Page 105 of His To Claim
He reaches for my hand and brings it to his lips placing a chaste kiss upon it. “The pleasure is mine, sweetheart,” he says as we’re interrupted by a door slamming shut.
I turn behind me to where Ace was standing, Agent Servite’s hand still wrapped around my waist, and am not surprised to see who’s now standing with him.
Bass, Alek, and Beck stand beside him all dressed in similar black suits, their hair perfectly combed looking the finest I’ve ever seen them. The Four Horsemen in all their glory. Agent Servite, obviously the devil in charge, but one question remains.
What role do I play in all this?
“Boys, I’m so glad you could join us,” Servite says, releasing me and walking over to the bar to pour himself a drink. “Let’s get this night started.”
I turn to Ace who glares at his uncle’s closeness to me but doesn’t say a word. I can see behind his callous façade.
With me Ace is different. He’s captivating, affectionate, and loving. But here and now, as he stands before his leader, a king kneeling to his superior, he’s distant and cruel. It’s just as I said before, when Wesley Servite calls, Ace will follow.
And as I look into Agent Servite’s eyes I can see why. I just hope for my sake I can keep up this charade before it comes crumbling down at my feet.
When vultures are searchingfor prey to feast on, they circle around and wait for larger animals to go for the kill. They circle around and wait for those predators to tear their prey’s fleshapart. Then, and no sooner, do the vultures swoop in and feast on whatever remains.
As I sit here in this room with the most antagonizing and feared men I’ve ever come across, I am an animal waiting to be feasted on. The Horsemen stand around the room like the vultures they are, circling their prey, and Wesley Servite, he’s the beast that just might go for the kill.
Ace walks over to me with another glass of bourbon, and I take it from him, handing him the now empty one I grip tightly in my hand. I quickly drink the amber liquid which once again burns as it travels down my throat and he chuckles lightly as he comes to sit beside me on the plush leather couch, placing the empty glass I gave him and another one he’s drinking, down on the table in front of us. We’ve been here for at least twenty minutes, not one of us saying a word.
I think they’re expecting me to be the first to crack under this agonizing silence, but I’m not about to give them what they want. I have a theory. I know men like them thrive off instilling fear in others and they want to terrify me. But I’m here, and I haven’t yet been harmed, so I’m not sure anymore that harming me is in their plans. I think I may just serve a bigger purpose and for that reason and that reason alone, I’m still standing.
One guard from earlier appears at the doorway of the room and stands waiting to be allowed in. Agent Servite nods his head, and the guard moves to the side allowing a man and a woman to enter.
I quickly realize the man is Bass’s father Stephan Silver, and the woman is Beck's mother Eliza. After them, another couple appears, one I haven’t seen before but equally regal as the Silvers.
“Welcome, my friends. Please enter, we are just waiting on a few updates to our guest list to be made and we’ll be on our way to commence tonight’s feast,” he says as they approach the couches where I’m seated. Stephan Silver is the first to spot me, a wide grin appearing on his face.
“Scarlett Steele,” he says, extending a hand to me. He looks stunning in a dark blue almost black suit, his dark hair perfectly manicured and his intense gray eyes regarding me shrewdly.
“Mr. Silver,” I say as I reach out and take it. He brings my hand to his mouth and places a soft kiss upon it not once glancing away from me.
“You look stunning, my dear,” he says, and I quickly retract my hand causing him to chuckle.
I hear a groan come from behind me where Ace is standing but I don’t dare turn around.
“Thank you,” I say in a hushed whisper.
“I must say, I didn’t expect to see you tonight,” he adds, turning to Agent Servite who has just joined us.
“Well, what can I say, the night is full of surprises. Scarlett here is accompanying Ace as his date. The two are smitten,” he says looking at us.
At his words, Ace moves in closer to me wrapping an arm around my waist.
“To be young and in love, you remember what that was like, don’t you, Wesley?” Ace asks but there’s a slight insult in his question.
Agent Servite laughs off the comment, but I can sense he is upset.
“Malcolm, Ariana, please come and meet my guest of honor this evening,” he says, motioning for the other couple that walked in to join us. The man, Malcolm as he called him, has light brown hair and glowing blue eyes while the woman beside him has dark blonde hair and deep brown eyes. He is dressed in a dark gray suit while she wears an emerald satin dress. Eliza Masters also joins us taking her spot next to Stephan Silver, wearing a matching blue silk gown.
“Scarlett, I’d like you to meet Mayor Malcolm Smoak and his wife Ariana. Malcolm is the eldest son of the late Mayor Silas Smoak.”
I cringe at the name as I remember hearing it once before. Silas Smoak. Mayor Silas Smoak. He is the man who, three years ago, Agent Servite came to accuse my mother and Chaz of murdering. The same reason she is now a fugitive. I can’t believe I hadn’t made the connection earlier. Smoak as in Aleksander and Alexandrea Smoak.
“Malcolm, this is Scarlett Steele. She’s one of the students from Pleasant Hills that has come to Servite as part of the scholarship program my brother instilled at the academy this year. She is also my nephew’s girlfriend.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you two,” I say, hating the way Malcolm's smile grows stiff at the mention of my name.