Chapter 60 Scarlett
SCARLETT
Marcus slid into my doorframe, all smooth confidence and toxic shine. His eyes immediately went to the bookshelf, where items had been scattered during last night’s violent encounter, now cleaned up.
“Get out.” I stood up from behind my desk, squaring my shoulders and jutting my chin forward.
My gaze darted past him, relieved to see people milling about nearby. Witnesses. Safety in numbers and all that.
Theoretically.
“Do you know where I just came from?” His lips curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile.
“Hell? Crawling back up through the floorboards must be exhausting.” I kept my voice steady, refusing to show weakness. Refusing to show any part of that scared woman he’d seen yesterday. Today, he’d get defiant Scarlett. Strong Scarlett.
I watched his disgusting lips curl higher on one side. “It seems our friend Jace is in a lot of trouble.”
Trouble? The worry hit me like a sledgehammer, but I wasn’t about to give Marcus the satisfaction of seeing me react. For all I knew, this was just another game, another trap.
“Funny that you still use the word friend. Does he know you’re actually a snake?” Because he will today, you creep.
Whew. My last little bite of venom did not go over well with Marcus. He stepped further into my office, shoving his hands into his pockets with that same flash of darkness in his eyes that I’d seen last night.
Unfortunately for me, my heart had the same reaction: trying to run right out of my chest and escape without me. My throat instantly dried, and I put my hands on my hips to conceal their trembling.
“I have to say, I was rather surprised today,” he said, gaze assessing me.
“Were you expecting your horns to grow overnight, or did you think Satan’s points would take longer to come out?” I tilted my head, mock concerned.
“Figured you would have run right to him last night and told him what happened.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that the police already knew everything, but snapped it shut. Information was power. Now was not the time to reveal any part of my hand.
“You know better than to tell anyone what happened last night,” he said.
But something in his expression shifted, something I sensed was important.
Why was he taking a different tone than last night?
Why show your violent self, only to come in here with more sternness and less hair-grabbing?
I supposed one could argue it was due to all the witnesses, but my gut said otherwise.
“Something’s changed.”
He didn’t deny it.
“Interesting.” I walked around my desk, trying to pretend all of my organs weren’t completely panicking and curling into the fetal position at the mere presence of him.
It turned out that while my brain was on board with taking Marcus down, my body was still reacting like that scared little girl running from her father.
“I’m not here to talk about last night,” he said dismissively.
“And yet it’s pretty clear that what happened between us would cause you much bigger problems today than it did yesterday.”
“And what makes you say that?” His eyes narrowed.
“Easy. I see something on your face that I didn’t see yesterday.”
“Do tell.” His voice was dangerously soft.
“Fear,” I said, finding strength in the observation. “You look afraid, Marcus. Tell me, is it because you thought about what you did and realized your entire career could implode?”
I mean, what else could have happened in a matter of hours that would raise the stakes for this man? Wasn’t the fear of losing his job or being arrested always there?
“My career isn’t the one you should be worried about,” he said.
“Right, it’s mine. Because you thought that threatening me would stop me from revealing what a disgusting piece of trash you are.” The words were out before I could stop them, my anger overriding my fear.
“You might want to be careful about speaking to me like that. You never know when things could change around here, Scarlett.”
“Wow, threatening me again? That’s so creative and unexpected. Do you have any original material, or are you just recycling the same tired bullying tactics from yesterday?”
“I just came from a board meeting,” Marcus declared, ignoring my taunt.
“And what, you expect me to be impressed by that? Did they give you a gold star for attendance?”
“The board is convening about executing a morality clause against Jace. He’s in hot water. It seems someone let it slip that you and he have a relationship.”
Okay, I thought it was impossible for my heart to beat any faster, but it turned out that wasn’t correct. It was thundering so hard that the edges of my vision started to go black.
“What would give them the idea that we were in a relationship?” I kept my voice neutral, though my mind was racing.
He smirked, like whatever the answer was provided all sorts of satisfaction to him. It made me squirm, wondering what it could be. Assuming it was even real, mind you.
He could be bluffing.
“The board is circling for blood,” Marcus explained. “If anything else comes up that spooks them off, the acquisition will be canceled, and everyone in this company will be out of a job.”
Oh. So, that was what he was doing. Trying to warn me that it wasn’t just Jace who would suffer the consequences if I spoke out against Marcus; everyone at this company would suffer.
“And you expect me to believe all of that? Do you pinkie promise it’s true?” I held up my little finger, sarcasm dripping from every word.
“It is true. Whether you want to believe it or not is irrelevant.”
“You don’t care about Jace or the employees. You only care about yourself.”
He cocked his head, as if waiting for me to put the pieces together.
It took me a second, and I had to say, I wouldn’t have guessed it if he hadn’t come in here playing the part of evil villain, but Marcus was an executive.
Jace was in hot water. Marcus was here, looking like he’d won, and that must mean …
“They want you to take over.” I prayed he’d deny it. Or at least give me a flash of something on his face that told me it wasn’t true, but with sickening awareness, I realized it must be true. “So, you’re here to beg me for my silence? For Jace’s sake, right?” I added sarcastically.
“No.” He took a step closer and sneered at me, letting ten seconds pass. “I’m here to make it look like I did.”
My eyes darted between his, my mouth falling open as the pieces clicked into place.
“You did this,” I realized, searching his face for any flicker of guilt. “You got him in trouble because you want to take him down.”
