Page 65 of Ryder’s Storm

“I will.”

Fifteen minutes later, a list of things Scarlet needed from her home in his hand, Ryder left the house and walked to his car. He noticed that Vanessa’s car was parked in the driveway, and Ethan’s right behind her on the street, blocking her. Ethan was home after all.

It didn’t take long to reach the King residence, but all parking spots on the block were taken, and Ryder had to park two blocks away. As he walked up to the residence, he couldn’t tell if anybody was home. He listened before he put the key into the lock. Inside the house it was quiet. He opened the door and entered the foyer. His sneakers barely made a sound on the wood floor as he walked up the stairs and turned toward Scarlet’s room that overlooked the street. He entered it.

The bed was unmade, and the rest of the room looked exactly like he’d left it the morning Scarlet’s father had arrived unexpectedly. Ryder went to the walk-in closet, and stepped inside. On an upper shelf he found a leather travel bag, just like Scarlet had mentioned. He took it down and filled it with several items on Scarlet’s list: panties and bras, socks, a pair of pants, several T-shirts, a cardigan, a casual dress, and two pairs of shoes. Satisfied, he stepped out of the closet and looked for Scarlet’s laptop. He found it on the desk near the window and placed it in the bag on top of the clothes.

Then he looked around for the charger, but it wasn’t on the desk. Where had she left it? He glanced around, wondering if she’d plugged the cable into an outlet somewhere else in the house. He walked into the ensuite bathroom, and looked around. When his eyes fell on an electric toothbrush, he took it together with a few other toiletries, even though they weren’t on Scarlet’s list. She’d probably forgotten them in her haste.

Back in the bedroom, his gaze fell on the bedside table. Between it and the bed, he saw the computer cable he’d been looking for. It was plugged into an outlet on the wall. Ryder crouched down and pulled it out, when he suddenly heard a loud sound. He froze. It sounded like somebody had hit the wall with a shoe or a fist.

Somebody was home after all. Ryder tossed the cable in the bag, and zipped it up. He took it, and went to the door. Quietly, he turned the doorknob and pulled the door open a couple of inches so he could peer down the hallway. He couldn’t see anything, but more sounds were coming from somewhere in the back of the house now.

Ryder left Scarlet’s room, intent on sneaking down the stairs as quickly as possible. When he reached the top of the stairs, a loud moan reached his ears. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. Something wasn’t right. Was Claudia at home and had hurt herself? No matter his feelings about her nephew, he couldn’t ignore his instinct, and had to check out if she was all right.

Ryder placed Scarlet’s travel bag at the top of the stairs, and pivoted. Treading lightly, he walked to the end of the corridor, where the King’s master bedroom was located. The door wasn’t closed properly. As he reached it, there was another moan, this time accompanied by a second one, which definitely came from a second person.

Now more curious than worried, Ryder bent closer to peer through the gap between door and frame. His gaze fell on a mirror. In its reflection he saw the bed. On it, two people were having sex. He was about to retreat, wanting to give the couple their privacy, when he saw the faces of the couple. One was clearly Claudia, like he’d expected. But the man she was having rather wild and passionate sex with wasn’t her husband. It was her nephew. Derek.

Ryder suppressed a stunned gasp and froze. He blinked, wondering if his eyes were playing a trick on him, but when he spied into the room again and saw the couple in the mirror, he couldn’t deny it any longer. Claudia was fucking Derek.

“Fuck, I missed fucking you,” he heard Derek grunt now as he flipped Claudia on her stomach and plowed into her from behind.

“I need this so bad, baby,” she replied, “Brandon never fucks me like you do.”

“I hate knowing that you still let him fuck you.”

“Please, you know I have to. It won’t be for much longer. You’re the only one who fucks me like a real man. I only want you.”

Ryder turned away. He’d seen enough. As quietly as he could, he hurried back to the stairs, grabbed Scarlet’s bag and walked downstairs. Next to the bench that held several pairs of shoes, he spotted his own bag that he’d dropped there before he’d raced after Scarlet. He snatched it and made his way out the door, careful not to let it slam so as not to alert Claudia and Derek. Not that he believed that they would be able to hear the door close. Claudia was too busy cheating on her husband and committing incest with her nephew.

