Saying goodbye in her heart, because hope was more mutilating than despair, she turned and walked away from him.
Ten
Raiden watched Scarlett walk away unsteadily, passing through her colleagues, feeling as if his life force was draining out of his body with her every receding step.
Now that everyone realized this was for real, that he’d just sent her away, their yammering curiosity turned to vocal concern. Some strode by her side, anxiously asking if they could help, if she needed anything. The way she waved away their interest and offers of help told him she was barely holding herself upright and together. He wanted to roar for everyone to leave her alone, but had to stand there and suffer every heartbreaking second of her disappearance.
The moment he could no longer see her, he turned away, struggling with the tears that surged from his depths. He didn’t want one of those people catching a photo of him in this condition. It might undermine all he was trying to do.
Getting his phone out, he called Steve, went over the details of the next few days. The specific bodyguards assigned to Scarlett’s constant guard duty, the protocols they’d follow, the hourly reports they’d relay to him and everything else that ensured she’d have security no head of state ever had.
Afterward, he stood there, in the office that was no longer hers, waiting for Steve to take her away from him, struggling not to run out after her, come what may. Letting her go was the hardest test of his control ever.
But he had to do it. He had to make the Yakuza think he’d given her her marching orders. And he had to do it where people would witness it and run to make it public knowledge.
He didn’t know how long it would be before the plan he’d concocted with his brothers worked, and worked perfectly. And the next two weeks, until the date of his supposed wedding, were the most dangerous time for Scarlett to remain here.
After the threat had been made, her continued presence, especially now that her pregnancy was a widespread scandal, would be considered a direct danger to the Yakuza’s interests, and a flaunting of their displeasure. The Yakuza might consider both transgressions worthy of a disciplinary strike.