Chapter 33

**SCARLET**
When I left the building, Nate immediately came in front of me, but he was alone. He stepped out of his car, and his facial expression was indescribable.
“Nate, what are you doing? What is your problem?” I shouted. “Where’s Anthony? I thought you were with him.”
“He left. He thinks he shouldn’t meddle with your family matters,” he explained. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m telling your stepbrother to stay away from you.”
I looked around me, and people were staring. They were watching us with their insulting eyes. I pulled my hand away from Nate before we finally entered the building.
“Stop it, Nate. The people are staring!”
He seethed. “But you’re not afraid of what the people will say if they find out about you and your stepbrother?”
My mouth opened slightly. I hadn’t seen Nate act like this before. Sure, he was furious if I went on a date with some losers, and he had always backed me up. Even if he had to pick me up drunk from a club, get me out of jail, or save me from dying because some moron put a drug in my drinks. He was always there. But I never saw him so angry.
“Do you not remember what you did three years ago?” he went on. “This had happened before!” he said tightly, catching his breath.
“Of course… I know, I remember.”
“No.” He shook his head. “No, you don’t. If you completely remember what you did to yourself, you won’t be doing this. How many times did I save you, but you still put yourself in danger? You fucking lost yourself! I thought you were going to die. You’re about to jump from a rooftop building because you’re not yourself!” he shouted in my face.
I swallowed hard. “Of course, I remember that incident. But during that time, I didn’t know what I was doing—”
“It’s because I told you not to go with Paul, but you still went there yourself. You were drugged. Do you not remember that?” He caught my arm.
“What happened that time has nothing to do with my relationship with Luke!”
“But it doesn’t mean it has to happen again.” Nate held my shoulder and looked into my eyes. “You were broken, and you rebelled against yourself. You destroyed your life after Raoul ruined your life. I was there! I was the one who saved you. If you messed this up again by having an affair with your stepbrother, I might not be there to save you, Scar. I might not be there.” He shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Before Katherine, you knew you were the one I wanted, but you didn’t want me.”
I looked away, aware of what he was saying. I met him first before I met Katherine. I knew he liked me, but I couldn’t like him back—and then he met Katherine. She was a better person and not me.
“Stop it, Nate. I don’t know why you’re saying this now because there’s no point.”
He pulled my waist against him. My eyes dilated in shock when I felt his arms around mine, pulling me close. I didn’t see it coming.
“I love Katherine more than anything else, Scar, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care for you. You are my best friend.”
But even before I knew Nate felt something more, it was still Luke who I liked; I was shamelessly admiring him from afar.
I was about to pull away from him when my hand was snatched away with haste. I had wrenched away. Luke abruptly appeared before me, charging at Nate, and took him down. Nate hit the ground with a sickening thud.
A woman screamed. I stood frozen.
Immediately, Luke restrained Nate by his collar and repeatedly struck him in the face, granting him a series of blows.
“Mr. Alejandro!”
I gasped when Rey appeared, and swiftly he reached for his boss and wrenched him to the side. I caught my hair with my hands in horror, and my voice finally came out of my mouth.
“Stop it, please!”
Luke shot me a glare but didn’t speak a word. He retreated and wriggled away from Rey.
Nate leaped up. He spat blood from his mouth and cocked his head from side to side. Terror ran through my veins, looking at his injured face.
“What the hell did you just do, Luke?”
He didn’t answer me but gave Rey an order, “Get the car.”
“Right away, sir,” Rey answered, and he was gone in a prompt.
I shook my head in disbelief and walked towards Nate instead to check on his face, but almost instantly, Luke snatched my arm and dragged me towards his car, which miraculously appeared at our side.
“Get in,” he ordered as he opened the door at the passenger side. His voice remained glacial.
I didn’t want to, but he shot me a don’t fuck with me look, so I quietly obeyed. He slipped into the driver’s seat, swiftly revved the engine, and drove off.
“Just what the hell did you do?”
“What’s going on with you and him?” Out of the corner of my eye, Luke’s jaw tensed.
“Nothing. He’s my best friend. How unreasonable could you get? I was only talking to him—”
“It doesn’t look like you’re just talking.”
I looked at him this time. He was unbelievable. “What? Can’t I hug my friend?”
He gritted his teeth. “He doesn’t look at you that way.”
I shook my head in disbelief. I suddenly wanted to scream in his face. He caught me in my best friend’s arms and beat him. Just what else could he do if it were much worse? But I was much more concerned about what I would tell Katherine now.
“God. Your trust issues are making me insane.”
“Because I’m not blind. I know what I saw. I told you before… I don’t like to share.”
“But I have to share you with Stacy? What’s the exclusivity with that?”
“This isn’t about me.”
It became a paranoia on my part. When I found out about a mysterious woman named Stacy a few days ago, I thought about her all the time and wondered who she was. If he wanted my trust, why didn’t he give me his?
“Of course it is!” I pressed. “You can’t even trust me. You know he’s just my friend, while you can’t even tell me about this woman.”
He gripped the steering wheel hard, and our speed increased.
“Then why did you leave my office after I just asked you not to run away? Are you that eager to see him?”
Oh, God! I was getting sick and tired of this. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. “I can’t do this anymore, Luke. We are completely incompatible.”
To my surprise, he pulled over to the side of the road.
Luke unbuckled his seat belt and then crushed his lips to mine. He nipped my bottom lip hard. His kiss was abrasive and harsh. His mouth and tongue persuaded me to give in, but my mind told me not to. Damn it.
“Stop!” I broke away, but he did not stop. He found his way down my neck, and his hand found the round of my breast. He squeezed it roughly over the thin fabric of my blouse.
“Please stop!” I said again, pushing his chest away, but he kept kissing my neck. “Ah… stop it! I hate you!”
“Stop struggling. You don’t hate me,” he groaned into my neck.
“No. I hate you. I don’t want to be with you.” I began to cry. “I told you the truth, and you don’t believe me.”
“No, you don’t hate me,” he whispered in my ear after a soft kiss on my temple. “And I never lied to you, but you don’t seem to believe me either. You have lied to me, Scarlet, but here I am. I’ve adjusted for you and broken every rule I have for you. What I wanted was simple, and you can’t do it?”
I swallowed hard. My blood was suddenly on fire. I didn’t expect that he would say that.
“What do you want?”
“I’m going to break the fingers of any man who would try to touch you. You forget who’s supposed to submit, witch. You are made for me. Please don’t make me lose my patience again.”