Chapter 42
Why did you bite me?
Scarlett
Bite marks and hickeys mar the skin on my neck. In the bathroom, I examine them while Endo gets dressed in the bedroom.
“I can’t go out like this.”
Endo pokes his head inside. “What was that?”
I point at my neck. “Look at what you did.”
Endo buckles his belt. “So?”
“So I’m having lunch with my dad. You’re my kidnapper. He’ll know we slept together.”
“That’s the point.”
I rear back. “You didn’t have sex with me just to mess with my dad, did you?”
Endo disappears into the bedroom.
I follow him. “Hey, I asked you a question.”
“I heard you. You can ask, but I don’t have to answer.”
He’s hurting me. Distancing himself. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Raise your walls again.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I know that you don’t want to hear the truth.” He points at my red blouse and black slacks. “Is this your outfit for lunch?”
When I don’t answer, he lays it on the bed. “I’ll meet you outside.”
I exchange the red shirt for one with a high collar. It covers some of the marks but not all of them. I’m sure my father will notice, though I hope he refrains from commenting on it.
Once dressed, I step outside, where Slada fits the vest back onto me. After that, she hands me a cup of coffee and sits on the opposite end of the long couch. At the desk by the window, Connor types on his laptop.
If she notices the hickeys, she doesn’t seem to care that Endo and I slept together.
Maybe I’m the only one who does. I’ve never slept with a man I cared this much about, and my feelings for Endo confuse me.
I hate him for overturning my life and keeping me captive, trapped with him.
But I also can’t stop myself from wanting to bang him.
Who knew my thirties would be this hard?
I thought I would know everything by now.
I was certain my life was planned, and it would play out the way I designed it.
Endo thwarted all my plans. I admit to having a hard time adjusting to this new trajectory.
Even when I get home, now that I’ve slept with him, I don’t know how I’ll get over him.
I should’ve joined Slada earlier, when I had a chance.
Now I’m going to lunch with my father wearing my kidnapper’s bite marks. At least I’m well fucked.
“Endo said I can brief you on what’s going on.”
“Ah, well, if putting out for him meant I’d get to hear what’s happening, I would have put out earlier.”
Slada blinks but doesn’t comment. She just executes her orders. The meeting with my dad was scheduled for two o’clock today. Massio invited us for lunch at that time, which couldn’t be a coincidence.
“We think your father set up the lunch at Massio’s house and not where we agreed.”
My fears are coming true. My father is corrupt. I hang on to the last shred of denial and say, “Lots of people eat lunch at two o’clock. It could be a coincidence.”
“It’s not,” Connor says, turning his laptop toward me.
I stand to get a better look at the screen. It’s a picture of Massio and my father, sitting by the pool while a pair of topless women massage their shoulders. I sit back down.
“That was yesterday,” Connor says. “I’m reviewing their surveillance. Should be much harder to hack, but it hasn’t been, which tells me they want us to see this footage.”
“What’s this mean for the exchange?” I ask.
Slada shrugs. “If Massio is involved, Cass might be dead, so the likelihood of an exchange is low. Endo came to die.”
I reached the same conclusion in the tub. My hands start shaking, and I put my cup of coffee on the side table before it spills.
Slada sips from her cup with steady hands and a sparkle in her eye.
Connor packs his laptop and winks at me on his way out the door.
“Where’s he going?” I ask Slada.
“The boys won’t stay under their father’s roof.”
Endo walks into the living space. He’s wearing black slacks and a black shirt buttoned only halfway. Under it, he wears a thick golden chain without a pendant. He chews gum, not even bothering to hide the holster with his weapon.
The energy he’s throwing off is unhinged. My dad’s actions might push this man over the edge, and I’m not sure anyone can survive that, least of all my dad. Or me.
“Where is your vest?” Slada asks Endo.
He doesn’t answer.
“Did you forget to put it on?” I ask, annoyed with him.
“No.”
“I’m not going to lunch with you unless you put on your vest,” I say.
“I saw the way you looked at the bullet scars on my chest. Maybe I want more of them.”
My breath hitches. “That’s not funny.”
He laughs. “It is to me!”
Endo’s laughter alarms me. I look to Slada, who shakes her head. I’m not sure what she’s disapproving of, me or him. Hopefully, the fact that he’s not wearing the vest and not that I confronted him about being suicidal.
A soft knock on the door cuts off any further conversation.
Slada opens it to admit a petite, topless woman dressed in a sheer white beach throw over the bottom of her bathing suit.
