CHAPTER 10: SCARLETT
288 Words
We sat across from each other in Shelley’s bar after closing, lights low, air stale with spilled liquor and old regrets. The map of Harold’s property was still laid out between us, but tonight, neither of us was reaching for it.
We’d been planning for hours.
And yet something in me felt… tight.
Too easy.
Too soon.
Damien was the first to say it.
“We should wait,” he said, fingers drumming lightly on the edge of the table. “Watch his patterns. Monitor him for at least two more days. He’s smart. If we go in blind, we risk walking into something we can’t see yet.”
I didn’t like waiting.
Waiting felt like weakness.
But he had a point.
“I want his blood,” I muttered. “Not another dead end.”
“Then we need to move smart,” Damien said. “Two days. That’s all I’m asking.”
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We sat in silence for a while.
Just the hum of a fridge in the background and the distant sound of traffic outside.
Then he spoke again—this time quieter.
“If we’re going to pull this off, it’d help to know the person I’m trusting with my life.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Trust, huh? That’s a bold word.”
He half-smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Fair. Let’s call it strategic vulnerability, then.”
I stood, pulling my hoodie down over my hips.
“Not tonight,” I said. “Maybe not ever.”
“I didn’t mean now. Just… sometime.”
I turned to leave, already feeling the wall go back up.
“I’ll think about it,” I muttered.
And for once, I meant it.
- Writer
