Chapter 5
Poor Wilfred
Scarlett
Wilfred worked for my father for more than five years, which means we’ve known each other for about that long.
Yet, the majority of that time, I was working as a resident in the city hospital, so I don’t know him as well as Charlotte does.
Since I finished my residency and stayed home more, naturally, I’ve seen enough of Wilfred to get to know him better.
Wilfred takes in the dining room, including my father’s worried expression and a shirtless Endo at the end of the table, then greets me with a peck on the cheek.
“Hi, Scarlett. How are you?”
He’s never greeted me with a kiss before. I’m taken aback and feel heat in my cheeks. I get the feeling Wilfred is staking a claim because Endo is here, but that would mean he’s interested in me. I hope he isn’t. I hope neither of them is, especially not Endo.
“I’m fine, Wil. You?”
Endo bares his teeth and takes a big bite of the baguette, ripping it the way a wolf might rip into flesh.
Wilfred nods at the other two men and joins my dad at the window.
The men wait for me to vacate the room again. “We need to address the elephant in the room.”
“Which one, luv?” Endo asks before he gulps down the pineapple juice. He makes a fist and hits his chest, then burps.
I swear he’s behaving as if he’s uncultured on purpose. Maybe he wants to rile up everyone or provoke us into saying something about his lack of manners. Which is precisely why I’ll say nothing at all.
“We need to talk about last night,” I say.
“Which part of the night? At the party or after the party?” He winks at Wilfred. “I tucked her into bed.”
“You insolent bastard.” My dad marches up to Endo, but Wilfred holds him back.
Maybe it’s best if I drop it and speak with Endo alone.
“Go on, luv. Which part?” Endo leans back in the chair.
I’m momentarily distracted by how incredibly well-built this man is, but I recover quickly and keep my eyes focused above his neck. “We are engaged.” I wiggle my hand with his ring on it.
“Not really.” He winks. “But having met you, I’m open to the possibility, unless”—he looks at my dad, who’s now helicoptering over me—“you’ve already arranged her marriage to someone else?”
My father shakes his head. “Don’t listen to him, Scar.”
“I’m not. If nobody wants to tell me more about this situation, I’m off to my luncheon.”
“You’re staying in the house,” Endo says, his voice sounding like a slam of a gavel.
“I have obligations. My life doesn’t stop because you decided to announce a fake engagement.
In fact, if you want this engagement to be as believable as you seem to want it to be, I need to attend the event.
I’ll wear your ring out in public, smile, nod, explain whatever we’re not doing with each other. ” I emphasize not, and I stand.
Endo dabs his mouth with a cloth napkin, then throws it onto the plate as he rises. “Meet me at the car. I’ll just be a minute.”
I’ve tried nice and not nice with Endo, and nothing works. I’ll give nice another go. “I’d rather go alone. Please.”
“No can do,” he says as he walks past me and opens the door.
I cross my arms.
Wilfred joins me and slides a hand around my waist.
I gasp.
Endo makes it to us in two strides. He grabs Wilfred’s throat and pins him against the wall.
“Please calm down,” my father says.
“I am calm,” Endo says. “You calm, Wilfred?”
“Mmhm,” Wilfred answers, clearly choking.
“How about you, luv? You calm?” Endo asks me, not taking his eyes off Wilfred.
“Yes,” I say, swallowing past the rock lodged in my throat while running triage scenarios in my head in case Endo strangles Wilfred. Could he snap his neck with one hand? Endo’s blessed with long, strong fingers. I bet he could.
“See this distance between us?” Endo says to Will. “It’s called arm’s-length distance. This is as close as you’re allowed to get to my fiancée.”
“I’m not your fiancée,” I mutter. “You said so yourself.”
“I know, but fake fiancée doesn’t sound as serious as I mean it. And I mean it. Arm’s length, Willy.” Endo releases Wilfred, who coughs as he makes his way to the minibar.
“Jesus Christ,” he says, holding his throat.
He pours himself a scotch neat and throws it back quickly, making a noise in the back of his throat.
He slams the glass down. “You’ve made your point.
” Wilfred glances at me, then at my dad, holding his gaze.
