find within myself. And as a Shaw, I don’t give a shit about family anymore. I will kill you if you go near her.”
“From the garden, I can see into her bedroom,” he informs me, which certainly doesn’t help my anger. My feet carry me out of her room into the hallway. I’m already pulling the gun from my shoulder holster when I reach the ground floor of my house. “She looks so beautiful in her little tank top.” My blood boils with every word he utters. “I wonder just how she’d feel squirming under me.”
“You’ll never find out. Over my dead body,” I grit, my jaw ticking with feral rage as I pull open my back door and head out into the garden. What I loved about this property is it connects to the Bardot Manor. Our gardens overlook each other, and I can be on their land in about ten minutes. There is a thick outcropping of trees before reaching it, but I’ll get to him, and I’ll kill him once and for all.
“Perhaps I’ll find out sooner,” he tells me. “As you know, curiosity kills the kitten.” A scream pierces the speaker before the line dies. Asshole. I can’t hear anything from where I am, but I quickly make my way down the garden toward the forest that backs up against my property.
I’ll find her, I’ll find him, and when I do, I’m putting a fucking bullet in his head.
Chapter Five
Scarlett
My throat burns from the scream as I race away from the large man who stepped out of the shadows. I’m not sure who he is, but I can only guess it’s the gardener, the one I was told to stay away from.
“Come on, pretty girl, come out and play,” he coos from behind me, his deep voice sending sparks of fear through me, and I push forward, trying to get away from him. “I can smell that sweet fear of yours.” His deep voice drips with malice, causing my heart to skitter wildly against my chest.
My long, flowing red hair tangles behind me as thicket and branches snag in my wavy locks. The cool ground beneath my feet causes me to shiver as I race toward the large, looming mansion on the other side of the forest.
A howl in the distance forces a squeal of surprise to tumble from my lips. My mother always told me not to go into the woods when I was a kid, but right now, I need to just get away from the man behind me. Another screeching howl comes from somewhere in the darkness, and my heart leaps into my throat. My lungs burn, and my legs ache. I push forward, seeing a looming house in front of me with golden light streaming from a few of the windows.
I’m so close. The neighbors will help me. I’m sure they will. I’m not sure if the staff heard me screaming, but someone would’ve heard. A crack of a branch behind me has another squeal pealing from my lips as I race through the darkness. My skin scrapes and scratches as tears slowly drip from my lashes, making the path blur before me.
I can smell something akin to candle wax, which is strange. And as much as I want to stop, to take a breath because my stomach aches and my chest is tight with exertion, I don’t. My feet hit the edge of the forest, and suddenly, I’m ripped backward, my feet flying into the air as strong, thick arms wrap around my waist and haul me back into the gloom of the trees.
“No!” My scream is silenced by a heavy hand covering my mouth, and the more I fight, the tighter the arms hold on to me. My muffled shouts dissipate into the forest as I’m dragged through the murkiness.
“If you keep fighting, little red, you’ll make my cock hard. I like it when little girls squirm,” a deep voice barrels through me, sending ice through my veins, and I still all movement. The man carries me as if I’m weightless, and soon I see a clearing up ahead.
It’s not the same voice from earlier, and I wonder who’s caught me. The nickname little red is what Mr. Shaw called me, but I know it can’t be him. He’s not anywhere near Crimson Falls. The house I saw in the distance becomes clearer, and my captor allows me to my feet, but his hold on me stays strong as his