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to the reckless souls who would die for love;
no one is more alive than you.
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"Scarlet?" I heard Chris's voice in my ears, ten minutes after the car sped away.
"It's working from our end," Stephen confirmed. I took another deep breath, touching the fabric right above my face as I remembered all the things that I could before Ryder would arrive at his designated spot.
I couldn't believe it. The plan was based on one fact alone and somehow that had worked out.
Chris had been tracking Ryder's search history since the last one week. A few hours ago, he had searched up a car rental around our house. In that one, single moment, Ryder had made the greatest mistake that set my plan in order, right after Roman left.
Ryder solved the one thing I hadn't figured out and was planning to wing.
Half an hour after Rome left with Mason, Ryder was at the car rental, renting an average looking Sedan, most probably to visit his house.
A few hours after the call that I had overheard, Chris sent a message to Ryder from an unknown, untraceable number. The message urged him to not call anyone anymore, indicating some danger. The message also asked him to drive down in a car.
Ryder, already not risking extra calls in our house had been swift...and stupid. As I eased myself into the back of the car from the rental where someone from our gang handed him the keys, I knew Ryder had taken the bait. He wouldn't dare call someone, especially after that cryptic message, especially after knowing whose house he was living in.
As Rihanna and Adrian left on a shopping trip, I made sure I slipped away before Ryder could leave. Chris and Stephen had already met Meredith in a nearby house, the closest we knew to Ryder's to-be location.
"Scarlet, Damien is here to do a final check," Stephen said in the ear piece. My heart thumped as the car halted. If Ryder was just fooled once more, Damien would do a final check on me before Ryder neared his street.
"Sir, can you open the boot of the car for a check?" I could hear Damien faintly as I prayed Ryder won't accompany him.
I heard Ryder mutter an okay, and the boot popped open, but that is not what scared me. Thankfully, being in a hurry, Ryder didn't accompany the officer.
When Damien opened the boot of the car and leaned down, a smile spread across his face. He handed me the small gun he had stuffed in and I gestured to him that my ear piece was working.
Hours ago, I had assured Meredith that I would signal her and Damien the moment I saw Matt in that house. They needed visual proof which I would send with my phone. That's it. My work would end there as FBI could finally raid the house. That's it, right? It didn't sound that tough. So why was my heart thumping against my chest, now that we were barely a mile away from his house?
After Damien left, the ride was short because Ryder was clearly impatient.
"You did it, Scarlet. You're officially the only person to get inside that house!" Meredith said in my ears as I felt Ryder take a turn towards an underground garage. It felt uncomfortable for a second, but as I stayed in my place, the car finally halted.
Ryder was soon out of it, almost running away from it.
"Okay, I think he's gone," I muttered.
"Okay, there should be a button at the -" found it. I opened the boot of the car as Chris's voice screamed in my ears.
"WAIT!" he snapped. "What the fuck, Scarlet, I am still trying to freeze the cameras for them!"
Oops! I knew Chris could freeze the cameras only for ten minutes. Their security systems were strong and that was the only liberty we had. He couldn't stay on their system for more than fifteen without being tracked.
"NOW!" he yelled as I opened the boot once again.
"There's no one around, I can see the live feed," Chris assured me as I sped towards the door. "Ryder is already on the first floor."
"Okay..." I whispered as I entered the house.
"Scarlet, he's not in his room, but are you sure that's where you want -"
"Don't waste my time!" I snapped. Ryder's room was the only recognizable room where I wouldn't waste my time. Through the cameras, a clear board was visible on his front door. There was no point going to Rihanna's, which was next to his.
"Take a left here," Chris continued. "Don't worry, there are only four men in the house right now and three of them are in the room on the first floor. The last one is near the front door."
"Faster, Chris," I warned him as I saw the door he had been telling us about. Chris had spent a week trying to invade their security system, always getting liberty of just a few minutes before he entered the danger time zones of risking alarms.
I didn't spare myself even another minute of looking around the house as I entered his room, locking the door behind me. What I faced was a room that was so plain, that I couldn't even imagine it was Ryder's, had I not noticed the pictures on the wall. I saw his father, his sister and him, in so many of them that I wanted to curse him loudly.
