For the last hour I've been glued to Declan's side, forced to mingle with the first class socialites of Portland. Declan lied flawlessly to everyone he spoke with. He had them eating out of the palm of his hand, saying he was from a new money family who deals in real estate and finance. 

Most of the men he spoke with were eager to share their pearls of wisdom with him about which stocks he should invest in, to stay clear of that crypto nonsense or which areas in the city he and his family should look into buying buildings in because those areas were in their up-swing. The prices will be low now and in a few years they can sell for millions.

The wives would look me over, judging my appearance and the lack of jewels hanging from my ears, neck and wrists. When they deemed me not worthy of their time they would turn to the other women they had themselves surrounded by and ignored my existence entirely. 

Honestly, I was happy for it, I didn't feel like making meaningless small talk with them. And what would I even say to them if they asked what I do for a living? I doubt saying I work as a receptionist at a car dealership that's used to launder money for the Russian Mob would go over well.

The entire time I could feel the weight of eyes on me from somewhere in the massive room. Biting my lip nervously as Declan spoke to an elderly man about designer watches, I tried to find where the oppressive feeling was coming from. He must have seen me out of the corner of his eye because he squeezed my fingers, trying to bring my attention back down to him.

Then the announcement came from the conductor of the band that was playing for everyone to please find their tables as dinner was to be served.

I was dreading this. Pulling out the chair at table six, Declan motioned his hand signaling me to take a seat. Running my hands down the back of my dress as I moved to sit in the chair. I could feel my heart hammering inside my chest. I hated listening to everyone's "my stick is bigger than yours" routines but at least I felt like I was able to escape. Now that I'm seated around a table surrounded by some of the most evil, corrupt people in the city, I felt trapped.

Flinching, I felt Declan place his hand on my bare leg. My head snapped so I was looking up at him. His eyes were dark, like they were the first time I saw him back at the abandoned hospital. His face devoid of emotion while his fingers started to trace patterns on my skin. 

"Stay calm, little one." He whispered.

Mike was the first to join us, pulling out a chair next to me. He sunk into it and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "About time, I'm starving." He joked.

Two other men in their forties joined us, taking up the seats next to Declan. Their expressions were emotionless as they looked at Mike and then to Declan. They didn't bother to introduce themselves. Their eyes landed on me, and they not so subtly raked their eyes over me, one of them keeping his eyes fixed on my chest. 

Declan's fingers started to squeeze around my thigh making me grab onto his hand to silently tell him to ease up.

"These are my friends, Arkadi and Garrett." Mike introduced, pointing to each as he named them. "They own a dealership in Boston dealing with luxury cars."

Declan turned to Arkadi and Garrett, smiling and putting out his open hand for them to shake. The one named Garrett curled his lip up at Declan's hand while Arkadi reluctantly shook it.

"Gentlemen, this is the man I said I met at the lot the other week, the one with the Jag F-TYPE R." Mike said. Garrett's brow rose slightly as he looked past Arkadi at him. "He happens to know a lot about luxury vehicles."

Almost instantly they were wrapped up in conversation about Bentleys and Aston Martins. To keep myself busy, I took the intricately folded napkin from my plate and laid it out on my lap. Mike leaned in closer to me so he could speak that only I could hear him.

"We miss you at the lot, Scarlett."

"Yea, I miss you guys too." I said, trying hard not to stutter. "Um, thanks for giving me the time off."

"Oh, pish-posh." Mike said, waving his hand dismissively. "I cannot imagine losing a parent. Please, take all the time you need. But not too much, we'll need you back for Christmas." He said with a chuckle.

I smiled back at him the best I could.

"Have you been speaking with Alex at least? I know you two are close."

I felt my stomach turn to knots. "No... not really. I um, just kind of want to be a-alone."

Mike pursed his lips together, nodding his head. "You know, he said he went to your apartment to check on you the last two nights and you weren't there. Where've you been?"

Thinking fast I came up with a lie. "Oh, with an old friend from school that I haven't seen since graduation. It's um, been nice, 'ya know? She's been helping take my mind off of things."

"With a friend," he repeated, shaking his head. "Is this friend local, up in New Hope?"

When I took too long to come up with an answer he opened his mouth to speak again but before he could, a waiter came and pulled the place cards from the plates at the other end of the table and switched them with new ones.

"Pardon the interruption but there has been a last minute seating change for the table this evening." He spoke. He quick winked towards Declan making me wonder if he was one of the three Declan had mentioned earlier. The waiter then dipped back out of the way to reveal the new guests who would be sitting with us. 

