Page 90 of Taming Scarlet

He was already grabbing her, silencing her, throwing her into his trunk.

“What was that?” Marcus asked as the guy pulled something out of his pocket.

“A syringe,” I said, chest hurting until I realized I was holding my breath.

“Who is it?” I asked, talking mostly to myself. “Who is that fuck?”

“Gene,” Di said immediately.

“Gene?” Marcus and I both asked, turning to look at her.

“One of her bodyguards,” she said, frowning at Marcus. “Don’t you remember? You hired him.”

“There’s been so many,” Marcus said. To be fair, the man looked horrified that he’d put this man in his daughter’s path. Put him in her house. Forced her to tolerate him. Until she managed to push him out again.

“Get your office on the phone. Get his employment forms,” I told Marcus.

“Right. Right. Yeah,” he said, already reaching for his phone as I moved through the spa and back out front.

“Hey, Gene. The bodyguard. Do either of you know where he lives?” I asked.

“Gene. The creep,” Drea snapped, jaw tight.

“No. I never drove him anywhere personally,” Eric said. “Never liked him, though. He used to sit in the back with the girls,” he said, lip curling at the idea of an employee overstepping professional boundaries.

He would really not approve of me.

That was an issue for another day, though.

When Scarlet was safe.

“Why did you think Gene was creepy?” I asked Drea as Di and Marcus came out of the spa, Marcus talking rapidly to someone on the phone, Di on the phone with someone else.

“I didn’tthinkhe was creepy. Scarlet said she used to catch him trying to watch her shower or change.”

Great.

“How did Scarlet manage to get him to leave?”

“I threatened him,” Drea admitted. “I don’t think Scarlet even knew that. But I just… I couldn’t stand by and watch another asshole think he could get away with taking advantage of one of us. So I… threatened to turn him over to the police for spying on her and taking pictures of her in her own home. I should have actuallydoneit.”

“It’s not your fault. You were protecting your friend. And you did get him out of her apartment. Who the fuck knows what might have happened if you didn’t get him out of there when you did.”

“I have an address,” Marcus said, heading toward his car.

“The cops are coming,” Di said, eyes wide.

“Stay and talk to them. I’ll text Eric the address to tell the cops,” I told them, rushing to slide into Marcus’s car before he could peel off without me.

“This is all my fault.”

“You can fall into a guilt hole later,” I said, shooting him a look. “Right now, you need to be fucking pissed off and ready to take on this bastard. I’m assuming he had some kind of military background.”

“He was a cop.”

“He waswhat?” I snapped.

“A cop. He said the money was shit, so he retired early.”

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