Plans and Strategies

Scarlett's POV

"I know it won’t be easy, Oliver. Especially seeing as both of them owe Bullet life debts, which is why I haven't been able to get them out yet. I wanted to finish paying off Cristine's debt tomorrow, but now I’m not sure whether it’s better to wait and rather get all three of them out at once or try to get them out one by one." I said, trying to suggest solutions.

"I'll think of something," Oliver said as he took a deep breath. "Let's talk more a little later, but ask Cristine to stay with you and warn John and Vivian to get ready." He said in conclusion of our conversation.

"Thank you, Oliver," I said and hung up.

I looked at Cristine.

"You're sleeping at my place tonight," I told her.

I opened my messaging app and sent a message to John and another to Vivian.

John was the first to respond with a question mark.

Me: \[Prepare to leave the pack. Plans have changed.\]Me.

John: \[Are you sure? I can manage.\]

Me: \[Yes, I'm sure. If you can, go to my apartment.\]

John: \[I'll try, but I don't know if I can go without drawing attention to myself; they gave me a very risky job for tonight.\]

I shuddered as a shiver ran down my spine. Everyone knew that John and Vivian were childhood friends.

Me: \[Don't go! Bullet knows you and Vivian are close friends and he wants Vivian.\] I warned him.

I waited to see if he read it, but the notification didn't come.

"Shit!" I shouted and looked at Cristine. "Call Vivian." I told her with urgency.

Cristine was startled but immediately picked up her phone and dialed our friend. The ringing echoed through the room, but Vivian never answered.

I took my phone and opened the GPS app, entered Vivian's information. Besides myself, only John and Cristine knew how to access the app. I noticed her signal was near the house but had been stationary for more than half an hour.

I called John and, once more, the phone just rang; he didn't answer. I checked his location as well and noticed that he was at one of the exits. I looked at Roman who immediately understood what I wanted to do.

"No, Scarlett!" Roman said loudly, but not quite shouting.

"Roman! Both of them are in danger! Something has happened to them!" I said exasperated.

"I'll call my contacts and Oliver and we'll figure it out. You're not going back there! I will alert everyone if I have to!" Roman said threatened as he picked up his phone while Gabriel was already calling someone else.

I twisted my mouth as I turned to face Cristine; this was certainly not what I was expecting to happen after spending a relaxing day at the SPA.

"What exactly happened that you didn’t tell me about?" I asked, trying to control my emotions.

"Vivian asked me not to say anything; she thought she could escape by herself. Not even John knew about her plans," Cristine quickly explained. I took another deep breath, suddenly feeling as if I couldn’t breathe.

Vivian really was very innocent.

"Damn it!" I looked at Roman and Gabriel, who both hung up their phones at the same time.

"I'll take you two to the apartment. Don't worry," Gabriel said.

"No, take them to Klaus and Liam's apartment. They'll be safer there with Keenan's team. You will be coming with me; Jasmine will stay there as a communication bridge," Roman ordered. "We will be meeting Oliver first."

I hated not being able to be part of the action and having to stay behind and wait, but I knew that it would be impossible to convince them to let me go with them. Neither Oliver, nor Roman would ever allow it, and I knew that John would be very upset too.

"Alright. But please keep me updated whenever you can," I asked them.

Roman came to me and gave me a reassuring hug.

"Whenever I can," he whispered in my ear as he let me go.

He wasn’t a very physical or emotional person, but I was grateful for the hug, because I worried about him a lot.

"Let's go," I said, looking at Gabriel.

Cristine had already collected her things and returned to the room.

As Gabriel led us to where the car was parked, Roman headed in a different direction on foot.

The tension in the car was palpable and I couldn’t keep my eyes off my phone screen, constantly updating the GPS page to see if there had been any changes, but there weren’t, and it frustrated me to no end.

"They'll be fine," Cristine tried to reassure me and placed her hand on mine to help calm me down.

I took a deep breath, trying to settle my racing heart.

"I should have gotten you out earlier... I should have done something sooner," I told her, feeling guilty about the entire situation..

"You could never have known that any of this would happen, Scarlett. We always tried to avoid meeting Bullet... All the girls in the community knew that. According to the information we were given, he wasn't supposed to be there..." Cristine said.

"But if I had done something sooner, then..." I countered.