Why did he have to do this?
"The man from the front door is walking towards this room, Scarlet!" Stephen yelled in my ear piece as I winced.
"Hey, don't be so -"
"Scarlet, hide somewhere, he's close to the room!" Meredith snapped in my ears as my eyes widened. I hadn't even seen a quarter of the house and I was already in trouble. I eyed the door on the left and hurried, closing it behind me but staying close to it.
Sure enough, the footsteps became louder until I heard the main door of the room open.
"Hello?" A man asked as my heartbeat fastened, my face pressed against the door as I tried to hear him better. The darkness of the room wasn't making my anxiety any better. "Why is this door closed, man?" he continued, speaking to no one in particular.
"Gabe?" another voice called out.
"Don't worry, Scarlet, breathe," Stephen said, calmly this time. "Can you look around? Is there an exit around you?" he asked as I finally opened my eyes.
The men were talking near Ryder's room and I could still hear them as I looked beside me.
At first, I didn't understand where I was standing until my hands met with something. Thankfully, it was the light switch. The voices of the men died down and that's when I switched on the lights. I almost had a heart attack as the lights came on but I made sure I turned around slowly, the gun loaded in my right hand.
I had led myself into my nightmare. The square room that I now stood in should have been a closet. At least that's what made sense in a boy's room, right?
So why was I facing a wall full of pictures? Framed and painted? Printed and drawn?
My lunch threatened to rise as I noticed each and everyone of them.
My eyes scanned them even though my heart was thumping so loudly that it pained to keep standing. I tried to catch my breath, I tried to remember to stand my ground, but in the face of my nightmare, my body kept on betraying me.
I saw myself and let out a whimper.
"Scar?" Chris asked in the ear piece.
"Scarlet, can you hear us?" I could hear the desperation in Stephen's voice but I chose to ignore it as my hands trailed on the paintings.
It was me. All of it was me.
I wanted to puke my disgust out, I wanted to scramble away from the room, from this house and never return. I wanted to kill Ryder, but I also wanted to burn each and every painting he had painted of me.
I felt violated as I traced pictures of me from school, ones I never thought had been clicked. Near the tree where I ate my lunch, walking back home, behind the house. And that's what they say, right? When you think you've hit rock bottom, the ground opens up more and you face doom...and doom.
I saw Rome and I, a picture I never thought would have existed. Afterall, we thought we hadn't gotten ourselves clicked at the prom. There were some of us dancing, there were some of us training. But on the entire wall, there was always me.
He had traced ten years of my existence in one room.
"It's me...he has pictures and painting of me..." I whispered, my hands trembling as I sent a picture to Meredith.
"What the fuck is this?" Stephen snapped, and I could hear the roar of a maniac.
"Scarlet, get the fuck out of there, right now!" Chris ordered me.
"Wait...what's that?" I heard Meredith stop them. "Scarlet, one last thing, what is that screen next to the painting on the left?" I tore my attention away from the pictures and saw a small flat screen, almost camouflaged in the mirage of colors.
"It's a television...wait, there's a remote," I muttered. "What the hell?" I whispered as Ryder appeared on the screen when I switched it on. "It's the...camera footage but it has audio."
"Scarlet, I cannot hold this after five minutes, faster please. The hallways are clear right now," Chris urged but I ignored him as I increased the volume just enough for me to hear what they were saying in the meeting room where Chris thought they were.
This had to be a different connection because Chris hasn't been able to see inside the room, but this camera could. I switched on the camera in my phone, hoping to record a conversation that would be incriminating enough for Damien to move in with his men.
"Dad, can we please do this a little faster?" Ryder asked the man who sat in front of the screen.
"Ryder, I am so sorry, son. Let Gabe figure this out, please," his father said in a tone that felt so out of place for a man who was capable of killing men. I remembered Jeremy Hunt's face the moment I saw it, but this time, it was a few years older.
"Dad, I need to get back -"
"You know how I feel about you living there, Ry. It is risky; very risky!" Jeremy replied.
