Chapter 15

**SCARLET**

After dinner, everyone gathered back in the living room with Miss Universe. She sat like a queen next to Luke, who couldn’t stop glaring at me. Why couldn’t he just tell me he didn’t want to transfer his property and kill me?

“Alright, shall we begin?” Miss Universe announced as she opened the folder with the ‘Transfer of Rights’ title.

“Wait,” Luke suddenly interrupted. He held Miss Universe’s wrist, preventing her from opening the file.

“Luke, what is it?” she asked with a frown.

“Read the one with the Transfer of Stocks. I’m taking this folder.” His jaw ticked. He forcibly took the folder from Miss Universe, which made her jolt in surprise.

“What’s going on, Lucas?” Thomas’s voice was tight.

“I think I need more time,” he uttered, his voice glacial. “I don’t think this is right.”

“Luke, you already signed these papers,” Miss Universe reminded, her voice still calm and light. “It’s already valid, and I registered this in the court.”

“Which document is that?” Thomas asked her.

“It’s the affidavit of rights that he’s transferring 15% of his properties to Miss Scarlet Carter, including the Villa Beatrice at Southampton and 3% of his stocks in Alejandro Technologies,” she answered right away. “We cannot proceed with the Title transfer without these files. Shall we proceed to the properties you own instead, Mr. Alejandro?” she asked Thomas.

“No, no. Can you explain the reason for the delay, Lucas?” Thomas questioned again, and I could already tell he was furious, but Mom held his hand to calm him down.

“It’s okay, Thomas. Obviously, Luke is not willing to do this. Well, who would? There was no reason for him to give a stranger what he worked hard for.” I sent him a sarcastic smirk he wouldn’t forget.

Also, I never wanted any of this anyway.

Luke’s gaze darkened, seething under his breath in anger.

Go ahead! Get mad at me! At least show who you really are to your father!

However, Mom cautioned me. “Scarlet, don’t say that. No one thinks you’re a stranger.”

“Sorry.”

I didn’t mean to say it, but Luke already clarified that I was an outsider. Miss Universe was more welcomed in this house than I was. Oh! I almost forgot that she was sitting with us. At least she heard what I felt about this transfer of properties. I wanted her to know that I didn’t ask for any of it, even if her opinion didn’t matter. If she was Luke’s girlfriend, the transfer of properties would matter to her in the future. But he did humiliate me in front of Miss Universe when he took back the documents.

“You and I are going to talk,” he pointed directly at me. “Alone.” He made it sound like anything but simple talk, though. He was challenging me.

“There’s nothing to talk about. It is clear to me now.”

He didn’t seem to care about everything I said to him. He stood up, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me up.

“Lucas!” his father called out, then he stood. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“It’s time we talk and settle things with my little sister, Dad.” He emphasized his spiteful endearment but didn’t let anyone hear as he said it in my ear.

Dragging me upstairs, he opened a door and shoved me inside.

“Ouch!” I cried in pain from his hard grip.

He turned on the lights, and the room turned out to be the library, given the floor-to-ceiling shelves across every wall.

He held my shoulder tight, his fingers digging into my skin. He was hurting me. “Let me ask you something, and answer me with the truth.”

His eyes were scorching in pure anger, and he was breathing heavily like a wild animal about to eat his prey.

I sucked my breath when he placed his hand on my lower back and pulled me against him. He strummed his fingers against the hem of my shirt.

“It depends…” I said breathlessly.

“Depends on what?” he hissed.

“On what you’re about to ask.”

“Okay…” He lowered his face to mine, our noses almost touching. “How old are you?”

What?

“Answer me.” His hands trailed up my spine until his fingers reached the hook of my bra.

I gasped. “I’m twenty-four.”

“How about your occupation?”

What was he going on with this? “You’re not making any sense to me right now.”

 He pressed a thumb on my lip, cutting me off.

“I think we are in the middle of a great lie and deceit.”

“No, we are not…”

“We definitely are, Ericka.” His free hand grasped my ass and slid his finger into my panties. “It’s the fact that I made myself clear about how I hate fucking liars. You befriended me online, but you turned out to be the different woman you said you were. You are good at covering your tracks. I thought we discussed what I hate the most, did we not?”

I could already feel my blood draining my face. My heart skipped a beat, ready to jump out of my chest.

Oh my God…

“Are you going to answer me, Ericka?”

“I never thought that—Jax…”

He stared into my eyes. He didn’t say anything further but let go of me, stepping backward.