I glanced up at Declan to see his lips curl up into a smirk. Declan's fingers wrapped over my thigh possessively, his fingers tightening.

"Anatoly," Arkadi greeted cheerfully.

I felt the room start to spin. Anatoly, the head of the Russians was going to be sitting at our table. With a shaking hand, I grabbed for my glass of wine and drank.

Anatoly ran an open hand through his slicked back graying hair on the side of his head. His hand moved to readjust his tie around his neck, his fingers adorned with gold rings. Unbuttoning the bottom button of his bespoke suit, he pulled the chair out form the table and sat. Looking between Arkadi, Garrett and Mike he smiled slightly and then looked to Declan, his smile dropping.

The waiter scrambled to move in and pull the chair out next to Anatoly for the much younger looking brunette who wore a tight fitting gold dress with a thick diamond choker around her neck. She glared at the waiter when he accidentally hit her leg with the chair. Huffing, she took her bag from her shoulder and draped it on the backrest and then sat.

"I don't believe I've met your acquaintance." Anatoly spoke in his thick eastern European accent. "I am Anatoly Litvinenko."

"Declan Byrne. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Anatoly."

Anatoly's brown eyes slowly left Declan and landed on me. The air around me became heavy and I felt like I was struggling to breathe. His eyes raked over me, a crooked smile growing on his face. "And who is this beautiful young creature?"

Declan's fingers dug into my thigh. I could hear him let out an audible breath through his nose. He was disgusted at how Anatoly was looking at me.

"S-Scarlett Murphy." I stammered.

Anatoly hummed at my response. Taking his eyes from me to look back at Declan, his wicked smile grew more when he saw how he had affected Declan.

"And I'm Yelena," The brunette spoke in an equally thick accent, putting her hand on Anatoly's shoulder. She held up her drink in her left hand at just the right angle so we could see the seven carat oval diamond ring on her finger. "His wife." She glared.

Anatoly jerked his shoulder from under her hand, shooting her a nasty look. "I just had this suit finished, keep your claws off of it."

Making a face back at him, she took her manicured fingers and angrily ran them down his arm and over his chest before turning in her seat and swallowing the rest of the clear liquid in her glass. She held it up for one of the waiters to see, shaking the ice inside the glass demanded a refill.

Ignoring her childlike behavior, Anatoly's eyes landed back on Declan. "Can't say I've seen you around one of these events before."

"I don't make a point to donate my money to companies who monopolize on human suffering." Declan shot back, his tone remaining hauntingly calm.

Anatoly's lips curved up in a smile before he let out a terse laugh through his nose. "Human suffering." He repeated, taking a drink from his own glass. "Speaking of human suffering, how is Nick doing?"

My brows furrowed at his comment. I thought he didn't know who Declan was? Trying to remain calm and keep my facial expressions under control, I grabbed for the glass of water the waiter had just poured and focused on the cold, sweating glass in my hand. The tension is so thick at the table I could cut it with a knife.

Before Declan could respond to his question, Yelena butted in again. "This conversation bores me. Damian, is it? Switch seats with me." She was already out of her chair with her purse before Declan could say anything against it.

Looking over to me, he squeezed my thigh and smiled. "Do you mind, darling?"

Yelena was at his side, shooing him out of his chair before I could register his question. Yelena smoothed her hands down the back of her dress and took up the seat next to me, hanging her purse on the back of her chair.

"These men, all they do is talk about work, who's bank account is fatter." She said while grabbing her new drink from one of the staff. "Even on nights out, they cannot help themselves. Everyone is a new business partner or someone to bury."

I smiled and hummed in agreement at her comment, not really paying attention to what she was saying as I watched Declan circle to the other side of the table and take up the chair next to his enemy. His eyes met mine for a moment while Anatoly was distracted with something Mike was saying to him. His brow raised at me, dipping his head slightly as if to say "stay calm."

"What do you think?" I heard Yelena say, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you over the crowd." I lied, looking back at her and faking a smile.

Rolling her eyes at me she repeated her question about how trashy some of the women looked this evening. She can't believe with all of the money half of these women have that they couldn't dress more fashionably. She looked over my simple black dress and lack of diamonds and pursed her lips.

"I find your simpleton look refreshing." She continued. I had to bite my tongue at her insult. "Some of the women here tonight thought it would be a good idea to wear all of their jewelry at once," she laughed "but you look very chic with nothing."

"Yelena," