by T. S. Ryder
Where had the bullets come from?
Scarlett's head jerked up just in time to see the men ascend the stairs, all carrying semiautomatic weapons. Outside the window, she saw a glint in a distant tree. A sniper rifle. This was planned. They had come to deliberately kill Max. She surged to her feet, raising her hands and clenching them into fists. She shifted her weight to the balls of her feet, ready to defend herself against these men.
They all pointed their weapons at her but didn't fire.
Why?
"Y'all aren't going to kill me?" she spat at them, eyes shifting between them. None of them wore masks, letting her see their faces. So they were planning on killing her. Why wasn’t she dead already? Her stomach clenched. What were they going to do with her? "What do you want?"
"Put your hands on your head and kneel," one of them ordered.
Scarlett laughed. "You are going to kill me, so if you think I'll do as you say—"
The man strode forward. A fist flew at Scarlett's face but she ducked it, slamming her palm into his nose. By that time the other men were there as well, and something hard hit her head. Scarlett collapsed, black whirling through her vision. She tried to fight back as her hands were yanked behind her back. One strap of her sundress snapped.
She snarled, kicking, even though the pounding in her head was like a heard of wildebeest trampling on her brain. Zip ties bit into her wrists, pressing them together. The men jerked her to her feet again, looking pleased with themselves. Scarlett spat in the nearest man's face, earning herself another slap in the face.
They didn't speak as they marched her out of the room, leaving Max's still body behind. Scarlett fought against her captors, screaming and howling as she kicked. Her head pounded and more than once she thought she was going to vomit from pain and fear. She couldn't get free. If she wasn't so frightened about what would happen now, she would be a sobbing mess.
Max was dead. He was dead and there was no coming back from that.
The men dragged her down the stairs to the main room. Sitting on the couch was another man. Scarlett froze, her fear overwhelming her for a moment. She knew the man. His face was etched into her mind from the times she had watched the news about the police investigation about the two bodies that had been found stuffed into his safe.
That she had found stuffed into his safe.
Scarlett forced herself to straighten, walking rather than making her captors drag her along. So this was why they hadn't killed her. Because Ken Madoc wanted to kill her himself. He had finally found her, and this was the end of it all.
"Hello, Kitty Cat," he said, with a wide grin. "I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time."
"I prefer the Gentlewoman Thief," Scarlett replied, working hard to keep the tremor from her voice.
"I prefer Kitty Cat." His gaze ran down her body, clearly trying to intimidate her.
It worked. Her skin crawled. "How did you find me?"
Madoc shrugged. "A friend of mine has been investigating you. When I learned that Kitty Cat burglar might be Maximillian Barnes' fiancée… well, I had to come see for myself. And here you are. And here I am. Together at last."
Chapter Nine
"What should we do with the other one?" the man who had dragged Scarlett down the stairs asked Madoc.
"Barnes? Toss him into the ocean. Give the sharks a little snack."
Max. Scarlett whimpered, hating the thought of him being tossed away like so much garbage. He was kind and gentle, he deserved so much better than to be shot down like a dog and fed to sharks. But that was what was happening, and it was all her fault.
Don't be silly. There was no way you could have known any of this was going to happen, a voice whispered in the back of her mind, but it was cold comfort. The fact was that she knew Madoc had been after her, and Max had got in the way. If it wasn't for her, he would not be dead.
"Are those tears, Kitty Cat?" Madoc peered at her and laughed aloud. "Those are tears! Imagine that, you're actually crying for him. What's the matter, did you fall in love with your mark? Or are you crying because you won't be able to steal anything from him now?"
"I was not scamming him," Scarlett said. For some reason, it was really important that Madoc understood that. "He was a good, kind man and—"
"Spare me." Madoc held up his hand and rolled his eyes. "If I wanted to hear a woman's whining, I would have brought my wife along with me."
