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16

SCARLET

I t’s late and I’m so tired. Why is it always like this with Gunn? And it’s not the intensity of our sex that takes so much out of me. It’s the questions. The deep delves into our personal lives.

Why the fuck do we have to share so much? No other man I’ve ever been with has asked about my scars, or scrutinized my expressions when I answered. No one has ever cared.

But Gunn sees everything. He wants to know everything about me. Wants me to know everything about him .

Can’t blame him, I guess. I’m curious too.

I should go my apartment in Philadelphia. It’s been my full-time residence for years, yet I haven’t made an appearance in many days.

Because it doesn’t smell like him, that little she-devil on my shoulder chimes in. And we like things that smell like him. My bed. My couch. My body.

You could just go back to his place.

The temptation is great. However, I’m so tired all I want to do is curl up and sleep. Doing that around Gunn… Well, I wouldn’t be doing any sleeping.

Besides, I have to go tomorrow to give him his bike back.

I smile as I feel the purr of the Ninja between my legs. It’s not as good as having Gunn there, but still amazing. Maybe if I ask nice enough, he’ll let me keep it.

Or you could fuck him on it too.

With that wicked thought in mind, I head back to my place in Brooklyn. I won’t have the real deal, but his scent will be there.

It takes half an hour to get home. The street is quiet, almost eerily so. If this were any other night, perhaps that would make me pause.

Instead, I park the bike in my garage and go into my apartment. And I freeze.

It’s dark and silent, as I expected it to be. However, I feel something. A presence.

With my right hand, I reach for the gun on my boot holster, and with my left I flick on the switch to the overhead light.

My gaze lands on the dark figure sitting at on my couch, his long legs stretched out before him, and I shiver. “How did you know about this place?”

“Better question would be, why did you keep it from me?”

I dump my keys on the small glass table by the door and go to stand across from him. “I wanted to have somewhere to go in case?—”

“You needed to hide from me,” Gideon finishes. Though his body seems relaxed, and there’s a slight upturn to his mouth, I can see the hard tension in his jaw. Not to mention how his stare has gone completely glacier. “Get me a drink.”

I stiffen at his mundane order. “Yes, sir.”

Luckily, I keep all of my homes well stocked, even the ones I don’t visit often. From one of the upper cabinets, I produce a bottle of gin and one of tonic.

I’m about to get a highball, when the devil in me decides his high handedness doesn’t deserve one. So I grab a plastic tumbler with I Like it Juicy in pink letters and serve it in that.

He narrows his eyes on the cup when I hand it to him.

“What?” I ask innocently. “It’s all I have.”

“Sit.”

I blow out a breath, but obey and sit on the tufted white chair set at an angle from him. “How did you find out…” I pause and narrow my gaze. “You’re having me followed.”

“I had no choice, Scar. You weren’t yourself. I knew something was up. But what you’ve done is beyond betrayal.”

My cheeks suddenly burn, whether from shame, anger, or fear, I’m not sure. “Who followed me?”

“Itsuki.”

I huff. “Itsuki. Of course.” It would be my own men he’d use. Usually, the tall silent killer stands guard outside my Philadelphia apartment, guarding it, and on occasion, he’ll accompany me on missions. He’s there to watch my back. But it wasn’t loyalty to me that made him do that. It was loyalty to Gideon.

Never did I imagine he’d be used against me.

“How long?” I demand.

“Long enough that I know where Sinclair lives.”

It’s as if my hair has been set on fire and every pore in my body suddenly starts producing sweat at an accelerated rate. I imagine Itsuki in his perfectly tailored suit standing outside the orphanage and the firehouse, while Gunn and I were inside completely oblivious. Stupidly oblivious.

“Explain it to me, Scarlet,” he hisses. “Explain to me why you’re rolling around in the muck with your fucking target? Why you disobeyed a direct order to kill him.”

“You never ordered me to kill Gunn!” I retort.

“I…” he trails off, his face completely morphed by his fury as he searches his memory. “I’m sure my exact words were, ‘you have a new target. Gunn Sinclair.’”

“Gideon, he hasn’t done anything to warrant death.”

His stare goes from glacier, to fucking disappointment and I’m not sure which is worse. “How long has this been going on?”

“Since New Orleans,” I admit, my voice lower than I want it to be. “Gideon.”

He lifts a hand. “The problem you ran into in New Orleans, was his dick?”

“No. It wasn’t exactly like that. Yes,” I admit. Then, partly to change the subject, and partly because it’s been bothering the hell out of me, I ask, “Is it true that your father murdered Sergio Ramos’s wife?”

There’s an almost imperceptible narrowing of his eyes and a tilt to his head. Anyone else that doesn’t know him as well as I do would have missed it. It’s one of his tells.

He knew.

“Who told you this?” he demands.

“Sergio did.”

Another tell, the tick over his left brow. “You spoke with him?”

“What you sent me to do… It was cold blooded murder, Gideon.”

“It’s your job, Scarlet. It’s what you do.”

“What I do is trust that you’re not going to have me kill an innocent man!” I scream. Angry tears threaten to escape the confines of my eyelids and I wipe at them. “I’m not a murderer.”

Gideon runs his hand down his face and stares at me with frustration. Then, something happens, his gaze softens in a way I rarely see. “No, Scar. You’re not a murderer. And I’m not turning you into one. Anyone that is on that list, is there for a reason. There are no innocents.

