Red Strings of Fate (Haunted Series 2)

Strings 45: His side (Part I/II)

I stared at my brother's arm around me. "If you don't stop doing that, I will break your arm."

Tracing the path Hope took as she walked away, my chest tightened at the empty look she gave me... like I was a stranger.

Damn it, am I still the one in control here? What happened to keeping her at arm's length? I should be following a different lead, but instead, I stroll down Mr and Mrs Couture and observe Scarlet. She has been working here for weeks and doesn't notice me lurking.

It was like when I got another glimpse of her, I couldn't leave.

She doesn't notice my eyes on her from a distance, and worse, she doesn't see another man following her dressed in nondescript clothes. Nothing about him stood out. To the point that I didn't think I could pick him out of a group of people, which was probably his aim. Get in, get out, be forgotten... but the way he stared at her made my head tick.

I cocked my head as he followed the mother and daughter through the lower levels. He hides when Kristine leaves the room, pulling on leather gloves with practiced ease. In his hand, a small towel soaked in something unmistakable—chloroform.

I sighed and contacted my men to surround the area while I never took my eyes off him and wore my own set of gloves. 

Before he could follow Scarlet walking out, I dragged him into the room and punched his jaw.

My first punch came without warning, a straight jab aimed directly at his nose. It connected with a satisfying crack, sending him staggering back a step, blood already dripping. But he swung back fast—a wild right hook that missed so hard I almost felt bad. Almost. I ducked low and drove an uppercut into his ribs.

But underestimating someone always backfires. He grabbed my arm and threw his weight into it, launching me straight into the mannequins dressed in wedding gowns.

A grunt escaped from my mouth, but I quickly stepped on my toes and stepped into the next attack, grappling him in a hold and driving a knee hard into his abdomen. The impact forced the air out of his lungs. Stumbling back, coughing, trying to catch his breath.

"'Yun lang?" I taunted. I'm not sure if Hope's getting back any minute now. I need to finish this.

His response was a flurry of punches—too bad for him. I was fast, brutal, and calculated. Left jab, right cross, left hook. He blocked the first two, but the hook landed squarely on his cheek, snapping his head to the side. He staggered, blinking away stars, before I threw a punch that caught his temple, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"She's fine. She's with her friends. Lucky that your daughter is irresponsible—she left." After discreetly passing the man to my men and tasking Talia with getting Scarlet's phone to check if she'd been hacked and tracked through there, I contacted Kristine.

She immediately went back to the company to check on her daughter, whom she chose to endanger.

"Listen, I warned you—your daughter isn't safe here."

"I... Gusto ko sana siyang tulungan. Malaman niya na sinusuportahan ko siya, kahit sa ganitong paraan. I know she was having a hard time." She said, almost in tears. "What should I do?"

"Fire her. She'll find a new job."

"But how can she be safe there? Nakita na siya."

"She could work under me."

"Excuse me?"

"She could work in my house as a secretary or a maid. Kahit ano, she could stay there. It's impenetrable."