Chapter 42

**SCARLET**
I didn’t notice I fell asleep on Luke’s bed. I just felt the bed move and his presence next to me. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against him.
“You look sexy in these clothes.” He whispered in my ear, which made me shiver. I wore a blue silk nightie I had taken from the apartment earlier.
“Luke…” I whispered. “What time is it?”
“It’s past one.”
“And you just came back? What happened?” I tried to turn around to see him, but he did not let me.
“Stay like this,” he said. His arm tightened around my waist. But I wanted to see his face. I lazily opened my eyes. I jumped out of bed to turn on the lights.
“Oh my God!” I gasped for air as I came back to the bed. Luke’s lip was bleeding, and his cheeks were purplish red. His left eye was swollen. I crawled back to bed immediately.
“What happened to you?” He looked badly hurt. “Did Thomas hurt you?”
He smirked. He just looked at me with the same affection. “This is nothing.”
“It’s not! How could he hurt you?” I caught my mouth in surprise. “How could he do this?” I tried to lower my voice, but I failed.
He chuckled painfully. “It’s really nothing. I promise. Ah!” He grimaced.
“See? Do you have a first aid kit?”
He groaned. “It’s in the bathroom.” He tried to sit up and leaned on the headboard.
I nodded. I got off the bed immediately and ran towards the bathroom. I opened the shelf and took the medicine kit. And while I was getting the ointment, I couldn’t help but cry.
I came back to him. He was watching me. “Are you crying?”
“You are not a child to get hurt like this.” I opened the cap and squeezed a small amount. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
I put the ointment gently on the affected part.
“Oh!” He gripped my wrist. “Gentle.”
“I am gentle. It’s just your wound that hurts.”
“Then, why are you crying? I’m the one who’s hurt.”
I applied another squeeze of the gel on the side of his lip. I spread it gently. “You will have to reapply this tomorrow morning.”
Luke held my arm. He looked me in the eye. He wiped the tears from my face with his thumb. “You have to tell me where he is.”
I blinked my eyes. “What?”
“The dangerous person.” He told me.
Raoul? He wasn’t going to give up, was he? I swallowed hard.
“I told you, I don’t know where he is.”
“Then help me. Help me find him.”
“You know I can’t, right? Why are you… why do we have to—”
“Shh…” He pressed a thumb to my lips. “I won’t judge you. Nothing will ever change if you tell me about him. It’s okay if you still love or hate this guy. You just have to tell me.”
“I don’t love him. I hate him. I just don’t want to see him, okay?”
“Scarlet.” Luke held my shoulders. “Dad knows about him.”
The world stopped as if someone threw a rock on my head as if I fell on the ground from the highest mountains. Air abandoned my lungs. My shoulders dropped.
“And he will have him killed...” Luke continued.
“What?” I gasped for air. “How did he—”
“He knows. I don’t know. He didn’t tell me how.”
“Oh, God!” I slapped my forehead. “Did Thomas tell my mother?”
“I think he still didn’t. He wanted me to work for it myself, but how could I if you can’t tell me a single thing? I told you he didn’t want a flaw in the Alejandro name. If this gets out to the public, it will be a huge scandal.”
“Is this why he hurt you?”
“That’s not the point here. You married someone at such a young age to a man who’s married to someone else,” he said tightly, and his jaw clenched. “I still don’t get why you can’t tell me.”
I swallowed hard. How could I ever tell him? His reaction was the same every time we talked about the devil. I always see the disappointment in his eyes.
I tried to change the subject. “Is that why Thomas hurt you?”
He nodded slightly. “As soon as I got inside the room, he threw his fist at me.”
“How did he even know?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he got tired and didn’t trust me, so he looked for it himself. I’m going to ask Rebecca tomorrow. She’s afraid of him as well. It’s another possible reason.”
I bit my lip hard, my tears building up again. “This is my fault. You got hurt because of me.”
“I’m fine. This isn’t the first time he hurt me.”
Oh God, no.
I looked at his face. He took the beating because of me. He got hurt because I couldn’t tell him about the devil. I rested my head on his chest. I wrapped my arms around his body.
“What should we do now?”
“Pretend that I didn’t tell you. You’ll tell me about him. I will erase him from your life before my father does.” He blew out a sharp breath. “… And with Dad, it would be in a different way.”
I think I understood now why he saw Thomas that way. The stepfather I knew was sweet, thoughtful, and generous. He even sent me to Harvard and paid for my tuition. He married my mother and gave her a comfortable life. But there’s something off about him. I knew, now, that he could hurt his son using his own hands. How much more if he found out what I was doing in this room… with his son. I didn’t want to think about it.
But what was important for now was to prevent Luke from getting hurt. “I’m sorry you got caught up in this.”
“All I asked from you is cooperation, and you couldn’t give me that.”
“I’m going to tell you now,” I surrendered. “I will tell you everything. But promise me that you won’t tell Mom.” I raised my head and met his eyes. “And please, don’t judge me.”
“I promise. I told you nothing would make me change my mind.” I grinned, then pressed a kiss to his mouth. “Do we need a drink for this?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah… that’s a good suggestion.”
Luke stood up as if he wasn’t hurt. I shrugged, thinking that I must’ve worried too much. Maybe I might lead the conversation to something more. I wanted to know more about him too.