“My father did kill Sergio’s wife. But Sergio didn’t kill him out of some romantic revenge. In fact, she was collateral damage from a deal gone bad with a rival cartel. She’d been fucking their leader for years and just happened to be there when it all went down.

“Sergio didn’t even do anything about it at the time. It wasn’t until my father was able to get a contract that took over fifty percent of his profits right from under him that he decided it was time for revenge. So, you didn’t kill an innocent man, Scarlet. What you did was let his words make you question your loyalty to me, when I’ve proven with actions that I deserve it.”

Shame fills me to the core and I feel myself shrink to the size of the fifteen-year-old girl I was when he first took me in. Back when he hid me in his room like the little bird I was, and fed me and kept me safe. When he promised not let the police lock me away.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, my voice small.

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he scrutinizes me. He searches my face as if he’s looking for me , as if the person he’s known all these years has disappeared.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I say.

“Like what?”

“Like I’ve let you down.” I swallow hard, wishing I could take it all back.

“You have.” Those two little words are harsher than any lashing I could have received.

I turn away from him, unable to take the scolding in his eyes. “I didn’t mean to.”

“You questioned me on Sergio. Now you know he didn’t deserve your pity. Gunn Sinclair is just as much a criminal as Sergio was.”

It takes me forever to reply, because he’s right. I’m fully aware that Gunn has as much blood on his hands as I do on mine. He’s no innocent. “I know.”

“Do you love him?”

“What?” I flick my gaze at him. “No, of course not. We just have fun.”

“Good. That means you can still do what you must.”

“I don’t want to.” I might sound like a petulant child, but it’s the truth. I don’t want to kill Gunn.

“Take him out, Scar. That’s an order.”

“Why, Gideon? He’s not in the line of succession from the original six. Why take him out?”

“Because of this.” He points to me. “Because you’ve never questioned my orders before. He’s a fucking risk to you. Do you honestly believe he won’t turn you in the first chance he gets? He’ll use you to get to me.”

“The way you’re doing with Sofia,” I throw back.

“Exactly.”

“Gunn won’t do that.” He’s had too many chances and has yet to hand me over.

“He would. You know this because it’s what you would do. It’s a matter of time before one of you gets bored. The chase kept it fun. It’s over. You fucked. What now? You start dating?”

My eyes flick to his and his brows arch upward in surprise.

“You want to date him.” He tilts his head and he does that annoying penetrating thing with his gaze, where he digs into mine to search to his answers. “Oh my God. You’ve fallen for him.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He chuckles, infusing his deep rumble with so much sarcasm it sounds truly evil. “I should have seen this coming. My own pupil, my right hand, stupid enough to fall in love.”

For the first time since I met him, since the day he hid me in his bedroom and kept me safe, I hate him. “Shut up.”

“I’m truly disappointed, Scarlet. People like us don’t fall for anyone, much less the fucking enemy.”

“Stop it.”

His smile vanishes in an instant. “Kill him. Kill him before he kills you.”

“Don’t make me do it.” I tap my thumb against my thigh in frustration.

“You’re going soft, Scar. First it was Maisel Cameron,” he says, using Maisie’s full name which she fucking hates.

But it’s not the name that makes my skin curl. It’s the fact that once upon a time, he threatened her life too.

“There is one bullet. You either put it in Clive’s head, or Scarlet will put it in your sister’s.” Gideon gave Skye the ultimatum the day of the showdown with Arran Maxton and his father.

My blood ran cold at his words. Gideon didn’t want Maisie dead, but he’d order me to do it to get the revenge he wanted.

In the end, I killed Clive Maxton myself because Skye’s hand shook too much and I couldn’t risk Maisie’s life.

“Now it’s Gunn Sinclair,” Gideon continues. He takes a sip of his drink and sets it down on the coffee table. With his elbows resting on his knees, he clasps his hands and stares at them. “Does he know how you feel about him?”

I shrug. “I haven’t told him.”

“He cannot love you, Scarlet.”

“Why not? Because of who I am?”

“Because who he is!” he booms so loudly, I jump a little. “Gunner Sinclair is a Sinacore beyond blood. He is Luca’s sworn brother. In the end, he will choose family.”

“Like Rowan did with you,” I whisper.

He nods. “And like I will always do with you, because you are my family.” He shakes his head. “Do you remember what you told me the day I let you crawl in through my window?”

How could I not? I was fifteen, running from the police that searched for me. And so afraid. I ran without knowing where I was going. Ran without aim, and somehow ended up in his backyard. He saw me from his bedroom on the second floor and motioned me over.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“They’re chasing me.”

“Who?”

“I’m in trouble. Please, help me,” I begged.

“This isn’t a house you want to come into,” he told me.

But I was so desperate. “If you let me in, I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

He was older than me, but still so young. Looking around as if he was scared too, he motioned me to climb up the trellis that led to his room.

“I took you in and instead of asking something from you, I promised to protect you. I taught you how to fight. I gave you a purpose. I gave you revenge against the men that murdered your parents. And what did you say the day you killed them?”

My breathing pattern changes. “I said, I’m yours for life.”

“I will not lose you, Scarlet. Certainly not to a man that will betray you.” Gideon gets up and makes to walk past me, but pauses. He glances down as he adjusts his tie.

“Kill him.”