business here quite frequently.

Noah gives me a questioning look but I respond before he can even ask. “Charles would find out who I am as soon as he wakes up if he doesn’t already know. We aren’t losing anything by taking him there even if we do choose to let him live.”

Scarlett flinches at my words and I can’t begin to understand why. She has no remorse when eliminating threats.

Kade puts in the address and not another word is spoken as Luca heads to our new destination. Every single one of us stays on the edge of our seats as we wait for Scarlett to break. To rage. To cry. To murder him. To do anything but sit there with that distant look in her eyes.

For the first time, I’m scared to push her. Scared to make her face her feelings on this. For the first time, I feel as lost as she is.

I don’t know where we go from here.