Chapter 27
I’m staringat a sea of kids and families in the dojo. Excitement fills the air, but I’m exhausted. I didn’t sleep last night.
But it was worth it.
Fate had lost her patience with me. She wasn’t subtle. She took a baseball bat to my life, hitting me with sign after sign.
Maren spit nails because I ran after Scarlett. We didn’t make a scene in front of our respective kids, but Maren gave me the evil silent treatment while we left the market, and I dropped her and Spencer off.
Why? Because I didn’t apologize for running after Scarlett.
Seeing her was my first sign. She looked so real and tender in her cozy Grinch sweats, with her hair in that cute knot. My gaze landed on her, and I didn’t see my past. Scarlett suddenly looked like my future. I saw her hugging Gia, and I saw the one thing I could change.
My one chance to make it right.
But Maren made it worse.
She was smug while Scarlett suffered. Watching her abandon her cart, Gia tugged my hand. I lifted her, and she whispered in my ear. “Baba, I want Scarlett.”
It was another sign, so I whispered back, “Me, too, my kóri,” before I pecked her cheek, set her down, and ran after her.
Did I know there’d be hell to pay?
Sure. Thank god I’m a billionaire who doesn’t give a damn.
Though no money will fix how I’ve hurt Scarlett, how she won’t even look at me.
Cookie night was canceled, and Gia seemed thrilled to have me to herself. While I cuddled with her and watched Frozen, Maren tried to start a text fight with me like we’re thirteen.
Maren Banks
Don’t ever embarrass me like that again
Speak to your son like your boy. Not me
Maren Banks
I thought you threw that white trash away months ago. Seems I was wrong
Yes, you’re very wrong
Goodbye
So I ended the fight like I’m thirty and no one’s bitch, because it didn’t take but a second of jealousy for Maren to reveal her true toxic self again.
Then I waited for Gia to fall asleep. Since it was Friday and Celine’s night off, I had only one other person I trusted with her.
Will you watch our girl?
Stud
Not for you
For Gorgeous
Stud
There in 60
Zar lives at his Isle of Palms home now, not his suite on the fifth floor. He sees Gia every day, but I’m like a ghost to him.
And I deserve it.
When he finally arrived, his customary chill was gone. He seethed, “Are you finally making this right?”
“She’s with that fuckboy, Jameson, now.”
Suddenly, Zar’s eyes sparkled with mischief like he knew something I didn’t. “Well then,” he smirked, “be the raging bull with the biggest balls and go fight for her.”
But before I made an ass of myself twice and barged into Scarlett’s building and killed Jameson Grant, I checked her balcony first. Her lights were on, so I texted her about that song.
Another song from Adele.
It was another sign: the slap my face deserved.
A moment later, Scarlett was on her balcony. From a hundred feet above, I could barely hear her sobs, but they crushed me.
Scarlett was alone, but I swear someone stood beside me.
Hello? Can you hear me?
It was my beautiful ghost.
That bridge spanned the horizon from where I stood by the river, calling to me, hearing another woman crying because of me, and I started to walk.
It was the final sign, and I listened.
I walked the path I’ve hated for so long, curving and climbing for miles until I stood at the center of the Ravenel Bridge, as close to that spot as I could.
The memory will never leave me, and it shouldn’t. Because you can love someone and let them go. It was time. It was okay. Darby was singing to me. She was telling me to. From the wallet in my back pocket, I took out my first wedding band. I’m saving Darby’s wedding ring, her diamond, for Gia one day.
But the gold wedding band?
It belongs with the angels, too. I gave it the river, with a prayer and some tears, and finally said goodbye.
When I got home, I found Zar in my bed, and Gia curled up with him. So I laid beside her, too, and slept an hour before Gia woke us up.
Once she hopped off the bed to go to the bathroom, I reached for Zar. I held his cheek. “I’m sorry,” I told him.
He trailed his fingertip over my lips. “Did she hear that, too?”
“Not yet. It was too late last night. But she will. I promise. I love her. I love you.”
He cocked a smile. “I love you, too, you fucking asshole.” Then he paused. He had to tell me, “I found someone.”
“Good.” I meant it.
“I still want you. I still want her. But I belong with him like you belong with her.” Then he always has to be a sexy smartass. “And I swear if you don’t get her back for us, I’ll be showing your ass the business end of a whip.”
I laughed. He laughed. Gia raced back to my bed, jumping on it, jumping on us until it all felt right, except for the one person we miss the most.
“Someone put Meow Mix in the Chex Mix today.”
As usual, Abbey stands beside me in the dojo, her snark making me laugh.
The belt ceremony is a celebration, so snacks and punch are being served. Zar was supposed to come too, but we woke up to Gia, our truce, and an earthquake in Naples, so he took a flight to assess our property there so I wouldn’t miss this for Gia.
