Chaos by Sarah Bailey

Fourteen

Prescott

Of all the fucking things Tonya could say to my woman, she’d had to go make up some bullshit about me sleeping with her. Of course, of fucking course. Tonya had been after me for years. I had never once given her the impression I would ever sleep with her or that I was even interested. Couldn’t help it if I was naturally charming and friendly. It was a part of the act I put on for the rest of the world. Why I was the face of our company.

Being polite to Tonya was easier than giving her shit when I had to work with her. Maybe I used it to my advantage because she did more for me than she ever did for Francis because of her crush. Whilst she technically also worked for West, he held her in so much contempt, he rarely ever asked her to do anything for him.

I strode down the hallway towards Tonya’s desk but was interrupted on the way by West walking out of the meeting room. I paused when he raised his eyebrows at me.

“Why do you look murderous?” he asked, digging his hands in his pockets.

“Tonya.”

His eyes narrowed.

“What did the bitch do now? You know, she saw me with Scar not that long ago.”

“What did she do? She told Scarlett I fucked her yesterday, that’s what she did.”

West’s expression grew cold and downright scary.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. I just had Scarlett storming into my office and accusing me of fucking other people.”

And she’d told me I was hers. I wasn’t going to lie, it gave me so much damn hope knowing her feelings towards me remained. Maybe if I apologised for hurting her, she could forgive me. If I showed her how much I cared and she was my everything. I didn’t care what the hell the others said or did any longer. Scarlett was more important than anything else. I needed her to remember me. I needed her to… love me.

“What else did she say?”

“Tonya accused Scarlett of sleeping with us to get a job.”

I swear a vein popped in West’s temple.

“She did, did she? Well, the bitch has crossed a line for the last fucking time.”

The moment the last word left his mouth, he walked off toward reception. I followed him, watching West flex his hands at his sides. The moment we both rounded the corner and I spied Tonya sitting there without a care in the world, I wanted to rip her to shreds. However, I was relatively sure I didn’t need to when West strode right up to her desk and leant on it. His expression cleared of all annoyance as he stared at her. A sure sign he was going to do something incredibly fucked up.

Tonya looked up, her eyes going wide. I hung back by the entrance to the lobby, waiting for the shitstorm to happen.

“Can… can I do something for you, Mr Greer?”

West smiled at her that maniacal way of his.

“Why, yes, Tonya, you can.”

“And what’s that?”

He leant closer and ran his fingers over the wood.

“Explain something to me.”

“Yes?”

He dug his other hand in his pocket, flicked open the blade of his pocketknife and without a second thought, stabbed it into the desk right by her keyboard. Tonya jumped, her eyes going wide as she spied the knife.

“Why you think it’s acceptable to tell Scarlett you’re fucking one of your bosses.”

She paled and shifted back in her chair.

“I—”

“I’m not done, Tonya. Not by a long fucking shot.”

He ripped the knife out of the desk and strode around to her side.

Scarlett appeared next to me.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she took in the scene in front of us.

I glanced at her, noting she was about to move closer to West and Tonya. Reaching out, I tucked Scarlett against my side and put my hand over her mouth.

“Shh, just watch,” I murmured.

West put his hand on one arm of Tonya’s chair and leant closer, placing the flat side of the knife against her cheek.

“Do you really think Prescott would ever consider your pathetic pussy to be worthy of his dick? You aren’t even worth a pity fuck.”

She flinched and I wanted to laugh. Scarlett let out a muffled squeak by my side, but I kept a tighter hold on her. I wasn’t about to let her interrupt West when he was on a roll.

Tonya looked like she was about to shit herself as West pressed the knife harder into her face.

“This crush of yours needs to end. He doesn’t give a shit about you. Look, he’s standing right there staring at you like you’re fucking nothing.” West removed the knife and pointed it at me. “Because that’s what you are. Nothing.”

Tonya’s eyes went to mine. The abject horror on her face when she saw I had Scarlett next to me made this all so worthwhile. I didn’t care if I wasn’t the one giving her hell. West was annihilating the woman. I was happy to let him.

West ran the back of the blade along her chin, turning her attention back to him.

“You think you’re safe because of who your daddy is… but you forget, I don’t give a shit whose daughter you are. I will hurt you and I will enjoy every moment of it.”

“But… but Drake,” she whimpered.

“But Drake what? You think he’s going to save you because you’re his fucking step-cousin, huh?” He grinned. “Don’t make me laugh. If he knew what you’d said to Scarlett… well, there’s no telling what he would do, because in case you hadn’t realised, that woman over there is ours. If you try to humiliate and hurt what’s ours, you don’t live very long, you hear me?”

