Page 60 of Collateral Claim

Connor turns in his seat, eyebrows raised. “Philip is sensitive.”

“Philip will follow Marquis and do what is necessary.” Marquis agreed that he’ll recover faster and better at the Keep, so the couple is moving in.

Connor makes a sour face. “Dec thinks you’re still mad about what I said to the doc. Are you?”

“I forgave you. Give me a few years to forget.”

He mutters something under his breath. I don’t make him say it out loud because I’m better off not knowing. “Just stay on our side of the Keep. That’s all,” I say.

“Will do.” A moment later, he turns in his seat again. “Is the Keep divided into our side versus hers?”

“Bro, shut the fuck up about her already,” his twin says.

I nod. “Good idea.”

Connor lifts two middle fingers. One for each of us. It makes me laugh.

The conversation reminds me that Scarlett’s a tool in my arsenal, nothing less, nothing more. Cass’s life depends on how well I use the tool I stole from a man who can get me my brother. I need to keep my eye on the prize and not get distracted by the collateral I intend to use.

My phone rings. I recognize the clinic’s number and pick up.

“Hey,” Scarlett says.

“Speak of Lilith and she calls,” I say. When Scarlett doesn’t reply, I continue, “I thought that was a pretty good joke.”

“Average at best.”

I smile. “I missed your candor, luv. What’s up?”

“Can you give me a ride?”

In the rearview mirror, I catch Dec’s gaze and twirl my finger, signaling we should turn around. “I’ll be at the clinic in ten.” I hang up.

Right on time, we park out front, where Scarlett stands with the puppy in a soft-sided carrier. She asked me to take the dog, but the dog was out for a potty break when I was leaving, so she kept it. She’s been taking it to work since word of the clinic reopening spread through town and to the outskirts.

The dog helped lift Marquis’s spirits, but we haven’t told him it’s his pet yet. I don’t want him to take care of the dog. I want him to take care of himself. My brother’s rescue mission looms on the horizon, and I need my best man working the logistics.

Marquis rescued Philip and himself from a situation I’m unsure anyone could survive. He’s the finest soldier I’ve ever met. Strategically, I’m weakened. Cass is out, and now Marquis. If my enemies wanted to strike, now would be a good time.

This is why I need Marquis and Philip in the Keep with me. I can’t take a chance that they’ll get attacked even in the town that I protect.

Scarlett removed her lab coat. Today, she wears a caramel blouse and a dark brown pencil skirt paired with white tennis shoes. The dog’s crate in front of her looks like a single piece of luggage. As we pull up, she reminds me of an abandoned woman, not one waiting on someone to pick her up or save her. Or maybe that’s how I think of her. Abandoned.

Her father abandoned her.

Her sister stopped calling after she left a message scolding Scarlett for her disappearing act. I understand where the sister is coming from. If I thought Cass had left without telling me he was okay and I expended all this effort looking for him, I’d get upset too. But the father? That’s cold. Perhaps even sociopathic. Howcan one not worry about the well-being of their child who was taken by force?

When I snatched her, I was sure he’d put more effort into getting her back, but days later, I still haven’t heard from him. Would Wilfred care more than her father? I doubt it.

Or is the father lying low until he makes a move?

Declan stops the car, and I stretch to open the door for her. Scarlett sits in the back with me, the soft dog crate between us. She turns her head toward her window. I don’t expect her to chat.

Five minutes later, I see that she’s wiping her cheeks. Is she crying?

I lean over to try to get a better look, but she turns her body toward the window. Sheiscrying. Do I want to know why? It’s probably because of something I did. Actually, it’s because of everything I did, so I’d better not ask.

But what if someone else did something to her? Maybe I could help whoever wronged her see the error of his ways as I did with Connor. He is rehabilitated and treating her nicely. Just sitting in his seat not talking shit or even looking at her wrong.