Chapter 13
Santa doesn’t like your list
Scarlett
Endo Macarley eats breakfast while making a grocery list of explosives and weapons.
Speculating that my father is involved with an arms dealer is one thing. Seeing evidence of an unofficial arms order is another. My father and this man might be competing for clients. Or supplying opposing sides. Or they could be working together on the deal that went wrong.
Actually, there are many causes and options, and my head is spinning. Coffee won’t help this headache.
Seeing this list makes me nervous. The urge to flee is so great that my toes twitch.
Under the table, I move my feet rapidly in place.
But even if I fled, I’d get caught on the way out by Endo’s man, who escorted me to the morning room.
Not to mention the fact that I’m sitting at the table with the biggest predator in the house, and I probably wouldn’t make it two steps before he tackled me to the floor.
Does he know I can read the list he’s making? Is that why he left it on the table? I doubt it. This really isn’t about me, and I should let it go and carry on with my morning as if the list says eggs and cheese.
“Do you normally eat breakfast here?” I ask.
Endo nods, a small smile playing on his lips. He knows you read it. Oh my God. The implication of this is huge. HUGE. My father, who owns weapon-manufacturing factories, is also trafficking weapons. My head hurts even more now.
“Morning rooms are used by women,” I say, my voice cracking. I’m afraid. I really am now. Endo terrified me before, but now I’m inside the lion’s den.
“You are a woman, are you not?”
I nod. “It’s a pleasant room.”
“You are welcome to use it anytime.”
“Under supervision.”
“Naturally.”
“Am I your prisoner, then?”
Endo pulls his bottom lip through his teeth. “You can be anything you want to be.”
“A bird. I want to fly away.”
“Then grow wings or earn your freedom.”
“I can’t grow wings. How can I earn my freedom?”
“On your knees works for me.”
“That’s not going to happen, Macarley.”
He shrugs. “That’s fine. You asked. I’m content to sit here and wait for my breakfast to arrive. Dec,” he calls out, and the young man who brought me here pokes his head into the room.
“Yes?” Dec asks.
“See if Mary’s well.”
“She’s well.”
“What’s the holdup with breakfast?”
“My brother’s bringing it.”
Endo’s eyebrow shoots up. “Come again?”
“Connor’s coming.” The man opens the door, and his twin pushes in a trolley full of covered plates. Even the smell of bacon I very much crave this morning doesn’t distract from the bruising on the man’s face. His left eye’s swollen shut, his lip’s bleeding, and he walks with a limp.
“Mornin’,” he says, sounding chipper despite his terrible condition.
“What happened to your face?” Endo asks.
The man jerks his head at his twin with the swollen knuckles, who’s standing by the entrance.
“Dec beat some sense into me.”
“What for?” Endo asks Declan.
Declan scrunches up his nose. “No worries. All taken care of.”
Endo leans back as the man with a swollen eye puts a plate in front of him.
“Don’t make me ask again,” Endo says and grasps the man’s jaw. He turns his face and examines it, then tsks in what I hope is disapproval of the beating.
“Con threatened Ms. Pembroke. But he understands he can’t do that now.”
Endo releases the man, who swallows visibly. “I’m sorry, Uncle. I’m upset about Uncle Cass.”
That’s Endo’s nephew. Damn.
“We’re all upset about Cass. This is why I brought Scarlett to the Keep. What did you say to her?”
“I said I’d cut her up.”
Endo’s gaze changes. His entire demeanor becomes something else, something much colder. It’s almost as if he withdraws his personality, vacates it. His gaze is icy. His words are steady, almost matter-of-fact. “Did you miss the ring I put on her finger?”
His nephew shakes his head. “The engagement isn’t real, so I didn’t think it mattered. I’m sorry, Ms. Pembroke.”
“I’m okay. I am, really. Don’t mention it. Just as long as you didn’t mean it and won’t do it.”
Endo levels me with a stare. “He means it, or he wouldn’t say it. It’s the dungeon for you, Connor.”
“No, please,” the man begs. “Kitchen duty. A year. I won’t talk to her. Won’t even look at her. I’ll wear a blindfold and a muzzle.”
“I can’t trust you. I need her, and you threatened her.”
“It’s just something that came out of my mouth. I wouldn’t…” He scratches his head. “I mean, I would, but not if you didn’t order me. I’ll respect her fake ring. I’m pissed she’s being treated like a princess while Uncle Cass might be at the bottom of the ocean getting picked over by the fish.”
“The dungeon,” Endo says, some of his personality returning with a heavy sigh. “Give Scarlett the key. The good doctor will release you whenever she wants.”
“Will do,” Declan says. “Come on, brother.”
Connor gives me a mean look as he departs for the dungeon.
