Chapter 36
Chapter thirty-six
Istood in the doorway for a moment and watched her sleep.
Early morning light spilled across the guest suite, lighting up her red hair where it fanned across the pillow. For a woman who had faced down a priest with a gun and walked straight through a federal dragnet without flinching, she looked peaceful.
I crossed the room quietly and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Scar,” I murmured, brushing my knuckles gently along her shoulder.
Her eyes flew open.
For half a second, she didn’t move. Then she launched herself at me.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she breathed, wrapping her arms around my neck.
I grunted despite myself.
She froze.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry.” She pulled back immediately, her hands flying to my face. Her gaze traveled over me, taking inventory. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing,” I said.
It wasn’t nothing, but I knew she’d get freaked out if I acted like it bothered me. The cut over my eyebrow had dried. My cheek was swollen. There was a scrape along my jaw and a deep bruise across my ribs that throbbed every time I breathed too deeply.
She traced a finger lightly along the cut near my eye. “Those officers are such thugs, pure trash, hiding behind masks and taking bribes,” she spat.
“Settle down, I’ve had worse,” I replied. “Lach has done worse.”
Her brow furrowed.
“Irish brothers are born fighting,” I explained. “It’s how we show our brotherly love.”
That pulled the faintest hint of a smile from her, but it didn’t last.
“I thought they were going to kill you,” she said quietly. “Or bury you in some cell and make you disappear.”
I held her face between my hands.
“They won’t. Nik handled it. It was just a matter of time.”
Her fingers tightened around my forearms. “You’re too calm about this.”
“I had hours in an interrogation room to think,” I said evenly. “They weren’t confident. That’s how I knew it would break in my favor.”
“What do you mean?”
“The desperation,” I explained. “The detective asked the same questions three different ways. The constant phone calls he stepped out to take. They were getting pressure from above. I gave them just enough to make them nervous.”
Scarlett studied me.
“Enough of what?”
“Enough to let them know we had leverage,” I said. “But not enough to give them the full picture.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“As you know, Nik pulled what he needed off the hard drive,” I continued. “Then he put Hayes and Delgado on notice. He made it clear that we know about their link to Franklin Whitaker.”
Scarlett sat up straighter. “How did he get to my father?”
I allowed myself a small smirk.
“You saw the computer room,” I said. “That’s just Nik’s playroom. He’s a big-time hacker.”
“He hacked into my father’s systems?”
“He doesn’t hack in the amateur sense,” I corrected. “He dismantles. Maxwell’s network. Hayes’s campaign servers. Delgado’s offshore accounts. He released a curated sample of their worst vulnerabilities.”
Scarlett blinked. “A sample?”
I nodded. “A taste of the trouble he could cause them.”
“And?”
“And he sent a clear message.”
Her brows pinched together in that way she had when she doubted what I was telling her. “What did it say?”
“Something along the lines of—” I scrubbed my hand over my chin, recalling how Nik had phrased it a few minutes earlier.
“That was only a preview. Your days are numbered unless Lucian Byrnes is released and cleared. Don’t fuck with me, gentlemen.
If there’s one thing on this planet I won’t tolerate, it’s sex trafficking.
You’ve been officially put on notice. Shut it down or go down; it’s your choice. ”
Her lips parted slightly.
“He really said that?”
“More or less,” I answered. “You don’t get on Nik’s bad side. Especially not over something like this.”
She let out a short huff of disbelief. “I watched him last night. That computer room of his…it felt like science fiction.”
I chuckled. “His brain isn’t wired the same as most, that’s for sure.”
Scarlett leaned back against the headboard, absorbing everything.
“I can’t wrap my head around all of this,” she murmured. “Global corruption. Presidents. Royal families. Tech giants. And it’s all so they can rape women…girls.”
Her voice didn’t crack. It hardened.
“It’s sick.”
“It is,” I agreed.
I leaned in and kissed her softly.
“They’ve been operating in the shadows because it’s the men with money to burn, and no ethics,” I said. “The conmen and the liars. The ones who can intimidate or pay off everyone who gets in their way.”
“I’m not backing down,” she huffed. “Somehow I’m going to find Elizabeth and help all the girls who have been stolen and abused.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to do anything less,” I replied.
She reached up and brushed her thumb along my bruised cheek. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll live.”
She exhaled slowly, then leaned forward and pressed her forehead against mine.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said.
“I’m just glad you’re free of those demons in Madrid,” I said, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face. “They don’t get to breathe the same air as you anymore.”
