Page 31 of Coming Home

I reach for her hand, “Scarlett, Princess, you can’t go. He will take you; I will never see you again. He is evil…”

“He has Stephen, and he obviously wants or needs something from me. I have to go; I need to go. I am going to change my clothes and then I am going.”

She jumps off the couch and walks into the bedroom. I lower my head and take five minutes to gather my thoughts, then feel Marco’s hand rest on my shoulder, offering me his support. I stand up and sigh. “I need her,” I say to Marco, desperation in my voice.

He nods. “I will call Romeo, if she is going, we can still protect her.”

I nod and walk to the windows and look out at the Boston skyline.

Hanover and Commercial is a busy intersection, near the docks and close to the airport. I have a bad feeling about this. I fear for her safety, but their escape route is starting to appear obvious. I am not giving up without a fight, and I will fight till the death for Scarlett. I think about the layout of the city and start to formulate a plan.

Calling out to Marco, we put Romeo on speaker, and I put my plan in motion. Old man Ray might own half of this city, but he is forgetting who owns the other half.

Me.

38

Scarlett

As I make my way into the bedroom to change, I realize that I am shaking. While this whole ordeal is terrifying, the shaking at the moment is coming from anger. I am angry. I am so fucking angry. I am sick of my life being dictated by Uncle Ray. No. By Ray Sullivan. No longer will I consider him family. He is a monster, and I want this to end. This is going to end tonight.

It has been a while since I have felt like this. The emotions I have felt for the past year fall into the category of extreme sadness, darkness, and fear. But now, I have nothing but pure rage flowing through my veins. The 12 months spent in police protection gave me a lot of insight, but I took advantage of the situation and trained daily on my mind and body with each police officer issued to me.

At first, I trained in self-defense as a coping mechanism in order to protect myself if needed. Toward the end, though, I trained to fight. The last police officer managing me was a MMA fighter in his spare time, and he could tell I needed the release, so he taught me everything he could. Because not only did I want to defend myself, but I could feel anger starting to permeate in my body, and I needed to get it out. I needed a violent release.

I grab my jeans, sweater, and Nike shoes that I packed, because this is not a meeting where Louboutin’s are necessary. I go to the bathroom and tie my hair in a bun, turning myself into a fighter, both inside and out. Shaun doesn’t want me to go, I understand that, but I have to. Stephen needs me, and for the past year, I have been running away, but now for once in my life, I want to meet it all head on.

As I head back to the kitchen, Marco and Shaun are talking, so I take the time to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and gather my thoughts. I stand at the window, looking out at the city below, waiting, waiting for my time to come. I feel him before I see him. He presses his body against my back and puts his hands on my shoulders, running them up and down my arms. He kisses my neck as he whispers, “You don’t have to go. I don’t want you to go, but I know that you want to, so I am going to make it as safe as possible for you to do what you want to do.”

I turn in his arms and look at him in shock. I thought for sure he would try and talk me out of it.

“Scarlett, while we have only known each other for a short time, I see the determination on your face. I know that you need to do this, for you, for your family. But I am not letting you go alone, and I am not letting you go without protection.”

“But he said to go alone?”

“Ray won’t see my people and won’t know our plans, but we will drop you off at the intersection where he has requested, and Romeo, Marco, the team, and I will be watching. We will get you and Stephen safely away from Ray before anything can happen. Do you trust me, Princess? Do you trust me to help you get out of this and away from him safely?”

As I look at Shaun, I can see concern in his eyes, but I also see a steely resolve; he knows this is it. This is our only chance to get this over with. I nod, not sure if my voice won’t break if I use it. He pulls me close, and I realize that here in his arms, is truly the first place that has felt like home for me in a long time.

We stay holding each other for a while and startle when the elevator dings, announcing arrivals to our floor. I pull away, and Shaun puts me behind him in a protective manner as Marco joins him, both boys shielding me from the elevator doors. Although, they don’t seem alarmed, just protective. “It is just Romeo,” he says as his hand holds mine.

Romeo along with six men in all black enter the apartment. He nods to Shaun. “It’s time,” he says. We follow them into the elevator which takes us to the basement again. Upon exiting the elevator, I notice five black escalades lined up, with another twenty men, dressed in black around them. Leaving the safety of the penthouse, I am now reminded of the dark hell I am in, and my stomach flips. I feel nauseous. As my eyes dart around, a warm hand grabs mine which calms me immediately. Shaun holds a beautiful necklace in front of me. While it is stunning, it is not the time for gifts, so I look at him in confusion.

“Princess, Romeo will take you to the drop off point and give you some instructions on the way. We already have people in place throughout the city, and we will have eyes watching you the entire time. Romeo has a small listening device and tracker inserted into this necklace, so you must wear this and not take it off, do you understand?”

I nod, once again scared to talk in case my voice breaks. Shaun puts the necklace on me and Romeo checks that it is all operational and working properly.

“Princess, this ends tonight, and it ends with you and me back here where you belong. Do you understand me? You must do everything Romeo explains to you, and you and I will be together again very soon.”

His deep green eyes grip mine, his voice thick with determination and confidence. He grabs my chin and brings his lips to mine, taking me hungrily before breaking away and nodding to Romeo.

“Scarlett, this way.” Romeo grabs my elbow and pulls me toward one of the vehicles. As I get into the car, I notice all the other men climb into the other cars, and Shaun and Marco get into the one behind ours as well. Knowing that Marco is with Shaun calms me. Shaun is a family man, and it is one of the many things I love about him. I am happy that his brother is by his side in this.

As we pull away, my heart is thumping. Romeo starts talking about how things will work. How they will drop me off, how they have people watching, and lets me know they will be listening in to the entire meet via the necklace.

“We expect them to grab you and take you somewhere. Our guess is to the docks or to the airport–both are close by, and we have both covered. You must not let them know we are near or watching you.”

I nod. I feel like I have nodded so much over this past hour my head will drop off. The anger and confidence I had just moments ago in the penthouse is slowly seeping out of my body, but I try to hold it in as much as possible, not wanting to be weak in front of Ray.

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