A tear ran down Tonya’s cheek. I didn’t feel sorry for her. Ever since she’d come to work here, she’d been a nosey bitch who couldn’t keep herself out of our personal business. West and I had wanted her gone for a long time. We didn’t owe her anything. She was only working here because Drake had given her a job as a favour to her father, his step-uncle, Fletcher. Whilst I respected Fletch Sinclair to an extent, as he’d given Drake the money for us to start Fortuity, didn’t mean I liked his daughter. We’d paid him back his investment years ago. We didn’t want Fletch in our business for any longer than he had to be.

“I’ve gutted people with this knife before, Tonya,” West told her as he ran it down her neck and pressed the tip into her skin. “I will do it to you. I will turn your fucking insides out and leave you to bleed to death in the most painful way possible. Let this be your last fucking warning. You say another fucking word to Scarlett, I will end you. That’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”

West straightened, flipped the knife closed and tucked it back in his pocket.

“I see we’ve come to an understanding, so I’ll leave you to get back to work now.”

He walked away from the woman he’d terrorised and stopped in front of Scarlett. I dropped my hand from her mouth but didn’t let her go completely. West leant down and put his mouth to her ear.

“I will end the world for you, Scar. All you have to do is ask.”

Then he pressed his lips to her cheek before he shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled away. Scarlett’s eyes followed him, her expression one of complete disbelief.

“What the fuck?” she whispered.

Her eyes met mine when West disappeared into his office.

“Prescott, what was that?”

“That was West, little lamb.”

Her body was trembling, but I didn’t think it was quite as hard as Tonya was shaking right now. I didn’t give a fuck about her. Reaching up, I stroked Scarlett’s cheek, trying to soothe her because she was clearly in shock. For a second she stayed right where she was, then she wrenched herself out of my grasp and backed away.

“He’s psychotic,” she said, waving down the corridor. “Actually psychotic. And you? You think that’s normal? What the hell is wrong with you?”

I walked after her as she kept moving away down the hallway.

“I thought you understood. This is who we are.”

She shook her head.

“He threatened to gut her.”

“And? She upset you.”

“That is not an appropriate response. I don’t want him to kill her, Pres!”

“You can tell him.”

“I am not talking to him. He’s insane.”

This was not how I wanted a conversation with her to go.

“Stop walking away from me.”

Scarlett only backed away further, shaking her head.

“No! Jesus, you’re all fucking crazy, you know that? All of you!”

“Scarlett—”

“No!”

She looked back and found herself outside Drake’s office, which meant she didn’t have anywhere else to go. Then she stabbed a finger in my direction.

“If you think I want to talk to you after that, you’re mistaken.” Her voice had got all high pitched and loud. “You haven’t even apologised for all the shit you’ve put me through and now this? I don’t even know why I’m fucking well here any longer.”

I caught up to her and took her by the arm, keeping her in place so she could damn well listen to my apology.

“I’m sorry, little lamb. I never wanted to hurt you.”

Tears welled in those beautiful eyes and it cut me.

“But you’re not sorry for making me… kill someone.” She whispered the last part, thankfully. I didn’t need her shouting about it for the entire world to hear.

“No, I’m not.”

I couldn’t lie to her. I didn’t regret what we’d done. It was necessary. Everything we did was. Scarlett had proven herself to us. Even if she was still under their control to an extent, we’d started the process of bringing her over to our side. Sure, it was immoral and fucked up, but the four of us didn’t play by society’s rules.

“What is going on out here?” came Drake’s voice as he opened his office door.

Scarlett gave me a wounded look.

“You expect me to understand why when I don’t understand a single thing about any of you. I hate what you made me do. I hate it so much, Pres. You stained my fucking soul and you don’t even care.”

“I do care, sweetness. I care a great fucking deal about you.”

Fuck, little lamb, I love you. I’m fucking well in love with you.

She shook her head, tears slipping down her cheeks.

“You only care about how you can use me.”

She ripped herself out of my grasp and ran away to her office, slamming the door shut behind her. I was left staring at the place she’d been, hating myself for breaking her trust and making her think she didn’t mean the world to me.

“What the hell was that, Pres?” Drake asked.

“That was the result of West threatening to gut Tonya in front of Scarlett after Tonya insinuated she was sleeping with me and accused Scarlett of sleeping with us to get a job.”

My tone was flat and void of emotion. Something inside me was so fucking broken right now, I couldn’t bring myself to sound any other way.

“Jesus fucking Christ. Can I not leave any of you alone for two fucking minutes?”

“I can’t do this anymore, Drake. I fucking can’t.” I buried my fingers in my hair. “This is fucking killing me.” I turned to him. “She hates me.”

He gave me a sympathetic look.

“She doesn’t hate you, Pres.”

I couldn’t believe it. Even though she’d given me hope earlier, I was still worried there was nothing I could do to make this up to her. How could I when she kept running away from me?

“You don’t understand,” I told him, my voice quiet, “I love her.”

Then I walked away from him. I’d just confessed the truth to Drake rather than Scarlett. And I was a fucking idiot for it.