Scarlett let out a dry little laugh. “Yeah, my demons aren’t breathing anymore.” Her eyes flashed. “Well, except for the man I used to call father. That rat bastard should be on everyone’s target list.”
A smile tugged at my mouth.
“Listen to you,” I said. “Sounding like a true mafia wife already.”
Her head snapped up. “Wife?”
“It’s only a matter of time.”
She leaned forward, crossing her arms, giving me a look that told me she was about to say something to rile me up.
“Oh, is that so? I just found my freedom. I’m not sure I’m eager to give it up.
Sofia loves being single. She’s out there living life exactly how she wants.
Maybe I should be a social media influencer like her. ”
Before she could say more, I moved.
I caught her wrists and flipped her onto her back, pinning her arms above her head against the mattress. Her breath hitched, but she didn’t resist. She never did when she wanted to see how far I would go.
“Sofia plays with fire,” I said, lowering my mouth to her ear. “She uses her body like a weapon and calls it empowerment. She tests every boundary she can find. One day that’s going to land her somewhere she can’t talk her way out of.”
Scarlett’s lips curved in defiance.
“And you,” I continued, tightening my grip just enough to make my point, “are not a toy. You’re mine. I’m not going to sit back while men stare at you like you’re something to be consumed.”
She rolled her eyes and let out a soft giggle.
“If you want to play with fire,” I growled, “I might just put you back in that habit of yours. That way I’m the only one who knows the hellcat underneath.”
Her giggles grew louder.
“I think you have a nun fetish,” she teased.
“Did you get all hot and bothered in Catholic school when a sister walked by? Try to peek up her skirt? Did you get off on it when she smacked your knuckles with a ruler? Why, you naughty boy…no wonder you got such a hard-on for me at Our Lady of Lourdes.”
I nipped her earlobe and then sank my teeth into the curve of her neck, just hard enough to make her gasp.
“Careful,” I warned, pulling back.
She only grinned.
I pushed off the bed and stepped back, adjusting my shirt.
“Get dressed,” I said. “We’re going home.”
She laughed as I turned and walked out of the room, her amusement trailing behind me.
The hallway was quiet. I moved through it and into Nik’s living room, my body still charged with the need to drag her back onto that mattress and finish what she’d started.
Her screams would echo through this place, and with the house full of sleeping guests, I didn’t need that kind of spectacle.
Her sass. Her fight. That was what hooked me from the beginning. She didn’t fold. No—my girl pushed.
And I liked being pushed.
But she’d better not mistake that for weakness. I didn’t coddle. I tested limits.
The thought of her stepping into Sofia’s world, becoming some kind of public presence, made my blood run hot. With Maxwell’s network exposed and politicians scrambling, there were too many men who would love to get their hands on her just to prove they could.
Scarlett didn’t see it yet, but she was a linchpin.
She was now tied to The Syndicate. Tied to a political machine that catered to billionaire space cowboys who treated teenage girls like trophies in some twisted sport.
I crossed to the window overlooking the park and folded my arms across my chest, gazing out at the city skyline interrupted by nature below, restlessness simmering beneath my skin.
Let them come.
They’d learn soon enough that some things weren’t for sale.
And Scarlett Hayes was one of them.
Nik joined me at the window and handed me the backpack we’d used in Spain.
“Good thing your holster was in here instead of on you. They would’ve kept that pretty SIG.”
I chuckled. “I got lucky for sure. You know I don’t go anywhere without it these days. I only took it off for the long flight—and the desire to spend some up-close and personal time with my girl.”
“I saw this coming the night you proposed taking Hayes’s little nun. You tempted fate and dared God to notice.”
“Bull shit. You knew nothing of the sort.”
Nik chuckled.
I didn’t look at him. “What’s so funny?”
“That expression,” he said. “You’ve claimed the Hayes girl, and now you don’t know what the fuck to do with her.”
I snorted. “You should be the last one offering commentary. You were a disaster before Lacey.”
He grinned. “And here I am, married.”
“I don’t do relationships,” I said flatly.
“You’re doing one.”
I turned to face him. “My idea was leverage. A meek little nun who needed protection. Find her a decent family man, give her a clean start, and move on.”
Nik’s grin widened. “That plan died the moment you laid eyes on her.”
I didn’t deny it.
“You’ve got two choices,” he continued more seriously. “One–cut her loose now. I can build her a new identity, and she disappears—starts a new life.”