Page 9 of Saving Scarlett

A few more keystrokes made their way through the phone speaker. “Moving money from the joint accounts he shares with his wife into offshore accounts, small amounts at a time. He’s been on his phone and his computer all day.”

Standing from the sofa, I stepped into my office, opening my safe and loading up a duffel bag with money and documents for two fake identifications. “He thinks she ran. That’s really good.” I went quiet for a moment, double checking what I’d haphazardly thrown into the bag. Once I left my apartment, I wouldn’t be back for a while. “Halt the transfers. I want to leave him guessing for a while. Right now, he’s probably expecting her to return home.”

I realized then that he might have believed she ran away rather than thought I killed her and hid her body a week before he wanted me to. It was something I could have used to my advantage.

“Got it. Anything else?”

I rubbed my eyes, trying to think as my body reminded me that it too needed rest. When I got off the phone, I needed a quick nap before we headed to the cabin in the mountains of Alabama. A long drive lay ahead, and I couldn’t drive if I was falling asleep. “Keep a record of any sums transferred to accounts that aren’t his and fabricate eyewitness sightings of his wife west of Texas. I want to know who he is working with and I want him to think she’s out there.”

Chapter 9

The Survivor

The click of a door pulled me out of a deep sleep, the figure in the doorway causing me to blink a few times just to see if I was really seeing what I thought I was. After a moment, I remembered where I was, and who the half-naked man standing in the semi lit room was my assassin.

Bane stood in just inside the en suite bathroom, a fluffy white towel wrapped low on his hips as he brushed his teeth. For a moment, I just watched him as he brushed and flossed, not even realizing I was awake. His upper body was toned and cut with muscle, tattoos covering most of his back and at least one of his arms. From where I was laying, I couldn’t make out what they were, but I had to admit, even to myself, that they only made him sexier. My CEO husband had no tattoos, nor was he in shape. Over the last few years, he’d really let himself go, drinking a lot more and putting on a lot of weight. My assassin savior couldn’t have been more different.

Even though I knew it probably said something unfortunate about me, I secretly hoped the towel would fall. I’d never seen a man quite like him, and I knew nothing could ever happen between us, nor did I want it to. He wasn’t the kind of man I would want to spend my life with, or have children with, but damn he was sexy.

When he turned to face the bedroom, however, I knew the fun was over, since he caught me ogling him. I expected him to shut the door and pull on some pants, but all he did was smirk before bending over to dig into one of the cabinets. He pulled out several items, tossing them into a toiletry bag, all with that cursed towel around his waist. The man was built like a god, making it impossible to look away.

“I’m finishing up here and then you can take a shower before we leave.” With as much as he moved around as he spoke, I was surprised, and frankly disappointed, that the towel never loosened at all. It was almost like he’d added Velcro to it to keep it settled right above the money shot.

“My sister brought you some clothes and other things.” Crossing the bedroom, he grabbed two large bags and set them on the foot of the bed. “Here you go. I hope you have everything here you’ll need. If there’s something else, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.”

As he stepped into the large walk-in closet, I sat up and began digging into the bags. Inside one was a smaller bag filled with toiletries and products for women. There was shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste, but also expensive face creams and toner, hair care products, tampons, and even a blow dryer. Most of the larger bags were filled with clothes, mostly black: tights, long shirts, night clothes, panties, and sports bras. I’d never met his sister, but it was clear she had a vague idea of what size I wore but chose looser fitting garments because she didn’t want to risk buying anything that wouldn’t fit. There were even a few pairs of shoes. I didn’t know how long I would be with Bane, but from the looks of what his sister had bought for me, I realized I should be okay.

When Bane came back out of the closet, he was dressed in a fresh pair of black pants and a black shirt, a hoodie draped over his arm. “Don’t tell me your closet is filled with twenty pairs of the exact same outfit.”

He chuckled, sitting on the edge of the bed to pull on a pair of black boots. “There’s probably a few other items in there, but I couldn’t be sure since I don’t wear them. Will the items in the bags work for you? Do you need anything else?”

My stomach growled, answering the question for me. “Your sister is amazing for finding all this stuff for me. Please tell her thank you.”

The side of his mouth lifted in a half smile. “I’ll do that, and I’ll make something for us to eat. I want to hit the road soon so you should get your shower and get dressed.”

Nodding, I reached back into the bags, taking out a pair of black joggers and a long black shirt. “Do you know where we’re going? Is it a long way from here?”

He stood, tossing an empty duffle bag on the bed. “I do. We’ll be driving most of the night. You can put your stuff in this. I’ll give you some privacy and get something in the oven to eat. It won’t be gourmet, but it’s better than nothing.”

Standing from the bed, I watched as he left the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. For a moment, I didn’t move, clutching my new clothes close to my chest. The entire situation was surreal, and I should have been frightened. I kept reminding myself of that. But the more time I spent in Bane’s company, the less I feared him. In my mind, I still knew what he was, but even though he was a villain, he didn’t seem like a villain to me. He almost seemed like a hero.

Just like the rest of the apartment, Bane’s en suite bathroom was upscale, sleek, and modern. The shower tile and the countertops were made of a shiny black stone, accented with flecks of metallic silver. The floor was also a polished stone, but in a light gray color. In the city of New Orleans, which was where I thought we were, based on what I could see out the window, the apartment was expensive. For an assassin, he must have been part of the upper echelon–if assassins had such a thing.

Once I took a shower and redressed my wounds, several of which were still painful, I put on my new clothes and went out to the kitchen. As I sat at the table eating a few slices of the pizza fresh from the oven, Bane finished packing everything he wanted to take, including boxes of food, and brought them out to his vehicle. By the items he was bringing to his car, it almost appeared as though we were going on vacation—a vacation where he would need to shoot and stab things. The sheer number of weapons he packed should have made me feel intimidated—something I’d thought repeatedly over the past day—but I didn’t. If he’d wanted to hurt or kill me, he could have already, so I knew those weapons would not be used on me…at least I hoped they wouldn’t. With any luck, I thought maybe he would teach me how to use them. One thing I’d never learned in life was self-defense, and after everything I’d been through, it was a skill I needed to learn. My life truly depended on it.

By the time I finished eating and took another pain pill, we climbed into Bane’s car, a sleek, black Lexus with equally black tint on the windows, and left his apartment just before midnight. When we pulled out of the parking structure, I recognized the luxury apartment building. I’d never been inside it before Bane brought me there, but I had passed the building a few times.

“Is this level of window tint even legal?” I asked, trying to break the silence. Bane wasn’t much of a talker, at least he didn’t seem to be.

In the darkness, the smirk on his face was unmistakable. “Definitely not, but I’ve never been one to worry a whole lot about laws. If I did, I would make my money in a different way.”

Reaching into the backseat, I grabbed a fleece blanket from our supplies and wrapped it around myself. Although I’d been sleeping for the better part of twenty-four hours, it was the middle of the night, so I intended to get comfortable enough to sleep through most of the drive.

“What city are we going to? Maybe I’ve been there.”

Pressing a few buttons on the control panel, Bane selected a radio station that played grunge and alternative music, leaving the volume low. “We won’t be staying in a city, not if we want the best chance of keeping you hidden.”

The moment the answer left his lips, he turned the volume higher, signaling the end of our conversation.

---