Chapter Ten

Kara had been laying upside down on the sofa, her feet propped up against the wall, her hair hanging to the floor. Very relaxed. Until a knock had sounded on her door.

Immediately, her feet swung down and she stared wide eyed at the door.

Who is it?

Had Celeste perhaps decided to still bring her food? Kara bit her lip before getting up quietly and tip toeing to the door, her heart in her chest. In her past experiences, knocks on the door in the evening never brought fun things.

In a shaky voice, she asked, "Who is it?"

There was silence for a few seconds, then a strained voice said, "Delivery for Mademoiselle Hilton."

All the air whooshed out of her lungs in a gigantic sigh of relief. Without thinking twice, Kara pulled open the door to reveal two men dressed in grey overalls, balancing a big box in between them.

Her TV! It had arrived, oh, what joy! With excitement, she ushered them in. She offered to help them carry the big box, but the one whose name tag read "Jean" took one look at her slim frame and politely said no. Kara shrugged and stood aside.

She showed them where to install the TV and plopped down on the coach to watch. She nearly squealed when they lifted it out of the box. It was beautiful. And expensive, jeez! After this, she was going to have to watch her purse.

Ten minutes later, the men where all done.

Kara thanked them, signed the papers with a fake signature, of course, because she didn't really have one and saw them out the door.

She walked back to the living room with a huge smile. The place even looked so much better with her canvas, which arrived earlier, set up by the glass sliding doors and now her new TV up on the wall. It was perfect.

Taking one delighted look at the TV, in its shiny glory, she started rummaging around in the boxes, searching for the remote because that's what you're supposed to turn it on and change the channels with. Celeste had shown her earlier up at the house.

Kara searched for five whole minutes with no luck. They couldn't have taken it with them, could they? She sighed. They did, the air headed loafers. Now how was she going to change channels?

Suddenly another knock sounded on the door. Kara scoffed. Good, they brought back her remote. How dare they take it away in the first place? She took a step towards the door and as if by bad luck, her foot stumbled over a box and Kara felt herself falling. She gasped, her hands flailing around for something to grab onto. She clutched onto the edge of the sofa and broke her fall.

There was another knock on the door. Breathless, she pushed herself up and went to answer.

Ready to indulge in television, Kara pulled the door open... and regretted the moment she did so.

There...on her front step...stood Lucas.

His large presence filled her doorway and it was suddenly difficult to draw a breath.

Kara froze. He stared at her, grey eyes wide. And then Kara saw it.

Anger. Fury. Red and hot, it turned his eyes into pure darkness. In that moment, engulfed by such dark anger, Kara feared for her life. And it was that fear that sent her darting around to do one thing. Run.

Kara ran back inside, not knowing where the hell she thought she was even going because the man was at her damn door, but all she wanted in that moment was to get away from his anger. Even that was a fleeting wish, however, because she hadn't taken more than a few steps through her living room when a large hand wrapped around her elbow and dragged her back.

Kara started trembling, whimpering in fear. He was so angry, she could see it! He was going to kill her!

She watched as Lucas carelessly dropped a plate onto the counter before turning his furious gaze back to her.
"Did you think..." he began, breathing like a raging bull. "...that you would steal my money...and get away with it?" he questioned.

Kara stared into his eyes of fury, her own, wide and teary. He yanked her hard against him and shook her by the shoulders.

"Answer me!" he growled. Kara opened her mouth, still struggling to get free while he held her tight, but no words came out.

Oh, she was so stupid! Why had she opened that door without asking who it was?

"Please..." she whispered through her clogged throat.

Lucas glared down at her and she trembled in his arms. Just that. That feeling of her trembling in his arms like that, it made him tighten his grip on her arms, made him drag her closer. He'd finally found her, the little minx.

"Please, what?" he growled.

Kara pulled back, turning her face away from his, trying to get as far away from his wrath as possible. But Lucas wasn't having it. He placed a hand under her chin and turned her to face him.

"How dare you?" he started. Kara sagged against him, hating her weakness. What was this that she was feeling, it had made her trembling worse! It must have been her fear making her knees weak.

The hand that was clutching her chin softened as he glared down at her. She felt his thumb slide over his chin and press down on her bottom lip.

Suddenly, he froze and in a second he pushed her away from him, tossing her onto the sofa. Glaring at her he walked towards a wall, creating a large distance between them.

"So you're Karen?"" he yelled, tilting his head at her. Kara gulped, pulling her knees up on the sofa. He was still mad. She could see that and she was terrified. This was it. She was finished. He would finish her!

"What happened to Celina Delores? Huh? And just what the fuck are you doing on my brother's ranch??" Lucas questioned.