Marcus’s jaw clenched, but he remained silent, his eyes never leaving mine.
“You’ve been resentful of him, haven’t you?” I continued. “Being second-in-command.” I circled him slowly, the way he’d circled me countless times before. “You’ve probably watched him make decisions and thought you could do better.”
A muscle twitched in his cheek, telling me I’d struck a nerve.
I leaned in, close enough to catch the scent of his expensive cologne. “Jealousy is a dangerous emotion, Marcus.”
He exhaled sharply through his nose, hands curling into fists at his sides.
“But this?” I gestured between me and upstairs, in the direction of Jace’s office. “This opportunity fell in your lap unexpectedly.” My lips curved into a bitter smile. “Taking him down, seeing him replaced—that was the goal. But they offered you the role, didn’t they?”
Marcus’s facade finally cracked, his eyes widening just enough for me to know I’d hit the mark.
“Which you didn’t expect,” I continued. “Typically, when a board asks a CEO to step down, they bring in their own, but they’re offering you to become the CEO of Lockwood Holdings.”
I stepped closer, riding the wave of newfound power. “So, now all your dirty little secrets are going to be a gigantic problem if they come out, aren’t they?”
“Stop talking,” Marcus hissed.
I crossed my arms, unmoved by his command.
“Because the NEW CEO of Lockwood Holdings? He can’t be entangled in a sexual harassment scandal now.” I paused for effect, watching his face drain of color. “Let alone an assault charge.”
Marcus barked out a laugh. “They’ll never believe you.”
“Maybe not,” I conceded with a shrug. My fingers traced the edge of my phone in my pocket, drawing comfort from its presence. “But if they’re willing to fire Jace over a possible relationship with an employee, what will they do when they discover a written police report detailing your assault?”
His mouth twisted into a sneer. “They’ll think you were trying to get back at me for taking Jace’s job.”
I couldn’t help the triumphant smile that spread across my face. “Well, there’s just one little problem with that, isn’t there?”
“And what’s that?” he growled, taking a menacing step forward.
I stood my ground, chin lifted. “I filed the police report this morning. It’s time-stamped,” I said, the words landing between us like a grenade.
“Sounds like you just found out about replacing Jace, so how is it that I would’ve woken up this morning with, what, psychic capabilities?
” I spread my hands wide. “And decided to try to take you down as a preemptive strike?”
I shook my head slowly, watching realization dawn in his eyes. The air in the room chilled a thousand degrees with that look on his face. His jaw clenched, his eyes darkening to something primitive and dangerous.
“You went to the police?” He stepped closer.
“Leave.” My voice didn’t waver, but inside, alarms were blaring. “Now.”
“What did you tell them?” Another step.
“I’ll scream.” My hand inched toward my phone.
“You little …” Marcus snapped, his composure cracking.
“You’re so charming. It’s any wonder you’re able to fool anyone at all.” I forced a brittle smile. “Though I guess toxic masculinity and a nice suit can hide a multitude of sins.”
“You’ll be discredited to the board, the police, everyone.”
“Your name is in black and white on an official police report, and pretty soon, some detectives are going to come talk to you.”
Marcus’s leer sent a cascade of goose bumps over my skin. It was the type of leer that had my gut forming knots, had my alarm bells screaming to run. That I was in the room with a predator, a predator who looked like he was coming unhinged.
So terrifying that this time, when he took a step toward me, I instinctively held my palm up. Unfortunately, my hand was shaking. Worse, when he took yet another step, I stepped backward, slithering around my desk like yesterday’s frightened woman again. Now both of my hands shot up defensively.
He pursued me, backing me steadily toward the wall.
“You can’t touch me now,” I said. “There’s a police record of you. If anything happens to me again …” I let my thought trail off.
Marcus stopped, his eyes flicking to my hands before settling on my face with a glare so intense that it felt like he wanted to reduce it to nothing but blood and skin.
In that moment, I wondered what Marcus was truly capable of.
In all the years I’d witnessed my father beat my mother, I’d never seen the kind of darkness now emanating from this man’s eyes.
They seemed to turn completely black, as if a demon had been hiding behind that expensive suit and charming smile all along.
And I’d just unleashed it.
His gaze shifted to my open door, perhaps reminding himself that he couldn’t harm me physically. Not with the office full of people at least. Yet his hunger for violence was palpable in the air between us. I swore, I could freaking taste it.
“Well,” he said, his voice unnervingly calm as he straightened his cuffs, “that’s assuming you’re alive to tell them.”
I froze. He couldn’t actually be threatening to kill me over this.
Could he?
With one last silent warning, Marcus turned on his heel and left, shutting the door behind him, trapping me alone with my spiraling thoughts.
I sagged against the wall, legs trembling, breath coming in shallow gasps.
Last night’s violence had shown me how dangerous Marcus was, but now, I realized he was far more lethal than I’d understood.
He wasn’t just threatening to kill me; he was practically promising it with those eyes.
All he needed was to get me alone, just once.
Maybe he’d follow me home or find a way to break into my apartment.
I couldn’t explain it, but every instinct screamed that I now had a deadly target on my back.
And Marcus had every reason, and more disturbingly, the intention, to eliminate me.
But that was preposterous, right? My intuition had to be wrong.
People don’t just murder each other like this.
Do they?
Suddenly, the door to my office flew open with such force that it slammed against the wall, making me gasp.
“Is it him?” Jace snapped.