Chapter 43 Olivia
Olivia
I watched Scarlett go, Lucy following after her, watching her, the door shut behind her.
I turned back to Havoc, worry filling me. “She looks so much younger now.”
He nodded, making his way over. “Tends to happen when someone is beat to shit,” he stated coldly, his eyes as chilling as the arctic. “It’ll last as long as it takes for her to remember who she is.”
The problem was, I didn’t think she knew who that was anymore. I searched his eyes, still seeing that hint of pain lingering there. “Are you angry that she killed Lady Elise?”
Poppy turned on him at the question, already reaching for her gun as if she planned on killing him if he gave the wrong answer.
“Scarlett deserved at least that,” he conceded without thought. “You saw the way she reacted about Az, didn’t you?”
I nodded, pressing my lips together, but it was Poppy who spoke up.
“She thinks something is wrong, which is valid if he went after Malachi by himself. Of all the idiotic things,” she cursed under her breath.
“I know Scarlett wants a piece of him, but she’s definitely not leaving the house for at least a week, more if we can put her in a coma and force her to heal correctly.
But we’re obviously not going to do that, so what’s the plan? ”
Havoc and I exchanged a glance, the air a little heavier now, but charged all the same.
“Now we follow her lead,” I answered, turning back to Poppy.
“She knows him better than we do. She knows what his plans are, how he would want to handle this. We need to trust that when she says she’s good, she’s good, and have her back when she realizes she isn’t.
” I would watch her back. Even if she told me she was ready to go tomorrow, to hunt Azrael down, I would follow her.
I would follow her because I would follow Azrael and I saw enough of him in her to trust that.
“That could be in the middle of a war,” Poppy pointed out.
I nodded, knowing that there would always be a small shred of Poppy that would never fully trust Azrael and his process. “It’ll be a lot of weight carrying, I think, but not more than we can handle. Havoc—”
The door opened again and everyone turned at the sound, finding Scarlett standing in the doorway, her rabbit still in one hand, her blade in the other. Even from here, I could see the white of her knuckles.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She was staring at me, her brows furrowed as she studied me carefully, swaying gently on her feet.
She looked like she was on the verge of collapse, every piece of skin I could see discolored or slightly swollen.
It would take her some time to fully heal.
Several weeks, maybe, a couple of months.
Her mind was a bit harder to judge. How did a mind that was already broken heal?
My cracked mind only cracked more, but Scarlett?
What happened when a psychopath was tortured?
She tucked the rabbit under one arm and slid the blade between her teeth, something that always had me cringing inwardly.
That blade was sharp enough to slice through hair in midair.
One simple mistake and her smile would look like mine, which would be terrifying considering the stretch, sharpened smile she now wore.
“When people gain weight, they gained it everywhere, but you only gained it in your tummy, and it’s round. Why is it round?”
Poppy turned to me with an expectant look. “Yeah, Liv, why is it round.”
My hand instinctively slid over my stomach.
She wasn’t wrong. I was almost five months pregnant now and finally starting to show.
My belly had grown enough that Poppy and I had gone shopping just a few days before we got the phone call about Scarlett.
The pants I was wearing now had a band around them, but I thought my flowy shirt would have hid it well enough from Scarlett that she wouldn’t notice.
Not that I didn’t want her to notice, we just had other things to worry about right now.
Me being pregnant shouldn’t have been the focal point.
I pushed myself to a stand and turned to face her, the smile easily spreading across my lips. I lifted and dropped my hands. “I’m pregnant,” I told her.
Her eyes fell to my stomach, her expression, even behind the smile, becoming unreadable.
After a few seconds, she turned to Havoc. “She’s the priority.”
My shoulders fell and I took a step towards her. “Scarlett—”
“Azrael requested her to stay because he knew you would protect her. Of course, I’ll do the same,” Havoc interjected.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “I’m fine,” I told them.
“I can take care of myself.” I could, even so, I was relieved they wanted to protect the life inside of me so much.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared about the risks that came with this, but we still had a mission to finish, and this mission was the most important one to date.
I would be fine, so long as we finished it before I grew any more.
“But,” Havoc went on as Scarlett gave him a nod and returned her attention to me, “we’re also going to have your back too.”
Her eyes flicked to his.
“You’re not going in at 100%, we all know that. If worst comes to worst, you and Olivia will leave, and Poppy and I will finish it, capture those we need to capture, and kill the rest. Do you understand me?”
Her eyes hardened, and her smile sharpened. It was so sharp, in fact, I could have sworn I saw her teeth shift. “No more harm will come to my family, no matter the cost.”
Worried, I watched as she turned back towards the hall. My eyes found Havoc’s and Poppy’s, that worry filling me. “Do you really expect her to leave?”
Havoc shook his head. “Not even for a second. We’ll deal with it when it comes,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve had my fair share of dealing with crazy, I think I can handle her.”
I had my doubts. Even so, the worry didn’t ease because I had seen something, rather the lack of something, when I looked into her eyes just then. “I think I can put together at least one of the pieces they stole from her.”
Both of their faces hardened, clear anger in their eyes, although Havoc’s seemed a bit more volatile at the mention of it. “Lady Elise does that.”
There had been nothing but pure hatred in her eyes. Nothing. No joy or warmth or light of any kind. Absolution had killed Scarlett Thorin, now it was time to figure out who came back.