Their silent communication is beyond me just as much as Charlotte’s and mine is to them.
“Scarlett, would you please stay in your room?” my dad says.
“Are you telling me not to go to the luncheon?”
My dad nods.
“Yes, Daddy, I can do that. Right after we clear up the elephant that is my fake engagement to a deranged man who’s holding us hostage in our own house.”
Endo claps. “I’m with her. Let’s clear it up right away. Tell me what you did with my brother.”
“Scarlett,” my father says, a warning in his voice. He wants me to leave like the good little girl I’ve always been. I always did what Mommy and Daddy asked.
“I’m not trying to be difficult, but—”
“Get out!” my father shouts.
“Take it easy,” Endo says. “I thought we were all calm, but when you yell at her like that, you don’t sound calm.
You sound stressed out. Taking out your frustration on your daughter over here, who’s a victim of your poor decision-making, tells me you’re a pathetic, weak man who is afraid to face the cause of his frustrations.
Me.” Endo points at his chest. “I’m trying very hard to keep you and Willy breathing, but when you yell at her, you get me all excited.
In fact, I’m considering relieving myself of weapons just so I’m not tempted to kill you if you ever raise your voice to my fake fiancée again.
” He turns to me. “There, luv, I said fake.” Endo smiles.
“Imagine what would happen if she were really mine.” He trails his thumb from his throat down his navel, indicating the path of a cutting blade. “You’d both be dead.”
I take a moment to reassess this man and our situation. It occurs to me that Endo is really trying, and the only thing keeping us alive is the fact that he thinks my dad has information about his brother.
“I’ll be upstairs in my room.” I am a doctor. I am here to help people and heal them, not hurt them. It is my life’s mission, and I won’t let some deranged stranger push me off my path.
Endo remains at the door, so I can’t pass. “Finish your meal. We’ll move to the office. Let’s go, Dad.”
My dad marches past me and violently swings open the office door. “Wilfred,” he calls out, and Wilfred follows after him.
Endo shakes his head. “This one’s like his puppy.”
“My sister and I call him a Doberman.” I have no idea why I shared that. Maybe because Endo kind of stuck up for me there.
“Doberman, huh?” He chews his lip. “Not a puppy, then.”
“Oh no. Definitely a Doberman.”
“That’s good to know,” he says. “Before I move to the office, I have to tell you I’ll punish someone if you try to leave.”
“Being held hostage in my home was not in my horoscope this year.” I sit down at the table.
Endo lingers, his lips pursed. He seems contemplative. “For what it’s worth,” he says, “I never wanted you to be part of this. Your father left me no choice. I must find my brother.”
“What if he doesn’t know where he is?”
“Then he needs to find out.”
“How?”
“Your father has connections.”
“And if he refuses to cooperate?”
“Then I’ll apply more pressure.”
“My dad won’t crack easily.”
“Duh, baby. That’s why I’ve got you.” Endo rests his palm on the wooden doorframe. I’m trying not to admire the way his biceps flex or how his abdominals are forged out of years of taking care of his body. If he weren’t my villain, I’d find him attractive.
“The engagement ring looks nice on your hand.”
I twirl the ring. It’s a princess-cut diamond and appears real and at least four carats. I can’t imagine why he’d hand me a real ring for a fake engagement. “It does look nice. Good practice for when I actually get engaged to a nice man who doesn’t carry guns or threaten to murder innocent men.”
Dark eyes narrow as he says, “There are no innocent men in this house.”
I swallow. He appears serious, and perhaps he’s right since my father owns a company that manufactures weapons.
“Why would you put a real ring on my finger?”
“Because…” Endo scrubs his short facial hair and looks away. “I thought, if I take this woman who’s done nothing but exist, the least I can do is buy her a real ring.”
If I didn’t know better, I would say Endo has a conscience. “Aww, remorseful now, are we? Guilt is a healthy feeling for a man in your line of business. There’s hope for you yet.”
He shakes his head. “Let’s not get carried away. I’m not feeling guilty. I’m simply trying to please you as much as possible so I don’t have to kill you.”
I inhale a sharp breath.
“Stay in the house, Scarlett.” Endo releases the door.