Chapter 28
Scarlett
Iwatch Cormac leave the reading room. I knew he had it booked. For what, I don’t know. Now that the door is closed, I can just wail, and no one will hear me.
The sad truth is, if Cormac and I chose to secretly date and we found ourselves in a place to make a commitment, I would have agreed. But he’s not offering me that. He’s offering me a rushed, fake marriage. A lie.
My relationship with my father is too important. I can’t risk that now that I’ve regained his respect by coming back to school.
Then there’s the reputation with my classmates.
But even as I consider how being with Cormac will affect the standing with my father and class, those excuses feel hollow. When I catch my reflection in the glass panels, I have to face that I can’t risk my heart. I can fall for Cormac. Hard. And it sounds like he doesn’t want to be in love.
But I do.
Someday when it’s right…
A week later, I’m in the Pharm lab. Everyone has left, including Cormac, who barely looked or talked to me. I’m dragging my feet. I don’t have simulators this semester. I don’t have hospital rotations. So I sit at the counter and clean up my notes, my mind singing a song I can’t get out of my head.
The door opens a moment later, and someone enters. I smile, thinking that it’s Cormac. That he just can’t stay away.
“Professor, you…” My words die in my throat.
Pierce is standing in the doorway, and my heart slams sideways.
“Hey, Scarlett.” He steps inside like he owns the place and taps something on his phone that activates the door’s smart lock.
He knows the lab’s PIN code.
“How did you—”
“My last name is Langston. That means I get what I want,” he says smugly. “Passcode to a lab in a school my family’s foundation supports is easy.”
I stare at him, lost for words.
“Well, you did it. You got back into school.” He fixes his designer suit jacket, then shakes his head at me. “How is that shitty apartment on First Avenue?”
“You know—”
“You thought I wouldn’t find out?” He saunters toward me, an arrogant smile on his lips.
Before I think to move, he pins me against the cold lab counter.
“I had you followed. I was worried about you, Scarlett.” His voice softens with a tenor that always made me cave.
Manipulative men use kind words and a soft tone like anesthesia, something to numb you right before they cut out your tongue, or your heart.
“I heard things are going well,” he murmurs. “You’re right back in the top five percent of your class.”
Icy bitterness rushes up my spine. “You…you’ve seen my grades?”
He smiles. “My PI is thorough.”
“PI?” I scoff. “That’s a waste of money. I’m not hiding.”
“Blocking me means you are.” He’s tracking my every breath.
“Pierce, you need to leave.” I manage to wiggle out from under him. “Don’t make me get a restraining order.”
“Try it. Any judge who signs that will be impeached.” From inside his suit jacket pocket, he takes out a velvet cube. “This is your ring. Put it on.”
I bluster at the audacity. “I’m not marrying you, Pierce. You cheated. And you hit me. We’re done.”
“You’re mine, Scarlett.” His hand shoots out, wrestling to grab my wrist, like if he gets the diamond on my finger, he’s won.
I jerk my hand away. “Get out!”
He smiles again with that cocky grin like I’m powerless. “I will, but you’re coming home with me.”
“No,” I say loudly, wondering if I should start screaming.
“You’re nothing without me,” he drones, shoving the ring back into his pocket. “You were drowning in grief. I suggested the year off and look how you shined without all that pressure. How happy you were.”
“I was only happy again because of my job as an EMT. I got to help people and not have you look at me like I was a failure.”
“You owe me.”
“I don’t owe you anything.” I clear my throat. “Now get out. I have a lab to finish.”
“Aww, you think your professor cares if you finish. Let’s see who this professor is.
Some loser, who failed at being a doctor.
” Pierce’s voice lowers as he takes out his phone.
Something tickles his self-absorbed brain.
He blinks with a cheek twitch. “Dr. Cormac O’Rourke.
The Cormac O’Rourke, from the Cascadia scandal? ”
The way Pierce says Cormac’s name gives me chills.
“The one and only.”
“Are you fucking him?”
I fold my arms and play Pierce’s truth or dare game. “You just can’t stand that I would actually look up to another doctor more than you.”
“Cormac O’Rourke has secrets that never got reported to your father. If they did, he wouldn’t be here.” Pierce tilts his head like that’s the comeback of the century.
“That means nothing to me. There are a lot of doctors hiding shit.” I start to back up toward the door. “Like ones who bang their brother’s wives and hit their live-in girlfriends.”
Pierce smiles, licking his lips. “Margeaux is a good lay, but I miss you. You’re coming home. Tonight.”
“No.”
“Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett. There is no point to this medical degree when you’ll be my wife and have my children.” His fingers softly graze my cheek, like he’s petting a rescue dog he plans to take home and breed.
“My life is not up to you.” My throat tightens, wondering what kind of influence his father Ramses could have over my dad if they went toe to toe on the matter.
It happens so fast, Pierce puts me in a chokehold that instantly cranks up my fear. I try to fight him off, but he presses his thumb directly on the pulse at my throat. I feel my body go numb. Limp.
He’s a brilliant doctor, and he’d also make a brilliant serial killer. In fact, he can drag me out of here through the emergency exit to where his driver is waiting with his Benz.
“Stop, let me go,” I yell, but my voice is an unintelligible squawk.
There is a series of beeps at the door, followed by the hum of the coded lock disengaging. When the door flies open, Pierce’s gaze snaps to the entrance. He goes still but holds me tight in his grip. My arms sag uselessly at my sides.
Unable to move, I practically cry in relief.
Cormac stands there, eyes wild, his control ready to snap. “She said, let her go.”
