AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And so I instantly began to move away, but then a familiar scent caught my nostrils.
I instantly went still then, and even if I wanted to leave, I couldn’t. However, I was too nervous to look his way. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I felt as though I wasgoing to be ill again, but eventually, when he called my name, I had no choice but to meet his eyes.
“Scarlett,” he called, and my heart thundered in my chest. He didn’t call me Sophie; he said my actual name for the very first time, and he was here at my apartment.
I tried my best to hold back, and when I finally met his gaze, I couldn’t hide the moisture in them.
“Lucien,” I called, and he watched me for a little bit, and then he looked at the car still waiting at the curb and the goons in the back.
“Are you alright?” He asked, and I nodded.
“Head upstairs to the apartment,” he said. “I’ll be right there.”
I nodded and started to leave, but when I realized what this would result in, I caught his arm. I intended to stop him, however, he pulled his arm away from me almost as though I were some reptile.
I felt the rejection keenly but I understood. We were technically strangers; I mean, if he hadn’t mistaken me for my sister, I might never have even been allowed access to the same room to be able to speak to him. And so I lowered my gaze, took a step back sheepishly, but thankfully still managed to say what I wanted to.
“There’s no need; I mean, there's nothing wrong. He just wants a night out, and I refused.”
He waited until I looked at him before he replied.
“He wants a night out so badly with you that you had to run to get away from him.”
“This is going to ruin the deal,” I told him, “and there is no point in it. I... I don’t work for you.”
He considered this, and then, to my surprise, he shifted from one leg to the other and then nodded. “You’re right. You didn’twork for me, so there is no point in taking my anger out on him. Still, head upstairs.”
“Okay,” I nodded, as I recited further emotional blows, but there was nothing more I could say or do. I headed over to my building, and before I even reached there, the men parted out of my way. I glared murderously at them, and in no time, I was returning to my apartment.
I would have thought that I would be so anxious to run up to safety and shut my door, but my legs suddenly felt as heavy as lead. Every step taken was almost excruciating because it felt as though I was walking away from him forever. Maybe I should have invited him to come up after he was done, I couldn’t help but wonder. Would he... and why was he here? Had he come to see me?
Eventually, I arrived at my apartment and locked the door behind me. However, I couldn’t leave. So I sat and waited and prayed that I would receive the knock that I wanted to hear more than anything in the entire world.
Chapter 54
Lucien
Ididn’t know what to do with both of them. On one hand, I wanted to hurt and get rid of them, but they were still attached to me in various ways. I watched her leave and then turned to the idiot in his car. If he had any sense, he would leave as well, but instead, he remained seated, waiting for me to reach him. The windows were already down, so I stared at him. And he stared back.
"Montgomery," he greeted. "Fancy seeing you here at your assistant's house past midnight."
I knew the angle he was trying to play and what he was getting at, but I realized I didn't even want to waste a second of my life speaking to him. "You’ll hear from my lawyers," I said, and his face darkened.
"About what exactly?" he asked, but I turned around and walked away. The two men at the building's door instantly slinked away upon my arrival. I stopped for a moment to note their faces and then headed in. She lived on the third floor, so by the time I arrived, I had enough time to think about what I wanted to say to her. Or if I even wanted to talk to her at all.
I had passed by on my way home and luckily spotted her just in time. I had been sure that I had absolutely nothing to say to her and didn't want to see her, but the second I saw her run, my whole heart lurched. I was still in so much rage because I wanted to burn the skin off his bones, but I took deep breaths and focused on her. She was the one I had to address now, yet as I stared at her door, I still didn't know what to say.
I thought hard, and the opening of assuring her that she would be safe because I had eyes on her occurred to me, but I didn’t care to do that. So in the end, I turned around and left. Just as I reached the first flight of stairs, I could hear her door creak open. I kept going but didn't hurry my steps, and just before I was out of sight, she spotted me.
"Hey," she called, and I stopped. She came out of the apartment then and hurried over, and I looked up to stare at her from across the space.
"You're leaving," she said, and I frowned. No kidding. I had the perfect comeback for that.
And you're a liar, I wanted to say, but I kept my thoughts to myself.
I stared at her then, and given that I had seen Sophie earlier, the difference was so stark now that I couldn't unsee it. And as a result, a mix of emotions surged within me—longing, anger, concern, loss… hope? I didn't know which was the accurate depiction of how I was supposed to feel at this moment about her and concerning all that had transpired between us, and it frustrated me to no end. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been this indecisive about anything, and it made me even more annoyed to see her.
"Thank you for helping me," she said, and I watched her. Her face was scrubbed clean of any makeup and she had on baggy clothes. This way, she seemed so innocent, and my heart seemed to melt for her, but thankfully, I caught myself.