Minutes later the men came back down the stairs, lugging Max's body with them. Scarlett couldn't stop another cry. Her legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor. Max's face was white, his eyes glassy. Up until this moment, she had been hoping against hope that somehow he had survived the onslaught, that he would heal…
But he was dead. And she would be dead soon enough. It might have been comforting if it didn't mean their child would also die.
Madoc strode past her, towards the man who was directing the others who were carrying Max's body. Scarlett watched him, pure hatred filling her chest. She yanked at the ties that held her bound, slicing them into her skin as she attempted to free herself. Madoc would die. She had never killed before, but right now what she wanted more than anything else was to see him dead on the floor, for his blood to coat her hands and to see the life leave his body.
"How many rooms are up there?" Madoc didn't bother to lower his voice.
"Two."
Madoc turned back towards Scarlett, a cruel smile twisting his mouth. Scarlett shrank back, her anger freezing into cold dread. His meaning was clear. Bile rose and she choked it down–maybe if she waited until the right moment to vomit he wouldn't…
Her legs were weak, muscles utterly limp and useless when Madoc returned to her, grabbing her arm. She knew she should fight, that now would be the time to vomit all over him, but it was as if her body had shut down. She couldn’t do anything but let him drag her with him. It was like she was seeing the scene from outside of her body, emotions flooding through her at such a pace she thought she might black out.
"I don't want to be disturbed," Madoc said, tugging Scarlett towards the stairs.
The lead man stiffened, his eyes flickering briefly to Scarlett's face. "Sir, I don't think—"
"I don't pay you to think. I pay you to follow my orders. I am not to be disturbed, understood?"
The man hesitated, then nodded.
Scarlett wanted to plead with him to stop Madoc, but her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth. Blackness swirled around the edges of her vision. She didn't know where she was or what was happening until Madoc spoke again.
"You have caused me a lot of trouble, Kitty Cat," he purred, pushing her into the first bedroom. It was the one she and Max had been sleeping in. The sight of blood on the sheets made her whimper. Madoc snorted and spun her around, pushing her towards the second room. "I had a hell of a time explaining to the police why I couldn't be involved in the deaths of the two people in my safe."
"How did you know it was me who told them about it?" Maybe if she kept him talking…
"You left behind one of your ridiculous news articles. A family of five being evicted after the father lost his leg in a workplace accident." Madoc snorted again.
By this time they were in the second bedroom. The zip ties were cutting into Scarlett's wrists and she focused on the pain, trying to clear her mind.
"I assure you, though, I have been cooperating with the police and they've found somebody they can lock up for it. It's a shame, he was a good gardener… but I'm not going to face charges. Not for that. Not for this."
He threw her face-down onto the bed. Once again the black swirled. All Scarlet could think to do was scream and so she did, loudly, her voice piercing her own eardrums. Madoc cursed and yanked her back up, slapping her soundly across the face. The bruises already there stung.
"Shut up!" he shouted. "You're only making it worse for yourself."
She screamed louder.
"Shut up or I'll cut you up before I kill you."
<
br /> Scarlett's voice died of its own accord. She stared into Madoc's eyes and saw no humanity in them. He pushed her backward. Her bound wrists were crushed beneath her and her eyes locked on his, unable to look away.
"By the look of it, you're pregnant." Madoc's hand rested on her belly and he smiled. "I like pregnant women the best."
Darkness closed over her vision, the sweet relief of unawareness.
It didn't last.
A howling rang in her ears. The noise was half-human, half animal. Something was familiar about it. It came again, punctuated by a bout of gunfire and the frightened cries of men. Scarlett blinked, the room coming into focus again. Madoc's hand was on her stomach. He was looking over his shoulder, a curse on his lips. She was very aware of the fact that her dress was still in place.
The howl came again. It was a gorilla's howl. Max's howl.
Max was alive.
"Max!" Scarlett screamed. "Max!"
"Shut up!" Madoc grabbed her arm, yanking her to her feet again.
