Page 47 of Carved Obsession (The Sanctum Syndicate #4)
“Congratulations, you’re officially adults,” Scarlet says. “What’s up? Why are you here?”
“Just checking up on you.” He shrugs, walking over to sit on the couch.
She rolls her eyes and turns to the freshly brewed coffee, pulling the cup out and setting it on the side.
“Convenient timing,” she mutters under her breath. “How do you want yours?” she asks me, yet she sounds slightly unsettled.
Instinctively, I reach over and brush my palm up and down her spine. Her smile settles a little further.
“Sorry about this,” she whispers. “So, what coffee do you want?”
“How about you go sit down, and I’ll handle this.”
“Umm—”
I nod, gesturing toward the couch. She takes a slow, deep breath, then agrees, her stance slightly more relaxed as she grabs the cup and heads toward her brother.
“I’m okay, Marc. I know you have . . . concerns, but everything’s fine.”
“I’d rather be the judge of that, if you don’t mind,” he says.
“I do mind, actually,” Scarlet snaps back.
Before her brother can say anything else, another knock rattles the door.
“Fucking shitballs, what now?” she exclaims.
I grab the two espressos I brewed and set them on the table before I take a seat in the high-back armchair by the unlit fireplace.
When Scarlet returns, her father stands tall in the room, the resemblance between him and his children uncanny, though his eyes are green instead of their brown.
He’s not a built man, more on the slender, wiry side, but he’s tall, with a lot of white hair sneaking through the same dark-brown as Scarlet’s.
“Carter, just in case you felt like meeting one member of my family was not enough this fine morning, this is my father.” She walks straight to the couch and plops down on it. “I feel like a fucking child,” she sighs.
I rise, walking over to the man who meets me halfway. “Carter Pierce. Nice to meet you, sir.”
His eyes narrow on me. “Arias Brasa. You’ll excuse me for barging in. My wife is on her way too, actually, but I’m sure you can understand why we’re a bit...anxious for Scarlet.”
“Anxious? You’re being rude, Dad!” she protests.
“I understand.” I nod.
I draw up short. This is a completely new situation for me. Unprecedented.
We all sit around the coffee table, sizing each other up. Maybe they thought they could intimidate me. Or that my reputation would be an exaggeration. They can’t, and it isn’t.
“Jeez, y’all are close to having a pissing contest,” Scarlet complains.
“Well, last time you were with Carter, you totaled your car in the middle of a forest and went MIA all night, darling,” her father says.
“Actually, she totaled my car too,” I add.
He bursts out laughing, just as I hear the front door and a woman’s voice as she announces herself.
“I see the ice was broken,” a short woman with shoulder-length, dark, curly hair says as she walks in. “Hi, I’m Carmen. That one’s better half.” She points to her husband.
Arias’s whole demeanor lights up with her in the room, and Scarlet laughs next to me.
“Pleased to meet you, Carmen. I’m—”
“Carter Pierce. Don’t you worry, I know all about you.”
I turn to Scarlet, but she shrugs and shakes her head.
“I’m not sure what these boys told you, but I’m just gonna say this.
To both of you.” Carmen props herself on the armrest of her husband’s seat, crossing her legs and staring between us.
“I know what organization you’re not only part of, but founded, Carter.
I know of the danger that surrounds you.
Well, a part of it, anyway. But I also know Scarlet and her predilection for it.
Truthfully, this”—she points between us—“connection you two have doesn’t surprise me one bit.
I really want to tell you that if you put Scarlet in any danger, we’ll kill ourselves and take you down with us to avenge her.
However, in reality, we know that no one can make her do anything she doesn’t want to.
Stubborn like her father. Wherever she sees danger, she dives in headfirst. All I’m going to say to both of you is.
..be careful. Seriously. Be careful. And I hope you told this man about your CIP, because he’ll have to keep an eye on your reckless ass. ”
This time around, both men burst into playful laughter, and Scarlet joins in too. The atmosphere turns lighter, the mood almost fully flipped. Even with Marc still watching me like a hawk.
For the next hour or so, I sit almost entirely in silence, observing these familial interactions. How homey and comfortable they are with each other. An ease I’ve never experienced within my own family. Not the blood relations, anyway.
Logically, I can’t miss something I never knew, yet as I watch them laugh and talk, make coffees and sort out breakfast as they throw around inside jokes from their past or the siblings’ childhoods, I realize that my logic is flawed. I missed out. And I’ll never have this for myself.
Was it all my fault?
Did I ruin my parents?
An early memory of my mother slips through my mind.
“You’re good, darling. God plants the seeds of good in each of us. Yours is in there too.”
“If that’s true, then why do I want to do such bad things?”
“Because of that terrible creature within you. The one we will soon rip out and send back to hell.”
If it wasn’t for me, my mother wouldn’t have gone on the path she went on. My parents could have still been together now. Happily, maybe.
As I witness Scarlet’s sunshine, how she casts her light on everyone around her with her perky, carefree attitude, I can’t understand how she could ever care about someone like me.