Page 10 of Saving Scarlett

For the next several hours, I dozed on and off, curled up with a blanket while Bane drove. The one thing I was grateful for was that he and I enjoyed the same genre of music. As dark as it was outside, I couldn’t watch the sights outside the car window, not that there was anything to see. I’d driven that freeway north out of New Orleans many times, so I could have envisioned everything we passed in my mind anyway.

With the radio on and no conversation between us, my thoughts flipped like a picture book, from what had happened to me and my husband, to my shop, my friend, and how worried they would be, and back to the man sitting beside me. Even as his fingers tapped on the steering wheel to the music, he clenched his jaw often, making me wonder what was on his mind. I wasn’t naive. I knew him saving me and taking on my safety as his responsibility put him and his entire way of life at risk. There was no question that he had done a huge favor for me. What I wanted to know was why he’d done it and what he was getting out of it. When we’d spoken in his living room, he’d explained some stuff, but he’d also left a lot unsaid.

Saving me and keeping the money my husband paid him to kill me would put him at odds with a very powerful man. Josh had an extensive network of people in high places, and from the few statements Bane had made, it seemed like my husband had more dangerous connections than even I knew about. While I appreciated him sparing me, I wanted to understand why he would do that when he knew the trouble it would cause for him. Maybe he wanted trouble with the people my husband associated with. Maybe he has a greater plan to dismantle the network my husband was a part of and that’s why he did it. Without knowing the truth, without hearing it from his mouth, all I could do was speculate. Without knowing why he’d spared me, I would continue worrying that he would one day change his mind and kill me anyway.

Chapter 10

The Savior

Although Scarlett seemed more than willing to chat with me as I drove, I turned the volume up on the radio. We were not friends and I needed to make that clear, to her and to myself. The lifestyle I lived only worked if I kept everyone out of arm’s reach, everyone except my sister and niece. Maybe one day that would change, and I would be ready for something more, but I wasn’t there yet.

For the first few hours of the drive, my plan worked. Music blared from the car’s speakers and Scarlett stared out the window at the darkness, or slept, neither of us uttering a word to the other. Halfway through Mississippi, however, she reached for the dial, nearly turning the music completely off.

“I know what you’re doing.” Even in the darkness, I could feel her eyes on the side of my face.

I shifted in my seat, glancing in my side view mirror to change lanes. “What’s that?”

“You’re avoiding me.”

Huffing a chuckle, I flashed her a grin in an attempt to play it off. “Is that what I’m doing then? Would be kind of difficult, since you’re sitting a foot away from me, Little Red.”

She shrugged, turning to look out the window again. “You may be sitting next to me, but you couldn’t be farther away.”

The words trailed off at the end, but I hadn’t missed them. It was clear that neither of us liked the idea of being vulnerable. I didn’t respond for several beats, unsure of what to say. “I apologize if I’m making you uncomfortable. I’m not exactly a people-person.” When I flashed another half-smile at her, she was watching me.

“You’ve certainly got the lone-wolf thing down.”

Her feisty tone made me chuckle. “Well, damn. I thought I was better at hiding it. I was aiming more for mystery versus lone wolf, but I am kind of a wolf when you think about it.”

In the corner of my eye, I saw the side of her mouth lift in a smile. “Do you choose to be a lone wolf or do others choose to stay away from you?”

Ouch. If I were being honest with myself, it was a little bit of both, but I would never admit that. “To be successful in my line of work, it’s best to maintain my distance.”

“Sounds lonely.”

I shrugged. “I guess it would be for some, but I’m pretty used to it. I spend a lot of time with my sister and niece, so I’m not completely a hermit.”

Her eyes lit up, her body turning to face me. “Tell me about them. You don’t have to tell me their names or anything…just anything really.”

I wished I hadn’t mentioned my family. The last thing I wanted was to put my sister in any danger, but Scarlett already knew she existed since I’d told her about my sister buying her clothes. Not to mention, she didn’t know my real name, so it wasn’t like she could easily discover Caroline’s identity. “It’s been just me and my older sister for a long time. Well, us and my seven-year-old niece. The three of us are very close.”

Instead of keeping the focus on me, I decided to turn the conversation back to her. “How about you tell me more about your husband and why he would want you dead so badly?”

Smile fading, she twisted back to look out the window, my question seeming to make her uncomfortable. “Are you insinuating that I must have done something to be worth killing me over?”

Shaking my head, I activated my turn signal as I moved to the exit lane to stop at a rest area to use the facilities. “I wasn’t insinuating anything, nor did I say you deserved it. I’m just curious as to what you think his motives were.” I shrugged my shoulders, looking in my blind spot as I merged into the right lane. “I met with the guy and listened to him ramble for a good twenty minutes about why he wanted his wife dead. If I were being honest, I thought he was a half-crazed, narcissistic son of a bitch, who wanted to kill off his wife so he could marry his sidepiece. I was just curious how you saw it.”

When she stiffened, I realized I may have been a little too brash in my explanation. The inside of the car went quiet for a few minutes, furthering that realization.

Parking the car outside the rest area, I turned to look at her, no longer expecting her to respond.

She cleared her throat, her eyes going distant. “My husband has been abusing me for a long time, physically, emotionally, verbally, and psychologically, but I thought I would never be free of him, because he was against divorce. He believes it would destroy his public image.” Silencing my breaths, I hung on her next words, rage bubbling inside me again. “Until you took me from my home in the middle of the night and told me what my husband had hired you to do, I’d never known he was trying to have me killed.” She huffed a cynical laugh. “Since he wasn’t willing to get divorced, I guess killing me was his great ‘plan b’ for me. He would never be able to hold onto his wealth if he divorced me, not with who my father is.”

I didn’t think I’d ever wanted someone dead so much in my life.

Chapter 11

The Survivor

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