Scarlett tried to yank herself free, spitting in his face. Madoc bellowed, slapping her again. He threw her back onto the bed and reached under her skirt—
Footsteps pounded the stairs. A man appeared, wild-eyed and pale with fear. He opened his mouth, and then a gorilla was on him. Thick arms wrapped around his neck and squeezed. Madoc cursed and backed away, his eyes going wide. He scrambled with his gun, which was still in its holster. Scarlett kicked his hand. The gun skittered across the floor.
Max tossed the dead man aside, advancing on Madoc. His eyes burned with hatred, lips turned back to reveal his canines. Blood dripped from his chest onto the floor but he didn't seem to notice.
"Max," Scarlett whispered.
The gorilla leaped forward, beating his chest. Madoc shouted, and then he was down, screaming as fists pounded his chest and face. Scarlett watched, dispassionate, as bone splintered, as the man became nothing more than a bloody corpse. Perhaps it was all the horrors of the day crashing down on her, but she didn't feel a thing. Not pity, not anger, not even satisfaction. She was just a numb shell.
Eventually, Max stopped beating the body, moving back and panting. His form shifted so slowly that Scarlett could see each hair retreat back into his skin until he was human again.
"Scarlett." He ran to her, gathering her into his arms.
"You've been shot."
"I'll be fine," Max grunted. "I'm tougher than I look."
He kissed her forehead and left her briefly to retrieve a knife, then cut her bonds. Her wrists had been sliced up by the ties and were bloody, but Scarlett didn't think about that. She stared at the two dead bodies, trying not to think about how close she had come to…
"Are you all right?" Max cupped her face.
"Fine." She tied her broken strap with trembling hands. "He didn't have a chance to… What are we going to do now? The police—"
"I'll have my friends clean up," Max interrupted. "Nobody will know what happened here. Nobody."
"My face."
Max stared at her for a moment before understanding dawned in his eyes. He touched the bruises lightly, gently, as though by touch alone he could heal them. His expression crumpled and he pulled her into his arms.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Scarlett clung to him, still in shock. "No, I am. They came for me."
"You?"
"I found the bodies of two of Madoc's victims in his safe. This was about revenge. I should have told you—"
"Shhh. It's over. You're safe now. I won't let anything happen to you."
Scarlett shivered, her mind churning with all the thoughts that had been frozen before. "We'll tell the media that I was in a kickboxing class and my partner became a little too enthusiastic. Or maybe that a jealous ex-lover attacked me."
She was still numb.
Bizarre, she thought. I should be a total wreck right now.
But as Max held her tighter, the numb feeling that filled her was pushed aside by relief. It was over. She was safe in her lover's arms, and he would ever allow anything to happen to her. She closed her eyes and clung to him like he was a life raft on a stormy sea.
Chapter Ten
The media firestorm over Scarlett's bruised face quickly died down, and nobody found out about the attack on the island. She did end up in therapy, at Max's insistence, and that helped her deal with the trauma she had been through. What helped even more, though, was having Max's arms around her at night whenever she woke with nightmares and preparing for the baby that grew inside her day by day.
On the day that marked two years after she and Max had made their deal to be fake engaged, Scarlett stared impatiently at the clock while her beautiful ten-month-old baby boy nursed. His clear blue eyes, the same color as his father's, drifted shut, signaling that he was ready to go down for a nap. Even though she and Max had planned for this, and had tried to adjust his sleep schedule so that he would be awake and happy during the ceremony, it looked like their son would be sleeping through the wedding.
"It's a good thing Max is so patient." She sighed as she eased the baby off. They had named him Maximillian after his father, but would be calling him Liam so as to avoid confusion as he grew up. "Do the guests look like they're getting impatient? A gentlewoman never keeps her guests waiting. I knew I should have fed him before we left the house."
Vanessa chuckled. Scarlett had chosen to have only the elderly housekeeper as matron of honor, with no bridesmaids. For the wedding, Scarlett and Max had planned the most elaborate affair they could, then taken all the money that would have been spent on it and gave it to various charities, instead putting on a simple wedding with only friends and family in the church Max's parents had married in.
