ELIAS

I woke up with my head in a fog. I thought after I had been awake for some time it would have dissipated. But, I had yet to shake the feeling of dread. The impending feeling of doom. That feeling permeated my body. It had me on edge.

I was at least fortunate that Scarlett had slept through my nightmare. Last time she witnessed it and I had felt embarrassed. I'm not sure why. I guess it was the fact that someone I admired saw me in less than perfect light.

The nightmare I had last night was my brutal reality. I saw my mother die in front of me. I relived that moment time and time again changing the ending countless times in my head. I had conditioned myself to the trauma and in some ways reliving it made me completely numb to it. But, this time Scarlett had replaced my mother. It was as if my subconscious was firing off a warning that Scarlett was in danger.

That was why I found myself in the middle of a Beverly Hills swanky hotel to meet up with Thomas. He was the last person I wanted to see, but it was the only hope of solving this before it got worse.

I rolled up my sleeve and looked at the time. He was ten minutes late. The small blonde waiter came to the table and nervously refilled my water. She apologized, giving me a quick smile while returning to her station. I kept my eyes on her. Something about her seemed off.

She fiddled in her pocket, looking at me over her shoulder, firing off what seemed to be a quick message. What was Thomas up to? Five minutes had gone by and I was starting to get impatient. Everything with the Anderson's had to be made into a game. Nothing was as it seemed. I knew that so why did I expect this to go any different?

Just as I got up from my seat, Thomas came into a view. Seeing his face, lit a fuse.

My mind replayed the vile things he had done to Scarlett-- forcing her to a corner, putting his hands on her. My heart wanted to jump out of my chest. I thought I could be the bigger person, set my pride aside and try to fix this in a somewhat peaceful manner. But, I overestimated myself all I wanted to do at this moment is to kill him.

Fixing the lapels on my suit I walked forward, intending to move right past him. I wanted no part in his aggravating childish games. I didn't have the self-control to endure it.

He put his hand on my chest. "Sit down Elias, don't be ridiculous."

I lifted my sleeve and looked at my watch. "You're 20 minutes late, I'm afraid that's all the time I've allotted for your bullshit."

He laughed. "I had to make sure you didn't have anything fishy planned." He squinted his eyes at me. "You're the one who set this up. Wouldn't it be silly to leave without saying what you wanted to say?"

I gave him a hardened look. The air felt tight, almost constricting. My eyes slowly studied the restaurant. Nothing seemed out of place. A regular Monday mid-afternoon.

"What's it going to take for you to put an end to this nonsense?" I said not hiding the edge in my voice.

He laughed, effortlessly managing to look like a self-centered prick. What I would give to knock that smirk right off his face. I hadn't considered myself a violent person but Thomas naturally brought that out of me. His arrogance, his huge ego that poisoned the air in every room.

He obnoxiously pulled out the chair warranting the attention of everyone in the room. Crossing his legs, he sat down and clapped his hands at the waitress. "Come on, have a drink with me, man. Do you ever just fucking relax?"

I scoffed. "I forget you're a puppet, you have no power to put an end to anything."

The waiter set two drinks on the table. His nostrils flared and I could see the heat of his anger reach his face. Thomas made the mistake of always displaying his emotions like dirty laundry for everyone to see. It's what made him so damn predictable.

I leaned into the table. "What's the point of this? All this because a woman dumped your loser ass? Seems a bit extreme, no? Maybe, seek a therapist, instead of setting your company in flames."

He took a sip of his water before calmly placing the glass back on the table. "I made Scarlett. Everything she is today is because I saw pity in her and fucked her silly. Without that, who would she be? No one. Absolutely nothing, you wouldn't have even known her name. That's how irrelevant she would be. This is about principle. Consequences and lessons must be learned. She came for my company. You, out of anyone should know what that means. What that signifies. What has to be done."

Once again, he laughed, this time so hard that tears came out of his eyes. I felt my blood boil. "Of course, you know what that means, that's why you're here in hopes to save your little damsel in distress. She can't be saved, Elias. She dug our graves, now we have to lie in it."

I left the words hanging in his mouth before he made me completely volatile. My actions were senseless. It was a waste of time coming here.

"Let me advise you, distance yourself from Scarlett before you land yourself in the same pile of shit she's in," he shouted across the restaurant.

"Fuck you," I said, pure venom dripping from my mouth. I see red. I forget where I am. I lose all sensibilities and get in his face. "Scarlett, the woman you swear is irrelevant. Has the power to fucking end you. Not just you, but everything you stand for.. Watch your fucking back, because we're coming for you."

He smiled, then looked at his phone. "Sure, she does. Scarlett is nothing but big tits and smokescreens. But, alright, Elias, make your bed."

"Tell me, what kind of man puts his hands on a woman? A fucking pussy, that's who. You deserve everything that is coming to you."

I turned around making my way through the ritzy restaurant. I'm seething but I try to contain myself. My mind went a hundred miles an hour. A split second passed and I'm forced out of my head by multiple flashing lights.

A crowd of people surrounded me. Everything moved slowly but chaotically. I had let myself fall right into his trap. I blinked trying to adjust to the bright camera flashes. I turned around to see Thomas smiling, proud to see whatever he planned in fruition.

Multiple reporters shouted. I couldn't distinguish a word they said. One barged through sticking a mic in my face. She fixed her auburn hair while the cameraman steadied the lens on us.

"Are you aware that your employee Scarlett Delacruz conspired against Anderson Corporation?"

"That's not true," I said sternly.

"Then, can you explain why the damaging emails that were anonymously sent were linked back to Ms. Delacruz's IP address. Mr. Castellano, was this all just a publicity stunt to take out your competitor since the two of you are romantically involved?"