“Scarlett?” She dropped to the floor as Eric fell back onto the bed. I tried to crawl to her, but made it only a foot before my vision dimmed and I closed my eyes.
Chapter Nineteen
Scarlett
“Scarlett Carmichael. She’s the attorney from Stone and Porter.” A man’s voice, low and close.
“Who’s the guy?” a woman asked.
“Another attorney. Kennedy Granade. He’s the one with U.S. attorney brother.”
“And the other guy?”
“Eric Stiles.”
“Piece of shit. Take him and get his confession.”
A scraping noise, as if something heavy was being dragged away.
The woman made a hmm noise. “So Scarlett and Kennedy were in on it, or not?”
I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids refused to cooperate.
“Gorepheus says they weren’t, that they were trying to bring Rhone down.”
“Gorepheus isn’t with us, so we afford his word the same weight as everyone else’s. Garbage.”
“Hey, pretty girl. Wake up.” The woman’s voice whispered close to my ear and someone gripped my hair and pulled my head up. Sensation began to return to my limbs, and I realized I was tied to a chair.
I forced my eyelids open. My vision slowly cleared to show a woman, her blond hair shaved along the sides and long on the top, with heavy piercings in her lips and brows, staring up at me. She settled into a cross-legged position on the floor, a pensive look creasing her brow. She looked about thirty years old, maybe a little more. Her black leather jacket was well worn, and spiderwebs decorated both sides of her neck in stark ink.
The room was frigid, and the light overhead illuminated only a small circle around me. There was no way to know where I was.
She smiled. “I’m Charlotte’s Web. You’re Scarlett. Care to tell me what you were doing with Eric Stiles, enemy of Discord?”
My tongue was too big in my mouth, and I couldn’t make words.
“Give her a sip of water,” she instructed.
A shadowy figure to my left pulled my head back and held a cup to my lips. I sipped and sputtered a little before settling down and trying to focus on Charlotte’s Web again.
“He was trying to kill me.” My voice was a croak.
She looked me up and down. “You’re the one who looks dressed—or rather undressed—to kill. From what I can tell, you set up a rendezvous with Eric and intended to fuck him and double-cross Carey and Kennedy. You were in on the Rhone break-in and Fluffy’s murder the entire time.”
“N-no. That’s not true.” I tried to shake my head, but I couldn’t because of the man gripping my hair. “I was trying to get Eric to admit what he and Frank Rhone had done, record it, then give it to the feds. That was the plan.”
“And you were the bait for getting him to talk?” She gave me another once-over.
“Yes. But he knew what I was doing. He was going to hurt me, t-to—”
“Rape you?” she filled in.
“Yes.”
Someone groaned next to me, but I couldn’t see who it was.
“I want to believe you. I do. Eric’s fate is already sealed. He sought us out, asked us to perform the break-in and set up Greenwood. We were all too happy to oblige. Discord has no problem taking money from the fascists and letting them fight it out amongst themselves. But when we discovered what happened to Fluffy.” She dug in her pocket and pulled out a metal set of knuckles. She slid them onto her right hand and flexed, showing me the spiders set in steel.
I shivered. “I swear I’m telling you the truth. We—Kennedy, and Carey, and me—were trying to expose Rhone. They tried to have us killed, too.”
She raised her eyebrows. “We heard about the shoot-out at the house on the Pontchartrain. But everyone got away unharmed. Makes it seem like you were in on it. Maybe had cold feet and warned your newfound friends instead of staying loyal to Rhone and Eric?”
“No.” Kennedy’s voice, slurred and slow, rang out next to me.
“Hi, handsome.” She gave him the same friendly smile she’d greeted me with. “You have something to add to our little conversation?”
“Scarlett is inno—” He coughed and tried again. “Innocent. She’s telling the truth.”
A scream echoed from somewhere farther inside the building.
I shook so hard, the chair squeaked.
“Don’t worry, pretty. That’s just Eric.”
“Good,” Kennedy spat.
I nodded as best I could with the man’s hand still pulling my head back.
“He was going to kill her. He knew we were onto them. You can check it all. Did you search the hotel room? There was recording equipment. She was trying to get his confession. Have you talked to Carey?”