Page 8 of Kiss of Ruin (Brutal Empire)

The nurse helps me out of the hospital gown and into the dress. By the time we’re done, I’m completely sapped any energy I had.

Completely drained, I know I have to stay awake at least until we get to the plane, then I can sleep during the flight.

She picks up a clipboard I didn’t notice when she first came in. “These are your discharge papers.”

She reviews the dressing and wound care, gave me the instructions for the rehab facility, then had me sign it all.

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

She smiles. “Good luck, Mrs. Romero.”

Another person in scrubs comes into the room and he lift me from the bed into the wheelchair. Thankfully, the two guards were smart enough to stay outside the room.

We leave the room and I know I’ll be happy to never see that room again. Goosebumps rise on my skin. Being under blankets the last few days, I didn’t realize how cold the rest of the hospital was.

It’s an absolute relief when they push me out the front door and I get my first breath of fresh air in a while. The sun is warm on my face. It was a different feel then being stuck behind a window.

The guard opens the back door.

“Do you need me to help her into the car?” The nurse asks the guard.

Exactly as I expected, the arrogance rolls over the guard in waves. He shakes his head without even bothering to respond to the man.

I turn my head. “Thank you, I’ll be fine.”

The guard gently puts his arms under my legs and lifts me from the chair and into the car. The door shuts behind me before I can even say goodbye.

The guard climbs into the front of the car and just like that I’m off, watching New York disappear as we race past the city lights to the airport.

ChapterFour

Scarlett

When we turn into the airport, we don’t follow the road to the terminal. Instead, we head in the direction of the private jet hangers. I haven’t spoken to a single person in the car, nor have they spoken to each other, almost like there were silently communicating.

The silence closes in on me. I feel like it’s suffocating me. I’ve been so lonely in that hospital bed, only to be swept away to the airport to heal alone.

Not exactly alone.

As we pull up to the hanger, I see Sofia, Rosa, and Camila waiting outside the stairs leading up to the plane. The desolate loneliness I felt at the hospital overwhelms me as I see them practically running to the car.

It might be childish, but I can’t bring myself to face them. How willing they were to leave me waiting there, with no answers. No information. I waited and they did nothing to be there when I needed them most.

The broken heart Nico left me with, shatters even farther. I’m so broken that I don’t have it in me to reassure others.

“Scar,” Sofia yells right before she reaches us.

I look over at the guard who has just lifted me from the car, ignoring the increasing pain in my back. “Take me directly to the plane.” I allow the cold tone I used in the hospital to seep into my tone.

The pain in my back is growing. I don’t feel like dealing with the fallout of the decisions they made while I was in the hospital. Now, I want time on my own terms, not on theirs.

Thankfully, the guard listens and starts toward the plane. I can hear Sofia yelling behind us, but I don’t look back at her. Right now, there’s nothing to be said. I’m sure they are chasing behind us. Not that they would be able to keep up with the guards long strides.

He carries me directly up the stairs and into the plane. The inside of the plane is set up like a living room. Near the back of the plane is a small kitchen and bar. The cabinet behind it is stocked with liquor, closed behind doors to keep the bottles from breaking if there is turbulence. The entire bar and cabinet have a wooden exterior. Farther into the plane, there’s a long couch with a TV mounted directly across from it. And finally, near the front are reclining chairs that swivel to allow you to face the couch or face forward. It’s not my first time on this plane.

Actually, I can’t be sure of that since I know Carlos and Andreas have a few different private jets in their fleet. All with the same layout. The only room I hadn’t been in before was the office between the cockpit and main cabin. Whenever we flew somewhere, Luis would lock himself in there for hours working on business. Now, I had to wonder if he was really working on business or talking with Elena right in front of me.

I push that thought out of my head as the guard settles me into one of the recliners in the front. There’s no use on dwelling on what Luis might have been doing in the past. He’s gone and now that woman he loved is trying to kill me.

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