She’s barefoot, with a freshly painted French manicure on her toes.
A black-and-white outline of a clown face is tattooed on her toe.
My mind goes to branding, but I shut down the train of thought.
First, I’m speculating, judging her circumstances based on my first impression.
For all I know, she’s here by choice. If I allow myself to think she’s been taken and sold here or forced to work here, I’ll probably try to save her and end up dead alongside her.
Her voice sounds like a violin when she says, “If you would follow me. I will take you to the table.”
Slada follows the woman, and when I go to step after her, Endo cuts off my path. I look up at him.
His gaze is intense.
I hold it and place my hand on his cheek. “You are cornered. I get it. No need to explain, but no need to get yourself killed either.”
He captures my wrist, brings my hand to his lips, and kisses it. “This is it, Scarlett Pembroke. You’re going home.”
I frown. “How?”
“Over my dead body.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“I’m walking into a death trap, and I know it.”
“Walk away, then.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you won’t come with me.”
I don’t know what to do with what he said, so I attempt a joke. “Why, Endo Macarley, are you saying you can’t bear to part from me?”
“Exactly.”
Speechless, I stand there like a shocked statue. Endo admitted he doesn’t want to part from me. Which means he wants us to be together. My affection for him is returned. We’re a disaster.
“Ready?” he asks.
“No.”
“Excellent.”
We head out.
The property crawls with armed men. There are three times as many security personnel here as at Endo’s mansion.
My father lured him into enemy territory, a territory Endo can’t control, and Endo’s desperation for information on his brother made him fold and come here.
Endo’s love for his brother might be the end of him.
And my dad is a bad guy for using love to trap someone. Even a villain like Endo.
“The odds aren’t in my favor,” he whispers.
“Run.”
“I’d rather die.”
“Seriously?”
He tugs my elbow when I stop to argue with him. “Keep moving, Scar. Don’t be scared.”
“If you’re going to die, I think it’s a good time to tell you, you were right about my dad all along. If he shows up for lunch here today, it implies he is corrupt and shouldn’t run for office.”
“Most politicians are corrupt,” Endo says.
“Yes, but not all.”
“A needle in a haystack.”
“Can be found with a big magnet.”
Endo smirks while his gaze takes in everything around us. “You have an answer to everything.”
“I read a lot.”
“You seek truths.”
“I do that too.”
“It’s best if you don’t know the truth,” Endo says as servers carrying ice buckets rush past us. “You think you want to know, but you really don’t. The truth will hurt you. I promise.”
From his pocket, Endo digs out my phone and hands it to me. A brief glance tells me Charlotte called a thousand times. It makes me choke up.
Endo stops and faces me. “You’re going to be okay.”
I can barely look at him. Am I sad? What is this? I must be scared. That’s all. I finger the engagement ring, but Endo shakes his head.
“Keep the ring,” he says.
“I can’t.”
“It’s yours.”
“People will think I’m engaged.”
Endo shrugs. “So?”
I open my mouth, but I have no clever response. He’s right. So? The ring is mine. My fear paid for it. I damn well earned it. “Thanks.”
He jerks his head. “I need to keep moving. My skin’s crawling, and I can’t stay in this place much longer. Let’s get this over with.”
We catch up with the woman, who leads us behind a massive wall made of brown wooden shutters like the ones in our bathroom. Topless women congregate with much older men around an Olympic-sized pool.
Slada and I lock gazes. I don’t know what she’s thinking or why she made a point to connect with me right now, but I hope it’s because we are women and we see what’s unfolding by the pool. The massages, the pampering of men, the servitude of women.
I’m certain all of it is wrong when I pass three women with the same tattoo on their toes. I’ve never wanted to hurt anyone, but if Massio choked on the crab leg, I don’t know if I would try to help him.
Or any of these men, for that matter.
“Does this look like fun to you?” I ask Endo. It’s unfair to group him with these men, but I can’t help it.
“You’ve lived with me. You’ve seen what I do for fun.”
“I’ve never seen you have fun.”
“I ate your pussy. That was fun.”
I regret poking him.
A large table full of drinks and food awaits. My dad wears a white polo shirt and sits with Wilfred, who wears a blue polo shirt. They stand when we approach.
My dad spreads his arms. “My baby girl.”
For a moment, I think I might slap him. But I collect myself and round the table to embrace him and kiss him on the cheek. “Thank God you’re okay.”
Endo said his skin was crawling. Mine is too. Gently, I push my father away. “How is your leg?”
“Not too bad.” He looks me over. “You seem to be all in one piece?”