“Don’t you think I deserve an answer?”

“I never wanted to meet you…”

“I can see that.” He lowered his eyes to my breasts. “As I can see, you are willing to lose our friendship. Since you became Gene’s daughter, we could never be friends.”

“If only I had known. I would have—”

“Keep it to yourself.” He cut me off. “I’ve heard enough.”

I swallowed hard. “When did you find out? Is this why… Is this…”

“I told you it’s not going to be easy. Whatever relationship we had, it’s over. I don’t want to see you anywhere in this house, and don’t show up in front of me.”

“Jax...”

He glared at me. “My name is Luke, and I’m fucking done playing that game.”

“I’m really sorry. I never thought that this would happen.”

“You will never have a single cent from me. Do you understand that?”

“I don’t want it anyway. Please let me explain. Luke…”

“There’s no need to explain.”

“Please…”

But he didn’t waste any more time. He turned away and exited the room.

I didn’t go downstairs when he left. I doubted that he would ever tell our parents what happened. I just went straight to my bed and cried it out. I heard Mom’s worried voice behind the door, but I didn’t answer. I just didn’t want to face anyone.

Another morning, still unable to forget. I tried again to figure out how he found out. It couldn’t be on the first day. If he knew, he would never have talked to or even fetched me at the airport. That day, I was texting Jax, and it turned out to be the man already in front of me. What kind of sick fate was this? Of all the people in the world, why does it have to be Luke?

The wrong text message.

As the water continued to pour on my skin, I thought deeply about the past weeks. Jax really did turn out to be the sexy man I always pictured him to be. I still remember our late-night phone calls, the steamy phone sex, and the dirty messages he sent me from the past. It’s still saved on my phone.

I blushed at the thought that Luke made me cum for real while he was Jax. The man I’d fantasized about was the same man I was talking to almost every night. But it was all over now. I’d ruined everything.

Wiping away my tears, I turned off the shower and stepped out. I wrapped myself in a towel. I picked up my phone first to text Nate. I was finally going out today and planned to go home late when everyone was asleep.

I typed a message. Can we meet early? 9 AM sharp at Storico. I hit send.

My phone clock said it was still seven-thirty. But I wasn’t planning on having breakfast with them.

I was about to send another text to Kath when there was a knock on my door. I heard Mom’s voice, “Scarlet, breakfast is ready.”

I sighed in deep frustration. “Coming, Mom!” I shouted back.

I continued to type another message to Kath.

Meeting Nate at 9. Will update you.

I tossed the phone onto the bed to pick up my panties.

Another knock. “Mom, I’m coming, okay—” I dropped the panties back on the bed and opened the door.

It wasn’t Mom but Luke. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a casual white T-shirt that slightly clung to his chiseled abs. I tried to slam the door in his face, but he pushed it open and stepped inside my room.

“Listen to me.” His voice was flat.

“Aren’t we done after last night?”

He looked into my eyes. “You told me that you’re a graduate. You said you’re twenty-eight years old. How can you lie about things as simple as that?”

“I said I would never meet you.”

“So, when you said you’d meet me next week, it was a lie too?”

I started to step backward, but he only matched my every step. I felt the cold wall against my back.

“It’s a huge mistake, yes. That’s why I said I’m sorry.”

“Mistake? Do you understand how fucked up this is?”

“You said you’re done playing this game. You don’t want me to explain,” I murmured. Our lips were too close.

“I was looking forward to fucking the woman who befriended me online,” he whispered. “I wanted her mouth. I wanted her to taste me, to ride me. I want to teach her everything. I wanted my cock inside her.” He breathed into the skin of my neck, “You fucked this up, witch. And do you know what’s more fucked up than all of this?”

I grabbed the thin fabric of his shirt. “Jax…”

“It’s Luke, witch.” His fingers slid underneath the towel near my breast. “What’s more fucked up now is that I couldn’t do it anymore. You are Gene’s daughter and my father’s stepdaughter. It wouldn’t have ended like this if you had only told me who you were.”

“What would you do if you found out I was your stepsister before we knew it?”

“I’m sure I could think of something. Right now, all we can do is deceive ourselves and pretend nothing is happening between us. But there is…”

“And you’re still planning to do that?”

“No.” He stopped playing with the towel and kept me wrapped in it.

“I thought you didn’t like liars. But deceiving yourself is also lying.”

“I’m not going to lie. But I told you, it’s not going to be easy.