Celine’s here, too. She’s been flirting with some kid’s single granddad, and good for her.
I look across the dojo mat and see what Abbey’s joking about. There, Maren stands, right back to her old ways of gossiping with the moms. This time, their clawing eyes swipe my way.
While kids scurry around, I mutter to Abbey, “I think I started a pussy fight.”
“Started?” She scoffs, “This is the championship round because look who just walked in the door.”
Immediately, I see her, too, the breath ripped from my lungs.
Holy Shit, it’s the real Scarlett Jones.
Not the one pretending to be my demure assistant, or a proper lady fitting in, or a woman dripping in French couture. No, this is Scarlett in full effect, making all eyes turn her way while she smirks back at Maren.
Long auburn hair in a fiery mane. Black leather pants and boots. A sleeveless ivory mock turtleneck. Scarlett’s showing off her tattoos, her lithe muscles, her amazing breasts with proud nipple piercings, the diamonds I gave her. You can see their outline through her tight shirt with no bra, and my cock roars to life after being silent for months.
The hisses from Maren’s clowder are instant, but this time, Scarlett stalks their way, blowing a kiss to the other moms before she yanks Maren’s hand into a covert hold.
I’d give half my fortune to know what she’s whispering in Maren’s ear, but it looks like Maren is about to piss in her paisley pants.
“Fuck yes,” Abbey mutters, watching as Scarlett leaves Maren visibly shaken. “The kitty just met the lioness.”
I can’t take my eyes off her. Scarlett finds a spot to stand by herself, and there’s so much I need to say to her. I know she’ll make me pay first, and hell, yes, I’ll probably enjoy it.
Gia runs across the mat. It melts me how she asks Scarlett to fix her ponytail. It’s fine. I fixed Gia’s hair this morning, but she misses Scarlett. I do, too.
The Sensei claps, and three dozen kids in gees form three lines. The dojo is stuffed with proud families, too, so one of the staff thankfully props open the double glass doors at the front to let in some mild winter air.
Still, I sweat at the sight of Scarlett. I don’t hide that when I’m not watching Gia, I’m watching her.
But she won’t look at me.
Like I’ve hurt Scarlett beyond repair.
“Gia Mercier.”
Sensei calls her forward, swelling my chest with pride, watching Gia demonstrate her kicks, punches, and blocks. She gets a big smile when it’s her turn to chop a board as thin as paper, but it’s the gesture that counts. She does it with a fearless “Keeyah!” and it’s too cute. We clap when Sensei takes her yellow belt, replacing it with an orange one, and I glance over.
Scarlett’s watching her, too, blooming heat through my chest because it’s not with her stoic bodyguard face. She’s smiling, proud, and teary-eyed for Gia.
Like a mom.
It takes an hour for the ceremony to end, and then mayhem ensues. Kids run everywhere. Families crowd the floor for pictures. Punch gets spilled on the mat, and Gia’s running between Abbey and me, to Celine, then Scarlett, then to giggle with her friends.
Finally, I work my way to Scarlett in the crowd. She sees me coming and looks away like she’s searching for Gia.
I’m not known for patience or for being a kind man when I want something.
Something that’s mine…
But I try.
I close the distance between us. The crowd presses against us, and she won’t look at me, but she lets me lean in to whisper.
“Would you like to demonstrate your black belt by kicking my blue balls?” I swear a smile ghosts her lips, but she fights it. “Or you can break boards over my dick, though I’m warning, it stays hard for you.”
Her face is stone, her eyes scanning the room, her chin starting to pivot. “Your girlfriend sure would hack up a furball over that.”
“I’m a grown man; I don’t have girlfriends. I claim the woman who’s mine, and it’s you.”
I watch it dawn over Scarlett’s eyes how I’m not standing with Maren, how Maren’s glaring our way because I’m seeking her again.
I want her back.
I’m about to demand Scarlett look at me, but she demands, “Where’s Gia?”
Panic laces her voice, and I whip around, searching the crowd, too.
Kids are screaming. Parents are laughing. The dojo has speakers set up with music playing. It’s wall-to-wall people.
I don’t see her either.
“Gia!” I shout into the crowd while Scarlett turns toward the open glass doors.
“Shit!” She starts rushing that way, and I see it, too—my world being taken from me in slow motion.
I watch the nightmare in the parking lot through the glass wall of windows. Brooke Turner is trying to drag Gia by the arm across the pavement, but Gia’s kicking her shins.
Scarlett pushes through the crowd to get her. I do, too.
“Baba!” Gia screams for me as we rush outside, leaving the din of the dojo behind.
“Gia!” I start running for her, but Scarlett grabs my shirt, yanking me back, and I halt, suddenly seeing it, too.
The driver’s door of Brooke’s white Mercedes is open, and her husband rises from his seat, raising his right hand with a black gun aimed our way.
