Page 72 of Hers To Keep

Oscar Wilde

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

ACE

Iknew as soon as the foolish words came out of her mouth that something horrible had occurred. It was the only explanation for her unusual behavior. Scarlett was acting crazy, not making any sense, not sounding at all like herself. I could feel the tension radiating off her like heat waves threatening to incinerate anything in her path.

However, I expected it, and the more she tried to convince me, the more I realized she was only trying to convince herself. So I made things easy on her. I gave in and acted like I fell for her ridiculous excuses. I have to give her some credit though, mostly she kept a straight face. If I didn’t know her better, I may have believed it.

But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I refused to believe everything that has transpired between us was all a ruse. It may have started that way, at least that was my intention, but it’s become so much more than that. It’s become an overpowering sensation, an overwhelmingneed to be close to her all times of the day. To love her so passionately and despite everything that’s stood in our path.

Though I also didn’t fight her futile act of deception. Because I knew that if I fought against her, if I tried to convince her she was only fooling herself, it would only make things harder for her.

So I walked away, and I came to him, to the only person I knew I could trust. Because if anyone can help me get my girl back, it’s her father.

Letting her walk away from me is all a part of our plan. One she does not yet know about, and one that cannot fail.

So yeah, Scarlett and I hit a snag in our scheme to take down my Uncle Wesley. A slight bump in the road, with unforeseen circumstances. I guess that’s what happens when two foolish kids try to take down the all-powerful, ultimate kingpin.

We thought we had it all figured out. That everything would fall into place once we set our plan into motion, but it was foolish of us to believe we could beat him at his own game. It's time to face the reality that the world we live in is a cruel, chaotic, and unpredictable hell.

A new force has shown up to threaten everything we’ve so tirelessly worked for, and it caused a ripple in what we had originally planned. This new powerful devil came to threaten how far the two of us have come, to test the strength of our love. It took everything in us to work together, everything in her to learn to trust me. I know he told her something to make her once again doubt my love, my loyalty, but unlike her, this is something I was expecting.

I knew he was back, that he was the one who was blackmailing my uncle, because he’s the one person I never told her about. The man who found me snooping around Eli Hargrove’s office, looking for answers where he knew I wouldn’t find any, because that’s what he wanted, what he planned. He's the one who barged in on Elena and me that day in her office, but I couldn’t figure out why, his motives were still unclear.

Until now.

Maxwell Smoak told me everything, how he found out first I’ll never know. Maxwell said he was lurking around the woods, he’d been aimlessly following Wesley around since the day they had him tied up, the day Scarlett’s world fell apart.

Wesley’s been on the move, acting desperate and paranoid as the threat of the demise of his world closes in around him. He said he’d noticed he was acting suspicious, and he saw him load up on barrels of gasoline from an oil refinery nearby, so he knew he was up to something. Though he never imagined the extent of his plan.

Maxwell followed Wesley out to the cabin, not knowing Scarlett and I were there or that we’d sent him the fake blackmail message telling him we’d be there. What he saw was Wesley pouring gasoline all around the cabin when I left to get us dinner. He watched him sneak inside and then take off running minutes later after throwing a match out in the yard.

Maxwell had a bad feeling about what was happening and knowing how far Wesley will go, he walked over to the window and saw Scarlett standing in the kitchen unaware of what was occurring. Right when he was about to warn her, he heard my boys coming from the front. I’d asked them to keep an eye on her, but they told me when they approached her, she thought they were the ones who set the fire and were trying to hurt her.

“I followed her after the explosion when your boys started chasing after her. I thought she was in danger,” Maxwell says, from the driver's seat of the rental car he’s been using, a worried look crossing his face. “I saw her run into an old cabin by the edge of the lake, but what shocked me the most, is who I saw sneaking in after her. I had my suspicions, but they were confirmed at that moment.”

After all, he’s the only one who remembered Macallan, or should I say a young Franco Marchesi, from before. He said his ex-girlfriend Gianna used to talk about her brother very often, minordetails about him Maxwell found the deeper he dug. Maybe that’s why he knew exactly where to look. Maxwell Smoak has been back in Hillcrest for over nine months—from the moment he returned and found Wesley and his brother talking about Lilith and bringing his daughter here. We were unsure how much Malcolm knew about Scarlett being Maxwell’s daughter, but I guess the mayor faked it all along.

“Franco also started blackmailing me,” he says, keeping his eyes focused on the dark road before us. Maxwell agreed to let me stay with him, and together we’ve come up with a plan to end both Wesley Servite and Franco Marchesi. Scarlett thinks that by working for Wesley at The Gallows she’s protecting me, from what I’m not yet sure. There is something I’m missing, as always. The puzzle piece that convinced her to go along with Marchesi’s idiotic plan. Maxwell said he had to leave before he was found out, so he couldn’t hear what exactly Marchesi threatened her with, but that someone else was there, her stepbrother Roman.

Scarlett wouldn’t tell me the real reason she ran off with Wesley, but for once I didn’t push. I’ve learned to trust her, and I hope she’s learned to trust me.

So I agreed to play along. Scarlett’s going to work for my uncle Wesley at The Gallows, while I’m to make myself scarce. She thinks I’ve accepted the way she ended things, but she’s so fucking wrong.

I may be temporarily gone from her life, but what she doesn’t know is her father and I are beginning part one of our foolproof plan.

“It’s how you knew he was the one blackmailing my uncle, because you received the same letter?” I ask, still not understanding the extent of the blackmail toward my uncle.

“At first, I was confused. Honestly, I thought Wesley and Lilith might’ve been behind it, but they both have so much more to lose if the information he has gets out. Franco also blames me for what happened to his little sister, rightfully so. I am partly at fault. Fortrusting Wesley and Lilith, and foolishly believing they were my friends.” He runs his hands through his hair, looking solemnly at me, his blue eyes filled with worry, and for the first time I see it. I see Scarlett’s eyes when I look at him, the resemblance to her mother is clear, but the softness in her eyes comes from her father.

“They all deserve what’s coming for them. I just hate that I was so blind and didn’t realize this sooner before she was so deeply involved.” Now it’s my turn to run my hands aimlessly through my hair. God, I hate feeling this way, not only vulnerable, but helpless. I’d give up anything to turn back time and make it as though she never came here. To ensure he never put his hands on her, even if it meant I’d lose her.

“You love her, don’t you?” he asks, turning to me, a genuine interest in his gaze.

I nod turning to him, tears staining my cheeks as I blink rapidly to push them away. “More than I ever thought humanly possible. She makes me want to be a better person, makes me believe I can still be worthy of someone like her, given the shit I’ve been a part of.” Crying has always been a sign of weakness, and we were never to show any emotion. But here and now with no one around to judge or scold me, my tears threaten to flood out and drown me.