Pierce doesn’t budge, but he’s no longer dragging me to the emergency exit. A surge of pinpricks along my limbs alerts me that the numbness is fading.
Holding me, he says, “I’m Dr. Pierce Langston. No one tells me what to do.”
“I don’t care if you’re the fucking surgeon general.” Cormac steps forward, appearing seconds from choosing violence. “Let her go.”
“I’m Scarlett’s boyfriend.”
“Ex,” I snap, and break from his hold.
Pierce knows he and his family can control just about everyone. But can he control the mafia?
“I’m only trying to help the woman I love.
” He straightens, his mask of entitlement firmly in place as he smiles.
“I heard her funding was revoked, and her apartment has been deemed unlivable. She has twenty-four hours to pack and get out. I’m here to bring her home.
Get her through this unfortunate humiliation. ”
“What?” My head spins, eyes narrowed. “You bastard.”
“Now get out of my way,” Pierce barks at Cormac. “This is none of your fucking business.”
Cormac answers with a low, viciously calm growl.
“You may have some kind of pass to walk around this campus because of your name, but touching my student against her will makes it my business. This is your last chance to get the fuck away from her, or I will make one phone call…and you will disappear.”
“Disappear? You and what army? You’re delusional, friend.”
Cormac’s mouth curves upward. But it’s not a smile, it’s something darker. “Your father is Ramses Langston, right?”
Pierce’s ego competes with the family recognition given to his father and not him. “That’s right, professor. And it doesn’t matter who you are.”
Cormac steps closer until they’re eye to eye.
“It absolutely matters who I am,” he says, his voice steely.
“Ask your father about my brothers, the O’Rourkes of Astoria.
Or my sister’s husband’s family, the Quinlans of Lower Manhattan, who have marriage ties to Ares fucking Zervas.
Then ask your daddy if you should be harassing Cormac O’Rourke’s student. ”
Recognition hits Pierce like cold water. He’s up against not one mafia family but three.
Watching my ex sweat this out makes goosebumps break out across my arms. Desire surges through me at how Cormac is handling Pierce. My ex stares at me, running through his options. Mostly, if I’m worth it. A shadow passes his eyes, and he knows he can’t win this battle.
I’m not worth his disappearance. For now.
“You’ll regret this, Scarlett,” he whispers in my ear.
“No,” Cormac answers for me. “She won’t.”
Pierce retreats, stalks to the door, and leaves.
Silence swallows the space between us. Cormac still hasn’t looked away from the door. His hands are fists. His control is cracking.
“Cormac,” I whisper. “Thank you. You didn’t have to out yourself or your family connections.”
“I’m not outing myself. Powerful men like Ramses Langston know there are underground forces who rule this city.” He turns to face me, looking me up and down.
The fury on his face melts into something softer. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I admit, I was hoping you’d call one of those mob friends like Griffin to kill him.”
Cormac’s cheek twitches like he’s ready to give me a lesson in how that mob family operates. Something tells me that the tall guy in the suit who married his sister is the real dangerous one.
My phone buzzes with an incoming message.
Hamilton Medical College Bursar: Notice of funds reversal. Please pay the amount below within twenty-four hours to maintain enrollment and transcript availability.
I gasp at the amount I owe.
“My loan. It’s been revoked,” I choke out. “Can Pierce really do that?”
Cormac reads the message over my shoulder. “With the name Langston, I’m afraid he can.”
Below the school message is another from Kay at the rental property management company, saying there’s been a reported incident in my unit.
An electrical hazard, possibly caused by a hair styling device left on.
The apartment has been deemed unsafe, and I’m not permitted to live there.
I have twenty-four hours to arrange a supervised retrieval of my belongings before access is revoked.
My knees almost buckle. No! How can this be happening?
I consider the call I’ll have to make to Regan and beg for the cat-hair-covered sofa again.
“I’ll take care of this.” Cormac’s hand slides softly across my shoulder to cup my jaw. Not to restrain. To claim. “But you know what I want.”
My heart pounds. “You still need a wife?”
“I do.” Cormac’s fingers tighten. “And time is running out, little Ford.”
“I don’t mean to play hardball, but I need…”
“You need your tuition paid, which I can take care of with one phone call to the bursar’s office. As my wife, you’ll have a nice place to live.”
I find myself nodding.
“And you’ll have something else…”
“What is that?” I expect he’ll say I’ll have his cock inside me every night since he made it clear he’d be fucking whoever he took for a wife, whether he loved her or not.
“Protection from that piece of garbage who wants to breed you.”
Okay, not what I expected, but knowing Pierce will no longer have any power over me and would likely be afraid to look at me sideways is quite a perk.
I consider asking about the sexual rules of this marriage of convenience, but with Cormac looking so charged up and me feeling vulnerable, now isn’t a good time.
There is a bigger issue to contend with.
“My father,” I blurt.
“Easy, little Ford.” Cormac takes my hand and squeezes it. “I’ll work that out with him. Explain you’re in a jam, and so am I. Because of his demands.”
My father will know the marriage isn’t real.
I’ll have to make this make sense to him.
I’m in dire straits financially, and Dad has made it clear over and over that he can’t help me.
This marriage of convenience to Cormac is the only way I can continue medical school.
He knows Cormac can easily provide financial stability.
My father cannot think Cormac is forcing me into this, or he’ll do something stupid like fire him.
And piss off the Irish Mob.
“Okay.” I take a breath. “When? When will you talk to my father?”
Cormac smiles with victory on his lips.
“Seeing you need a place to sleep tonight…” He leans in and presses his lips to mine with a kiss that already feels like a vow. “Now is a good time.”