"A gentlewoman takes care of her baby before her guests," Vanessa said. "Give him here so you can finish getting ready."
Scarlett handed the baby over and did up her dress before she took off the nursing cover. She'd gone with a navy blue taffeta number that laced up the front for easy feeding access. The hems and sleeves were embroidered with a white accent that looked stunning. While Vanessa rocked Liam to make sure he stayed asleep, Scarlett went to the mirror to check her makeup and pin back a stray curl or two.
The white orchids that were her wedding bouquet were waiting for her nearby. They were one of the extravagant items that Max had insisted on, once she had told him that they were her favorite flower.
"You look lovely, dear," Vanessa assured her. She beamed like a proud mother. "I always knew it would take a special girl to be with Max, and I'm glad he found you."
"Found me?" Scarlett giggled, giddy and excited with a dash of nerves. "Interrupted me, more like it. If he hadn't walked in on me trying to rob him…"
She let the thought trail off. If he hadn't arrived when he had, none of this would have happened. The thought left her breathless; it was so terrifying to consider the fact that it would have been so easy for them to pass by each other, never meeting. If she didn't have the man she loved, if she didn't have her beautiful baby boy… where would she be?
Vanessa smiled at her. "I don't like to think where Max would be if it weren't for you, Scarlett. You have really brought out the best in him, and for that, I am profoundly grateful."
"He would have been fine without me," Scarlett mumbled, feeling the heat rise in her face as she ducked her head. The tiara that used to belong to his mother was perched on her head, and she wore a matching ruby necklace around her throat. It complemented the dark blue of her dress perfectly. "I wouldn't be alive without him. I owe him so much."
"And he owes you more than you know. I hadn't seen him genuinely smile since his parents died. Not until you came along."
"Oh, goodness!" Scarlet laughed in embarrassment as her eyes filled with tears. "Stop that, or I'll ruin my makeup."
"That won't do," Vanessa said, shaking her head. "You collect yourself. I'll go tell that charming gentleman that you're ready."
Scarlett smiled at the elderly woman'
s description of Hao. As Vanessa left, the bride turned back to the mirror. She hadn't lost all the extra weight she had gained during her pregnancy, meaning her stomach was even rounder than normal, but she didn't mind. Every time Max saw her naked, he marveled at how beautiful she was. She only really cared about two opinions as far as her body was concerned–hers and his.
"This is it," she whispered to herself. She twisted the engagement ring that had belonged to Max's grandmother on her finger. "Who would have thought, two years ago, that I'd be getting married?"
She didn't have long to muse on the events of the past years. Vanessa returned with Hao, who beamed at her and kissed her cheek when he saw her. True to the promise she had made two years ago, she had asked him to walk her down the aisle, and he had been more than happy to oblige her.
Soon they were in the chapel, Scarlett's hand tucked into the crook of his arm.
Scarlett's breath caught in her chest at her first sight of her husband-to-be. He was wearing a black tuxedo paired with a white shirt. A navy handkerchief was just visible in his breast pocket. A smile lit his face, like he was seeing clearly for the first time. Scarlett's heart beat faster and she smiled back, the same feeling filling her. Hao had to pull her back when she picked up her pace.
"A gentlewoman never rushes," he whispered into her ear. "And this is exactly why I never play at things. It gets real far too quickly."
Scarlett wanted to remember every detail of this moment. The way Max's hair curled at the back of his neck. The way he held his hands in front of him but checked once for the ring in his pocket. The flash of light in his eye when he gave Vanessa a smile. And she did. Later she would remember a lot more, like how Hao choked up when they reached the front of the aisle, and how the wedding guests looked. But at that moment she was so wrapped up in Max's eyes that everything else disappeared.
She was vaguely aware of the exchange of vows, the words she had practiced coming off her tongue so readily that she didn't need to think about what she was saying. Liam woke up during the exchange of rings, and both Scarlett and Max smiled at him as he began gurgling and chomping on Vanessa's finger.
