“I want to know why you’re here, Viper,” Boss said.
“You came for a party and seeing as I consider Bain an actual brother—”
“You do?” Bain asked. She heard the confusion in his voice now.
“We took an oath, Bain. You and me, we shared blood, and we bound ourselves together. I won’t kill you. I’ve told you that many times, and I mean it.”
Did he mean the blood oath? Scarlett stared down at her hand and wondered just how many people Bain had shared blood with. Before doubts flooded her mind, she remembered he had said that he’d only ever shared blood once before. That other person had to be Viper, which meant he was with him when they were kids.
She really needed to lie down. She was starting to feel a little lightheaded with the information overload that was happening. Not to mention being in Michael’s house, his dead body only feet away. It had taken her a long time to finally gain the self-respect to leave his horrible ass.
“So why the fuck are you here?” Bain asked. “You’re out of the business. You’re not supposed to be part of this.”
She felt his back vibrating, and she tried to offer him some comfort with her touch.
“I needed to make sure you were doing the right thing. You’re not used to working for someone else. It’s a lot different than going solo.” Viper looked at her. “Is she worth all of this?”
“You don’t get to fucking look at her. I cleaned up my fucking mess, and you, you did what you fucking wanted. Or don’t you remember?”
“Killer of Kings has a reputation to uphold, Bain. You’ve got to do things by a certain code. She’s a loose end,” said Viper.
“She’s mine!” Bain growled. Scarlet held him tightly from behind. She didn’t care if it looked stupid, but she needed him to know she was here if he needed her. Silence once again fell between them. “You’re not taking her away from me. I’m going to go and put her in the car, and you’re going to stay here. I’ll be right back.”
“Go with him,” Boss said, pointing to one of the scary looking guys.
They put their guns away, and Bain was suddenly leading her out of the house. The moment they passed Boss, Bain pulled her around to the front so that she was completely covered at all times.
“Bain, what’s going on?” she asked.
“I’m going to have a nice long chat with these assholes, and then we’re going to go back home where I’m going to spend the rest of our day fucking.” They got to his car, and he leaned forward, opening the door. “I want you to drive fast and far away from here.”
“No.”
“You’ve got nothing to be afraid of. I’ll find you when I’m done.”
“I’m not running. I’m not going to go somewhere and risk never seeing you again. If you die today, and you don’t come out of that house, then I don’t go either, and I’m dead.”
“Everyone who could hurt you is gone,” said Bain. “I want you to be happy.”
He was so sweet. It was the strangest thought and feeling in the world to have about a killer. He wasn’t evil to her. Bain was many things, but she was falling in love with him. He was hard and yet not. He inspired so many emotions inside her, and she couldn’t walk away, or leave him.
“I’m going to handle this.” He handed her a gun. “For me, if I don’t come out of that house first, I want you to live. You have to do that for me. You have to live.”
Tears filled her eyes, falling down her cheeks. “No. I don’t want to live without you. Don’t make me do this.”
He cupped her cheeks and once again pulled her in for a kiss. “Do as I say.”
“He killed Lisa,” she whispered.
“I’m going to deal with this, baby. Trust me, okay.”
With that, he turned and ordered the other man to follow him. She climbed into the car and watched as he entered the house. Staring down at the gun in her hand, it would be so easy to end her miserable life, but what if Bain came out of that house? Today had gone from being one of the best days of her life to suddenly one of the worst. There was no way she could live without Bain, not now, not after falling in love. She would rather die than be without him.
Staring at the gun, she made her decision. If Bain didn’t walk out that door, she was going to end her own life.
****
Bain was pissed off and frustrated. This hadn’t gone the way he wanted it to go. He’d wanted Scarlett to find some kind of solace or closure. At the very least he wanted her to face her demons like he had done all of those years ago. Instead of helping the situation, all he did was make it worse, and now he felt even shittier about it.