Chapter 54 We're done, Scarlett.
CHAPTER 54
We’re done, Scarlett.
SCARLETT – POINT OF VIEW
Pain shoots up my spine.
I groan and pull myself up. My nose is bleeding. My head is pounding. My eyes are wet and burning.
“Go inside,” he orders, coldly.
I look at him and laugh dryly, empty. Go inside? Fuck him. I sit on the ground instead, and unstrap my heels. My legs are aching, but beauty is pain, right?
The night air is cold and biting. He’s still standing there, watching me. I stand up, holding my heels as I walk towards the door.
Then, something in me finally shatters. I turn back at him and shake my head, “You don’t get to dismiss. I don’t work for you!”
He narrows his gaze at me, “Say that to the money I’ve paid into your account. You offered a service, and I’m buying it, buying you. Go inside, Scarlett. Do not fucking push me tonight, not after what you’ve done. Don’t say anything. Just leave.” His tone is still controlled, even as the words leave his mouth.
My chest tightens, and my lungs burn. “You don’t get to silence me, either, Roman!”
He exhales and shakes his head, “You don’t get to speak, not tonight.”
His dismissal hits harder than a slap. Everything in me fractures further, and I start to laugh. I don’t know why.
I laugh hysterically, with tears spilling unchecked, and I snarl, “You don’t get to leave me after you dragged me into your world. You don’t get to leave me. Hate me all you want, but we’re bonded for the next two fucking years, so we’re going to have this conversation whether you like it or not!”
His eyes are colder than I have ever seen, assessing me like I am nothing but a failed calculation. “I didn’t drag you into this world. I took care of you. I gave you everything you needed. I pay you four million dollars a month, fifty grand for wardrobe expenses. I bought this house for you. I accommodate your friends. I kept Rick on the team for you, Scarlett. Do not act like a victim. Do not act like you were mistreated. I gave you everything, and yet, you betrayed me.”
His words cut me deeper than his silence did. My vision blurs with tears. I press my hand on my chest as the pain racks through my entire being.
“He threatened me, Roman.” I cry, “He told me exactly what he’d do if I didn’t help him. He was going to tell the world who I was; he was going to show them what I hid. He was going to take everything from me. I have worked so hard for this life; this is the only chance I get, and I couldn’t let him take it from me.
His eyes are glazed, borderline empty. “You should have come to me.”
I wipe my tears away angrily and shake my head, “No. I couldn’t. I didn’t trust you. You wouldn’t have saved me. You don’t save people, Roman, you buy them, and I’m not something you can buy. I was stuck between two men, two powerful and similar men. I was and still am just a pawn in your game, so no, I couldn’t have come to you, because I couldn’t trust you.”
He moves towards me, brooding and dangerous, “You don’t get to talk about trust. I trusted you. I let you in. I told you things about me that I have never told anyone. I let you in my head, my bed, my arms, and you used me, you made me a fool while you danced with my enemy. You made a choice, Scarlett. Do not hide under this victimhood. It is unbecoming. You chose to betray me, to scheme, lie and sell me out to that fucking bastard. Do you know how much you lost me? One fifty million dollars!”
I stop breathing.
Blood rushes through my ears.
My eyes burn, and I don’t even hold back the tears.
“I lied to you,” I whisper, “I betrayed you. I broke your trust, and I will carry that forever, but don’t stand there and pretend to be righteous, don’t pretend to be innocent. You’re cold and unreachable. I was drowning, and you were counting empires. You make people feel disposable. You wrap yourself in money and call it protection. Your greed is everything; you always want more money, you don’t care about people, about who you hurt, you don’t care about anyone.” My voice crescendos.
“I cared about you.” He seethes, and I stagger back from the force of his words.
Cared. Past tense.
I shake my head in disbelief, “You didn’t care about me. You treated me like an asset.”
“You were an asset, and now, a compromised one.” He responds without hesitation, and pain spreads through me.
What a fool I’d been to think he was different.
Silence falls between us, absolute and slowly expanding. Exhaustion seeps into me, and tears fall more deeply. I wipe my tears away, and I will the ache in my heart to fade, but it doesn’t.
“I did what I had to do to survive in the harsh reality you crafted.” I remind him, as the last bit of fight drains out of me.
He shakes his head, jaws clenched, and eyes full of hate, “You hide still. Embrace what you fucking did. I don’t care about morals, about whether I’m good in your dictionary. This is a world I created to survive. The money you hate, my money, is my protection, and it makes sure no one treats me like shit. I am not a good person. I don’t pretend to be one, but I don’t hide as you do. I would never have that to you, but you did it to me, so embrace it. You don’t get to moralise your betrayal. You don’t get forgiveness or explanation or absolution, you get distance. We’re done, Scarlett.”
Each sentence is a knife to my throat, and it digs deeper every second.
“You are very small without my protection. Do not forget who you are and what you have, which is nothing. Go to bed, and tomorrow, we will continue. You will smile when I ask you to. You will nod and play the dutiful wife. This is a job, and nothing more.” He barks, tone devoid of warmth.
I nod, exhausted and drained.
I pick the heels, and I walk inside, with a broken heart and a bleeding nose.