“Twenty million!” He shouts while all I can hear is Gia screaming, “Baba!” and “No!” and “Keeyah!” She’s kicking Brooke, who’s dragging my soul toward the car.
“Get her. I’ll get the gun.”
Scarlett says it so fast. She acts so fast because she is faster, but I act, too.
Together, we run, rushing them. It makes Brooke and Gia scream at my approach. I can only focus on my daughter and the blur on my left that’s Scarlet, racing faster than me right toward a gun. And I don’t have to stop what’s about to happen. Give me my daughter. I reach, grabbing Gia’s hand, while my fist lands across Brooke’s face.
Then, a blast, a gunshot pierces the air.
It’s instinct. Gia screams, and I take her down with me. I shield her body with mine, covering her, holding her tight, my reality a blur with her safely in my arms.
Brooke screams. She’s on the ground beside us, her nose pouring blood from my punch, but she’s not looking at me. She’s watching, and I look over my shoulder at the spectacle, too.
Scarlett has Brooke’s husband on the ground. He’s a big man, but she’s wrapped around his back while he tries to fight her. He’s reaching overhead, punching at her skull, dragging their bodies across the pavement, but Scarlett’s arms trap his neck in a chokehold, her legs coiled around his waist. She’s not letting him go.
Or breathe.
“Bitch.” He’s spitting. His face is red, eyes bulging with no air because Scarlett fights. She squeezes her arms tighter, choking off more oxygen to his brain with her right bicep over his neck…and that’s when I see it: blood weeping from the gunshot wound through her arm.
“Scarlett!” I call out, but I hold Gia. She’s crying, whimpering under me.
I search the pavement for the gun. Scarlett’s kicked it away from the man’s grasp, but she’s not taking chances.
“Go night, night, motherfucker,” she growls, and with one final squeeze of her bicep, making it gush blood, he collapses.
Sirens near. The screams from the dojo hit my logic. The Sensei blocked the doors. He kept everyone safely inside, and it’s wise until Scarlett does how she’s trained.
She kicks the man’s body off hers and drags to her feet, plucking his gun from the ground before aiming it at him and Brooke.
“Luca,” she huffs for breath, “clear the scene. Secure Gia inside.”
She’s right, so I pick Gia up with me. “Scarlett!” But she starts crying, reaching for her.
“She’s okay, my kóri. She won the fight.” I hold Gia tight, racing back toward the building and Abbey, who pushes past the Sensei, reaching her arms out for her.
It happens fast. Police cars swarm the parking lot with two ambulances behind them.
Scarlett sets the weapon down and puts her hands in the air. At first, officers aim their guns at her, but I run back toward the scene. “Not her!” I shout with my hands up, too. “She’s my bodyguard! It’s them.” I nod to Brooke, crying on the ground, and her husband starting to wake.
The police take no chances. Some keep their weapons drawn while others put cuffs on all three. It’s protocol, but I don’t care.
Calmly, I approach the officer, cuffing Scarlett while my blood boils. “She’s Protection Officer Scarlett Jones with HGR Security. I’m Luca Mercier. She was protecting my daughter and neutralized this kidnapping attempt. Uncuff her now!” Scarlett winks at me but staggers, the color draining from her face. “She needs medical care!” She’s trying to calm me down, but it’s not okay; she’s about to pass out.
The officer realizes it, too. “Medic!” She shouts, and EMTs appear, then it’s a blur.
Scarlett’s on a gurney. Officers secure the scene. A medic asks to check on Gia, too, so we climb into the back of the other ambulance. Gia wants me to hold her the whole time, and I do. She’s physically fine but shaken, asking me several times, “Is Scarlett okay?”
“Yes, my kóri,” I keep telling her while I watch them whisk Scarlett away in another ambulance while we stay parked in the lot. I know she’ll be okay, but someone tell that to my heart.
Once Gia is settled down, admiring the stickers an EMT gave her, an officer approaches.
He takes my statement. I give him the basic information before I insist, “Please contact Charlie Ravenel of HGR. She can fill you in on the details.”
I don’t want my daughter to hear them, to be scared. I’m not. We’re safe. Brooke and her husband will be locked up for good.
The officer is gentle with Gia. “So,” he eases, “Gia, have you seen those people before?”
“No,” she answers, sitting on my lap. “But they were mean, and Scarlett beat them up for me.”
The officer hides his chuckle. “She’s your bodyguard?”
Gia shakes her head. She’s never heard that word used for Scarlett.
“No,” she answers proudly. “Scarlett is my mama bear.”
Hot rocks choke my throat.
Gia got that from the Disney movie we watched with Scarlett, the one about the brave, fiery-haired girl and her mom, but this isn’t a fantasy.
It’s my final sign.
“Yes, she is, my kóri.”
Because I’ll make sure it’s real.