"But I have to...Uncle Jason said I have to stay close to them and be ready..."
No.
Please, no. Not him.
"I won't let you risk your life because of my brother's obsession with the past, Ry!" his father snapped.
"Father, you know this is my condition before I join your side of the business. If you want me to leave it all behind, you have to let me do this."
"You've involved yourself into a feud that has nothing to do with you, Ryder."
What the fuck is Ryder doing? I wondered. For a moment, I wanted to believe that Ryder had been forced into the wrong side of the business with Jason, his uncle, for fuck's sake! At least that's what it felt from their words. Jason, I know, has a problem with my family and somehow, Ryder had to help him so that he could leave and join his father on the right side?
That's what I wanted to believe until I saw him.
On the screen in front of Jeremy Hunt appeared the face of the man I faintly remembered from the image Meredith had given us. It wasn't clear, but much better than the blurred picture. My hands twitched, anger rising instead of disgust in my body as I stared at him.
"Ry!" he said, and his voice somehow angered me even further but I held the phone in place.
"Scarlet, you have to get out of there, right now!" Stephen snapped.
"I'll take the risk," I said, snapping back at him, burning with the anger that I couldn't control anymore. I wanted to hear him, I needed to hear this man.
"Uncle, I need to tell you something," Ryder said. "I got a message today -"
"I know, I know, Gabe told me before I joined the call."
"Scarlet, listen to me, Matt isn't around, and Jason is clearly not in this house. Please leave. We have a better image of his face, that's enough!" Meredith said.
"Okay," I whispered, feeling more defeated than angry now as a tear escaped my eyes.
"Stay on track for God's sake, Scarlet!" Stephen's words made me turn away from the screen but as soon as I was about to switch it off, Ryder spoke one last time, stopping me in my tracks.
"Uncle, I need you to give me the green light. If everything is arranged, I would like to bring Scarlet in before we go back to New York." What did you just say? My head snapped to the screen once again. "I cannot wait any longer, she's slipping further away."
"Patience, Ryder!" Jason snapped, his voice so angry that I saw Ryder flinch. "I have given you my word. I will make sure she's yours but if you fuck up one more time -"
I have to get out of here. I realised as I practically ran out of the door.
Realisation further dawned on me as Chris began to count backwards from sixty, but in my desperation, I ran so fast that I reached the car, opened the boot and somehow stuffed myself in, within a safe time.
"He...he's going to take me," I whispered.
"No, he won't. You'll be out of there soon, Scarlet -"
Stephen's words didn't register in my ears as another tear slipped down from my face. How had I been this foolish? He had Matt, he knew about me, about us. I knew he wanted me, even if I hadn't known the extent of his obsession. I had risked my life to walk right into his trap before he could even lay it.
I thought it would be simpler. I thought it was just a crush, or maybe even puppy love and that if he found me, I would make a bullshit excuse about having conflicted feelings about him and Rome. That was my plan. I was so sure he would be suspicious but he would let me live. I had no idea his plan was to take me away all along! In retrospective view, my original plan didn't sound simple anymore but that was a risk I chose to take.
If Rome, or anyone else, had been caught in my place, there won't have been an explanation. There would have been a single shot to the head and that thought alone made me act this foolishly.
"I need you to apologise to Rome if anything happens -" Before I could finish the sentence, the boot of the car clicked open.
My nightmare hadn't ended, it had just begun as I saw Ryder smiling at me, his eyes gleaming with so much happiness that I couldn't comprehend it. In that moment, I almost screamed, I almost took out my gun, but didn't.
"I told you; you're mine to keep," he said but before I could do anything else, or even straighten myself in the back of the car, I felt the sharp pain against my arm. The same tranquilizer that had once knocked me out was jammed against me.
As I felt Ryder pick me up in his arms, my eyes drooping, I finished the sentence I know I won't ever get to complete if I didn't then.
"Stephen, tell Rome I love him and that I...I'm sorry," I whispered, unable to comprehend the words that came from the three of them after that as my eyes closed.
Rome would forgive me, right?
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