Page 76 of Ruthless Keeper
If he weren’t her brother, I’d kill him for hurting her. As is, I send him an email informing him that Scarlett has an open line of communication with him… she just isn’t ready to take it.
The response I get is in the form of the phone on my office desk ringing. Scarlett left the room after reading the email, which leaves me to field the call.
I let it ring for a little while, thinking, but eventually pick up. “Hello?”
“I want to speak to her.” Eric doesn’t waste any time. “Immediately.”
I clear my throat. “As I stated in my email, nobody’s hindering her ability to talk to you. The only thing missing is her desire to.”
Over the line, I hear a loudbang, Like Eric’s just slammed his palm against his desk. “She’s my sister!” he roars.
“And she’s the love of my life,” I retort. “I won’t force her to do anything that hurts her.”
“I wouldnever—”
“You already did,” I snap, losing my patience. “You left her intearsyesterday. The way you talked about putting ahit on her? Are you fuckingkiddingme, Eric?”
“I was trying to illustrate a point.”
“Instead, you illustrated the sort of man you are. Give her time to cool down. She has no obligations to do anything she doesn’t want to.”
After the power Scarlett gained yesterday, that’s mostly true. The playing field has evened out. Not completely—Scarlett still can’t leave unless I die—but enough so that she’s no longer helpless. I find that I don’t mind the change as much as I thought I might.
“She’s mysister,” Eric reiterates.
“You keep saying that like you think it’ll change something. It won’t. I’m not going to force her to talk to you. Now, if you get yourself in check, I mightencourageher to do so, but at no point will I tie her to a chair and put the phone to her ear. She’d castrate me.”
Eric falls silent at that. A full minute passes, then two. His angry breaths start to even out into slightly calmer ones. I count the seconds as they tick by, waiting for whatever bullshit he spews next. If Eric were anyonebutScarlett’s brother, I’d kill him for making her cry. As is, I have to let him live, but there are no requirements for me to give him anything but bare-minimum civility. His alliance is withCain, notwith me… and Cain’s used up any of the goodwill there was between us.
“You really love her,” Eric finally says. “She’s only been there for a few weeks—”
“Try close to two months. Good to know that you keep such careful track of how long it’s been since yourown fucking sisterdisappeared.” I have no idea why Scarlett loves this guy. He’s an absolute prick.
“I was rounding down for the sake of not losing my mind.” Eric exhales a long, strained breath. “Does she love you, as well?”
“She cares about me.” That much I know is true, otherwise she wouldn’t be so broken up over the memory of nearly killing me. She wouldn’t have stayed by my side, day and night, while I was recovering. What we have between us is twisted and screwed up, but it’s real. That’s what matters.
I certainly wish our meet-cute hadn’t been me tasering her and dumping her in a cell… but I had my reasons at the time. I can honestly say I will never doanythinglike that again.
If Eric ever knew about that, he’d find a way to kill me. He has a strange goddamn way of showing it, but I know he loves Scarlett. I can hear it in his voice. I don’t know the extent of their history, but it’s obvious they adore each other. Unfortunately, that means that once Scarlett gets over her anger and pain, I’ll need to share some of her attention with Eric.
Just like I have to share her with that goddamn cat. If I didn’t see how the furry demon helps her, grounds her, I’d have already made it into a rug.
“She more than cares about you.” Eric’s voice is quieter now, resigned. I’m tempted to tell him that care might be the only thing Ieverget from her, but that would involve explaining mycrimes and sins against her, and I’ll avoid that at all costs. “Just… have her give me a call when she’s ready.Please. I miss her—I want to see her.”
“I’ll pass it on. I won’t make any promises on her behalf, though.”
“Yeah.” Eric’s voice is resigned, and a few moments later, he hangs up.
I recline in my seat, releasing a long sigh. Scarlett said she was heading to the greenhouse after I showed her the email, which is just fine by me—because I have an appointment in medical I need to get to, and there are several things I need to go over.
Dr. Ross greets me in his office after I’ve been scanned, had bloodwork done, and wasted an hour going through various tests.
He gazes at his computer screen, going over all of the results. “Your MRI looks good,” he murmurs. “As do your scars. Your immune system is very healthy, and the worst of the damage has cleared up.” His lips tip up into a smile. “My drug is working wonders, as anticipated.”
“Is that why you were barred from practicing medicine in any official capacity?” I ask curiously. “Because you anticipated something wonderful from an unregulated, extremely powerful substance?”
Ross’s upper lip curls into a snarl. “The FDA pulled accusations out of nowhere. They disregarded the years’ worth of studies I’d done on animals, and the promising indication with my human test subjects—”