"Scarlett, you’ve always had a solid plan, which I helped you with as much as I could and everything was going very well... As Cris said, you can't always predict or control everything," Gabriel said, looking at me in the rearview mirror. "You've helped pay off several people's debts. John’s, Vivian’s, and Cris's debts were just more complicated. You've already taken care of the money part, but paying off life debts and information is much more difficult. If it wasn’t for that, you would have had them all out already, just as you have you've gotten everyone else out so far."

I remained silent, digesting Gabriel's words. I really had done everything I could. I took a deep steadying breath once more.

"You're right," I admitted as I looked out the window.

The rest of the journey passed in silence until we arrived at Klaus and Liam's building. Keenan was expecting us and already waiting at the door. It was Cristine's first time in a place like this, and her posture changed immediately.

"Be careful," I said to Gabriel and got out.

Cristine followed me as I walked toward Keenan, who gave us a brief nod in greeting. We walked across  the lobby to the elevators, which would take us up towhere Klaus and Liam's apartment was.

Cristine kept looking around in surprise, not being used to seeing such luxury. She will, however, have to get used to it. A few etiquette lessons should help her as well. The first few times I was exposed to this type of luxury, I remembered being so impressed by everything, but now it has all become normal to me. Expected, almost. I took her hand and squeezed it lightly to give her a little confidence as I could see that she was very nervous, trembling and probably feeling quite intimidated by her surroundings.

Keenan could be quite intimidating when he wanted to be.

"Hey, has Jasmine arrived yet?" I asked Keenan to try to break the tension.

"Yes, she arrived about 10 minutes ago. I have to warn you though that she wasn’t very happy about being left behind," Keenan replied, and I could see that he was trying to control himself.

"She irritated you, huh?" I commented with a chuckle.

"She can be stubborn..." Keenan grumbled in reply as the elevator doors opened, and we stood facing the apartment door.

“You can punish her later... Jasmine will surely love a spanking or ten," I said and put my finger on the identifier so open the door.

When we entered, Klaus, Liam, and Jasmine were already standing in the living room, waiting for us.

Cristine held her breath, taking in the view of the room, which was larger than the house she used to live in. Not to mention the overpowering auras of two Alphas controlling themselves. I placed my hand in the middle of her back trying to ground and stabilize her as I briefly looked at Liam, who gratefully understood.

"Hello, I'm Scarlett's boyfriend. You can call me Liam, and this is our friend, Klaus," he said as he gestured toward him. 

“Welcome to our apartment."

Cristine looked at me in surprise, but I smiled back at her to give her a little more encouragement.

"I... I’m Cristine," she introduced herself, her voice sounding so much smaller than it usually did.

"You'll get used to it, Cris... Remember, you're going to be my partner now." I said in a calm voice, still keeping my hand at the middle of her back, gently caressing up and down. "I promise I'll find an excellent etiquette teacher for you."

I could feel Klaus and Liam's gazes on us.

"Hi Cris! Let's have something to eat. You must be starving! We even have lemon pie in the fridge," Jasmine invited her, already being familiar with Cris. She immediately gave Jasmine a genuine smile at the mention of pie.

"Pie sounds great! Take me to it?" Cristine replied excitedly.

Jasmine took Cris's hand and they both headed for the kitchen. I was finally able to approach Klaus and Liam and immediately found myself enveloped in Liam's embrace. He held me tightly with one arm around my waist, while he rested the other hand on the back of my neck, holding me tightly. I closed my eyes, feeling his lips against mine.

It was a kiss of self-assurance. Just to ensure that I was indeed in his arms and felt good to feel both physically and emotionally safe. Klaus was right about a few things, but mostly about how I act between those around me.

When we were done kissing, I rested my head on his chest, listening to his steady breathing. His heartbeat against my ear also slowed down and returned to normal as he held me.

"Do you want to go to sleep?" Liam's voice sounded soft and full of tenderness.

"I don't know if I’d be able to," I replied truthfully.

"Alright. What would you like to do then?" He asked me.

"Many things, but I doubt anything will help at the moment. So, I just want to stay like this with you."

As soon as I was done talking, Liam picked me up, and a second later, I was sitting on his lap. We were sitting on the soft couch. I could be strong or want to destroy the world, but I also wanted to be taken care of. I also wanted to stay like this.

"Everything will be alright," Liam whispered in my ear and started rocking me gently.

"I really hope so." I replied softly.