He was a few feet away, but his presence, his size, his anger all made her feel as if he was looming right over her. She shrunk into the sofa.

When she remained quiet, Lucas came closer to the sofa. A look of disgust drawing onto his features.

"They don't know who you are, do they?" he questioned. Kara stared fearfully up at him before shaking her head a few centimeters to the side. What would he do now? Would he sell her out?

Lucas nodded. "Of course. François would never hire a common thief!" he spat.

Kara felt a sting in her heart and she didn't understand why because she'd been called far worse things before and let's face it, she was a common thief. But just hearing him say it... She wiped a tear off her cheek.

Lucas leaned against a wall and crossed his arms over his wide chest as he stared angrily at her. Kara felt her skin prickle under his harsh scrutiny and she tried to hide behind her raised knees.

"What did you do with all that money?" he questioned. Kara dropped her gaze even further and shrugged. Suddenly Lucas was in front of her, his hand roughly pulling her face up to look at him. Kara whimpered at the pressure of his finger on her cheeks.

"Those two like you and I can drag you right out there and blow your little image to pieces, so when I ask you a question, you'd better damn answer," he stated dangerously.

Kara felt like her heart was about to explode when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Lucas watched her eyes go wide. That green. He'd seen her in that pet shop, it was her there with Celeste! The little...

He saw the fear in her eyes and was damn glad. The last person who stolen from Lucas Cartier wasn't going to be telling anyone that tale any time soon. Now that he'd found her, he knew he could blow her cover. She was scared and he'd make sure he used that.

He let go off her face and walked towards the door, expecting to find a worried Celeste on the step. He pulled it open and was surprised to find two men looking back at him. Both in overalls.

They stared at him, intimidated.

"Qu'est-ce que vous voulez?" he demanded and the two guys paled.

Suddenly, Kara appeared at his side, a smile on her face. She wrapped her hands around Luc's arm and held it like he was her lover. He stared down at her with a dark expression.

The men seemed happy to see a face that was familiar and much more cheerful.

"Ah, mademoisellle," said the one called Jean. "We are very sorry, we took away your...uh..."

"TV remote," offered the other one, who's name tag said Michael.

Kara smiled and nodded. "Oh, that's okay, I knew you would soon bring it back. Thank you," she said, starting to close the door, completely forgetting she hadn't even taken the remote yet. The way Lucas was looking at them was sure to ring some warning bells.

Sure enough just as she was closing the door, Jean held it for a second, glancing warily at a glowering Lucas before looking back at Kara.

"Eh...is everything okay?" he asked.

Kara nodded immediately, a big smile on her face, while her insides quivered fearfully.

She needed to get Lucas inside where she could hopefully try to beg him to forgive her without needing to slice her dead or selling her out.

"Everything is fine. My husband was just woken up by the noise i was making, he's a little grumpy," she said with a cheeky grin up at Lucas. He glared back down at her, hating that he didn't want her to let go off his arm.

"Oh," said Jean. " Well, goodnight to you."

The men handed the remote over to Lucas who grabbed it, thanked them and closed the door, walking back into the cottage, Kara still attached to his arm staring wistfully at the remote in his other hand.

Oh, the channels she would have been able to change...

She sighed inwardly and looked up at Lucas to find his eyes looking down at her hands where they curled around his arm.

"Let go!" his voice boomed and Kara yelped, startled as she immediately whipped her hands away from his muscled arm, her fingers tingling at the break in contact.

She wanted to hold him again.

Lucas scowled at her as he held the remote in front of her face before pointing at the TV.

"This is what you've been doing with my money?" he questioned. "Buying useless televisions?"

Kara pouted. "Its not useless..." she murmured.

"Couldn't you have at least invested it or done something worthwhile?"

Kara's eyes flashed up at him. ' Invested in what? Your growing ability to talk crap?!"

The moment the words left her mouth, Kara wished them back. Her eyes widened over the hand she'd slapped over her mouth. Oh, now he really was going to kill her.

Lucas narrowed his eyes to grey slits. She saw the danger and bolted. This time, running for the front door.

Not even two steps in and he had her by the arm, slamming her back hard against him, more anger flaring up inside him when he forced back a moan at the contact. What the hell was she doing to him?

Kara was embarrassed. What kind of runner as skilled as she is in running away can't even manage a few steps away in their escape? Disgraceful. He had ruined her entire running record in one day.

Then she felt him pull her hard against him and his hand pulled up her face to look into her eyes.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, big mouth?", he growled, holding his anger at bay.

Kara felt herself shiver and she hated it.

"Please let me go..." she tried to say, but it came out as a whisper.

He pulled her closer.

"And if i don't...?"