I’m needed back in Boston, and there’s no reason to keep delaying the inevitable.
“You ready?” I ask when she emerges from the bathroom dressed in some of Talia’s clothing.
“As I’ll ever be,” she says.
Her voice is wooden, and the shutters have come down on her face. She’s locked herself down tight, my little warrior. I still don’t know what’s going to happen when she sees them. If she’ll really go through with it.
But the choice is Scarlett’s to make. And whatever she decides, I’ll be right there beside her.
We walk hand in hand to the basement, and she doesn’t let go.
Storm is waiting in the hallway, happy and carefree as she sucks on another lollipop.
“My work here is done,” she says. “And the Russian guy organized a ride for me, so I’m going to skedaddle.”
Scarlett reaches out and grabs her by the arm, and Storm flinches at the human contact.
“Sorry.” Scarlett releases her. “I just wanted to say thank you. For everything.”
“No problem.” Storm shrugs. “It was fun. We should do it again sometime.”
Scarlett looks up at me and then shakes her head.
“I’m out of the game now,” she says. “For good.”
Storm smirks and then sighs. “I figured as much.”
“But there’s one last thing.” Scarlett pulls a card from her pocket and fiddles with it. “I didn’t mention it before.”
Storm crunches some of the sucker between her teeth, eyeing off the card. “What is it?”
“There’s a fed. And he’s got it bad for you.”
“Oh yeah, that guy.” Storm nods. “He’s been asking around.”
“I didn’t give him anything,” Scarlett tells her. “I won’t. But he wanted you to have this. In case you ever need help, I guess.”
Storm takes the card and gives it a curious glance before shoving it into her own pocket.
“Thanks. He might be fun to play with.”
“No,” Scarlett says. “Not him. He’s one of the good ones.”
Storm looks at me, and I nod. She doesn’t believe it though.
“Fine,” she sighs. “I’ll leave the poor little federal agent alone. You never let me have any fun.”
“I guess that’s probably for the best,” Scarlett agrees. “But what do you want me to tell him?”
Storm runs her tongue over her teeth in a playful gesture.
“Just tell him to catch me… if he can.”
Storm is long gone, but she definitely left her mark.
The two blokes strapped to the table have been sliced and diced and burned and god only knows what else. Because their eyes are practically begging for death at this point.
What Scarlett doesn’t know is that Alexei has his own way of dealing with men who assault women. And before Storm ever laid hands on them, Quinn and Duke enjoyed a long, passion filled night with Boris.
