SCARLET
I was still yawning as we made our way downtown, all of us piled into the Range Rover.
“Finn and Kenna will be there,” Tristan told me from the passenger seat.
It made my stomach drop, thinking about how close Kenna was getting to this world, but if that’s what she wanted, if Finn was who she wanted, I couldn’t be the one to stop her. I just needed to make sure that she had the whole team looking out for her.
“And everyone knows she’s to be treated like fucking royalty, right?” I asked them. “She’s to be protected just as much as, if not more than, myself?”
“They’re aware,” Elliot said, grinning at me in the rearview mirror.
When we pulled into the parking lot, my stomach began to turn over and over again, and I had to fight the nausea that was threatening to make me spew my breakfast. I didn’t think I would get this nervous, facing the man that tried to murder me. But I think remembering that he tried to do much more than that had me on edge.
Looking him in the eye was going to be one of the hardest things I would ever have to do. Tristan opened my door for me after we had parked, and when he saw my face, he leaned towards me.
“Are you sure this is something you want to do?” he asked, toying with the ends of my hair. “If you want us to take care of this for you, we can, Scarlet. Give yourself some grace. You don’t always have to be the bigger woman.”
“It’s not that I want to,” I told him, sighing and rubbing my face with my hands. “It’s that I have to. I have to watch him die to know that it’s real,” I said. “I have to be the one that strikes that final blow, that way I know that he’s actually gone. That all of this is finally over and we can move on and have a life.”
“Scarlet!” I heard Kenna shout from the building. I kissed Tristan on the cheek and gave him a reassuring smile as I climbed out of the car.
“Hey, love!” I said, running over to her and hugging her tightly to my body. Finn appeared in the doorway, greeting Elliot and Seb and motioning them inside. “Happy to be back in your own apartment?” I asked her.
“Feels good to be getting somewhat back to normal. And,” she said, a slight blush forming across her cheeks, “it’s nice to not be completely alone in that apartment anymore.” She glanced over at Finn, and I just smiled, throwing my arm around her shoulders and walking inside with her.
I greeted Finn as we passed him and then joined up with the other guys, including Simon and Niko.
“He’s in the basement,” Niko said.
“Or the down-downstairs, as it’s otherwise known in this family,” I joked, making Elliot snort.
Simon smiled at me.
“Alaric Jameson is his name. Ready to get this over with?” he asked me.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“You guys just let us know if you need anything,” Finn said, coming up to our side as Kenna left mine for his. “Someone may have already roughed him up a bit…”
“What?” Tristan asked at the same time that Seb and I asked, “Who?”
Kenna shyly raised her hand, and I was pretty sure that everyone in that room had their jaws on the floor. My Kenna roughed someone up?
“Don’t look so shocked,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I know what that asshole did to you, and I wasn’t about to let you and Seb have all the fun. I got here early with Finn and decided that we would have a chat. He pissed me off, not having any remorse, so I thought maybe I would try to teach him a little lesson.”
“She taught herself a lesson,” Niko mumbled. “We’ll be teaching her how to properly punch from now on.” He nodded in the direction of her hands, and when I looked down, I realized I had completely missed that her right hand was bruised and cut up.
“Jesus Christ, Ken Doll!” Seb said with glee. He walked over to her and plucked her straight out of Finn’s arm, lifting her into the air as he hugged her. “You’re welcome on the team anytime. Elliot can train you to fight, and I can teach you how to be a sharpshooter,” he said with a wink.
“Or Finn, her boyfriend, could teach her,” I said as he put her down, reminding him that he couldn’t just take over everyone’s life like he did mine.
“Fine,” he said. “But if Finn sucks ass at teaching you that stuff, you know where to find us.”
“Okay, okay,” she said, smiling and moving back to Finn’s side. “Go downstairs, kick the shit out of that guy, and then kill him so that Scarlet can finally move on with her life.”
I kissed her cheek and then followed the boys downstairs. They had put him deep in the basement, as far away from the main entrance as they could. I assumed it was to make sure he didn’t stand a chance at getting free, but once we made it to the room and saw how they had him tied up, I didn’t think that extra precaution was necessary.
“Damn,” Elliot said as we all filed in, and the man regarded us warily. “Those knots are actually pretty good.”
“You would know,” I teased him, walking past him and closer to my attempted murderer and rapist. I looked him over, noting the swollen cheek and bruise on his jaw where I assumed Kenna had whacked him.
“Know who we are?” Tristan asked him, and the man looked me over.
“I know who she is,” he spat out.
“Really fucking rude,” I said, wiping the bit of spittle off my face. “I don’t understand why you men always think it’s okay to spray it instead of say it. Just because you’re in a bit of a bind doesn’t mean you need to act like a Neanderthal.”
“You’re lucky you got away, gypsy bitch,” he said, shooting knives at me with his eyes.
“Actually, I am,” I agreed with him, walking around the chair that he was tied to. “Because after I got away, I got to meet my best friend, and then I got to meet these guys,” I said, gesturing towards my boys. “Do you know who they are, Alaric?”
“Yes,” he gritted out.
“Well, these boys,” I told him, “are all on my side. They’re here to help me kill you. Because I really want to move on with my life.”
“Cunt!” he said, trying to move and shake in his binds, but it was useless. He didn’t do anything but tire himself out.
Seb stormed past me, slapping Alaric roughly across his face.
“Watch your language.”
Alaric smiled up at him, blood coating his teeth from the hard slap. Before he could get another word out, Sebastian was on him. He grabbed his jaw, forcing it open and his knife inside. Alaric’s eyes went wide, and his breathing audibly picked up.
“Are you going to cut his tongue out?” I asked, excited at the possibility. I had never seen anyone do that before.
“I was thinking about it,” Sebastian said, smiling at me over his shoulder. “Don’t you think it’s a fitting punishment for the names he called you?”
“Într-adevar,” I said. Indeed it is. “But will he bleed out too quickly? Because I was hoping to cut his dick off before he died or passed out from pain. I’d like him to really feel that one.”
I walked up to them as I spoke, leaving Elliot and Tristan to lean against the wall and watch us play. I ran my hand up Sebastian’s back as I approached him and Alaric. The poor man was already practically in tears as he took us both in.
“He’d definitely bleed out from both of those wounds,” Seb said, thinking it over. “So, really, it’s up to you. Would you like to cut off his dick first, or would you like me to cut out his tongue first?”
“Hmm,” I hummed, making a show of thinking about it and tapping my chin. “I’m thinking it would get us less messy if I were to cut off his flaccid little cock first. That way, we don’t have to worry about him coughing blood all over us while I’m working.”
“Brilliant idea,” Seb said, leaning over and giving me a hard kiss on the mouth. “Let’s make this quick, then. I heard there’s bikinis at home for you to try on.” He winked at me, and I laughed.
Alaric stared at both of us like we had lost our minds, and maybe we had. But I didn’t really care. He was a speed bump in the road, and I was ready to get over him and move on.
I held my hand out to Sebastian, silently asking for his knife. He handed it to me and backed away, giving me space to work.
“Let me know when you’re ready for me to tap in, baby girl.”