Back at his car, Ryder put the two bags on the back seat and got in. But he didn’t speed away immediately. Instead, he let the entire scene play out in his mind once more. He wasn’t a voyeur, no, that wasn’t the reason. But something about Claudia and Derek having sex didn’t sit right with him. Why would a woman sleep with her own nephew to cheat on her husband? A woman wanting a sexual affair behind her husband’s back would choose someone who had no connection to her or her family. She wouldn’t pick her nephew, because their interactions at family get-togethers could eventually betray them. She would pick a stranger, somebody she would never have to see again once it was over.

That’s when the answer stared him right in the face. Derek wasn’t Claudia’s nephew. Ryder didn’t know yet how to confirm it, but in his gut, he knew he was right. However, another thing made no sense, whether Derek was her nephew or not. Claudia had clearly tried to set Scarlet up with Derek, even facilitated it for Derek to make a pass at Scarlet—an unwelcome one—by leaving the house that night. Ryder had to assume that all this had happened at Claudia’s direction. The question was, why? Why have her lover attempt to seduce Scarlet? What was the end game?

Something was afoot. And he was determined to get to the bottom of it. Another thing was clear too: he couldn’t keep this information from Scarlet. She had to know about it. Perhaps she could fill in some of the blanks about Derek and Claudia.

He felt dread in his gut. This discovery wasn’t something he could withhold from Brandon King. Ultimately, he was Scanguards’ client, and an illicit affair represented a security issue, which made it Ryder’s responsibility to alert him. However, he had to discuss it with Scarlet first. Together they would decide how to proceed.

31

Scarlet flipped on the broiler of the humongous gas stove in the Giles’s kitchen, and turned back to the slices of bread on the kitchen island which she’d topped with garlic butter. Now she arranged slices of cheese on it, until the entire cookie sheet was covered. She checked the oven, but the broiler had still not turned on. She studied the controls again, and realized that she’d turned the dial to Broil but hadn’t pressed Start. She corrected her error, then shoved the cookie sheet with the garlic bread onto the top rung of the oven and closed the door.

The Bolognese sauce she’d prepared was boiling happily on low heat. The water for the pasta was still not quite boiling. Scarlet looked at the large clock that hung on the wall next to the window that overlooked a narrow side yard with colorful flowers. The sun hung low on the horizon now and shone directly onto the island and the hallway beyond, though it seemed muted as if the window was tinted.

When she turned back to the stove, she noticed that the water was finally boiling. She pivoted to reach for the pasta. It wasn’t where she’d thought she’d left it. She glanced around. What had she done with it?

“Come on,” she murmured to herself.

But the pasta was nowhere to be found. She left the kitchen and turned to her left, where a door led into the small pantry. She flipped the light switch and saw the bag of pasta on the first shelf, right next to the canned tomatoes.

“Ah, there.” She took the bag, then stopped for a second, before she reached for a second one. Maybe Ryder’s parents and siblings wanted to have some food too, even if they didn’t want to eat it right away. Leftovers were always good.

Scarlet returned to the stove, where the boiling water was already steaming up the kitchen. She hit the switch for the exhaust fan, then quickly emptied the two bags of pasta into the large pot of water.

The pasta sauce was bubbling up, and she realized that she’d forgotten to put the lid back on when she’d last stirred the sauce with a wooden spoon. She reared back so the hot sauce didn’t splatter on the T-shirt she’d borrowed from Ryder, and promptly slipped on a wet spot on the marble floor. She managed to keep her balance by gripping the side of the sink for support, inadvertently knocking against the pile of dirty dishes she’d accumulated there during her prep work. The dishes shifted in the sink and made a noise so loud is sounded like a construction crew was doing demolition work.

It was lucky the dishes didn’t break. She decided it was best to quickly wash and dry them before she could cause any more disasters. Maya Giles would probably not like it one bit if Scarlet made a mess out of her kitchen and damaged her good dishes. Scarlet knew that there was a dishwasher next to the sink, but she couldn’t figure out how to open it. The door appeared to be stuck.