“If he didn’t hate me before, he definitely hates me now,” I say.
“He hated you before, so don’t worry about it. Besides, he’s more loyal to Cass than to me.”
“And Dec is more loyal to you?”
Endo nods and gets up to pour a glass of pineapple juice.
Endo serves me the juice and a croissant. “My morning chef, Mary, is a pastry chef. Been sick lately. Perhaps later today you could get her to tell you what’s the matter with her. I could consider it a favor.”
I sip my coffee. “I feel like I should bargain now.”
“You won’t.”
“Maybe I will.”
“Bargain, then. I need a favor with Mary. What do you need?”
“Wings.”
Endo laughs.
For a moment, it feels like we’re not enemies. “I noticed Connor called you uncle.”
Cass and I have a half brother from our father’s side. Those are his sons.”
“But their last name is different.”
“It’s true. My mother raised a bastard child after my dad’s whore dropped him off on the doorstep and never came back.
My mother loved their father as much as she could, but she gave him a different last name, so he would be the first of his kind.
It’s how this kind of situation is handled around here. ”
“Does your half brother live in town as well?”
“What’s with all the questions?”
Prickly. “I’m just making conversation in the morning room where people chat, you know?”
“I’m content to sit here and look at you.”
Oh. I rub the kink out of the back of my neck.
“You’re more interesting to look at than the empty bench I normally see while I eat breakfast.”
“Ah. I thought you were giving me a compliment.”
Endo smiles. “Hardly.”
I bite into the croissant. The crunchy, buttery pastry melts on my tongue. “Jesus,” I say with an appreciative moan. “This is the best croissant I’ve ever eaten.” I take another bite and moan loudly. “Oh my God.”
“Mary is a master pastry chef,” Endo says, and bites into his. He moans as well, and only then do I realize how sexy that sounds.
I place the croissant on the plate and wipe my hands and mouth. Maybe I can have a raw fig. That sounds unpleasant and bitter. Definitely won’t make me moan.
“Finish your croissant.”
Lots of what he says sounds like an order.
It’s how he is. Clearly, he’s a dominant man who runs an arms-dealing enterprise, and somehow, my father’s gotten himself involved with him.
I wonder how they crossed paths, but if I asked my dad, I doubt he’d tell me.
Endo might, but if there’s a story, he’d spin it in his favor.
Wilfred would know the story.
If I’m to call Wilfred, I need my phone.
“Endo, my phone’s missing.” I pick up my pastry. I can’t leave it. I’m weak for the excellent croissant. “Do you think I could look in the car?”
“No reason,” he says. “I took your phone.”
I bite into the pastry a little too forcefully, imagining biting Endo’s forearm. “Where did you get it from?”
“Your nightstand.”
“You were inside my room again?”
“Twice.”
Frustrated that he’s unashamed of that, I growl. “You know it’s creepy that you’re in my room while I’m helplessly sleeping in my bed.”
“Stay up and wait for me so it won’t be creepy.” Endo lays down his utensils, chugs his juice, and grabs the list. He waves it. “I have to go to work.”
“You call what you do work?”
“Yeah.” He gets up, and I notice a gun with a silver grip tucked into the back of his pants.
From the coat hanger by the door, he grabs a holster and buckles it around his shoulder.
“What would you call it?” He holsters the gun and shrugs on a suit jacket, now appearing like a businessman.
A gentleman. Unless you pair the pirate tattoo on his middle finger with his attitude.
“I would call it a prison ticket,” I say.
Endo smiles. “I’m not the one in prison. You are, Doc. See to Mary. The dungeons are off-limits. I’ll be home for dinner. Wait up for me. I’ll bring news about your father.” Endo opens the door.
“Wait a minute.” I rush after him, but he steps forward so that I almost run into him.
At the last moment, I stop, but our bodies are now touching, my breasts pressing against his chest. He smells wild and fresh, like the forest surrounding the property. Untamed. His dark eyes land on my lips, and his head dips deliberately low.
“A dozen very dangerous men are waiting for me so I can tell them that the shipment Cass promised is arriving late. I have to lie and tell them it’s not arriving on time when I think it’s not arriving at all.”
“What do you think they’ll do?” I ask.
“Try to kill me.”
“Be serious.”
“I am.”
“On a scale of one to ten, how likely are you to get hurt?”
“Eight.” His eyes tell me the risk excites him. “What do you need?”
“My phone.” I lick my suddenly dry lips. His mouth is sinfully full and beautiful. “I want it back.”
“Not yet.”
“When can I have it back?”
“Whenever I decide to return it to you.” His lips brush across mine.
I step back and touch my mouth.
Endo curses and slips out of the room, slamming the door behind him.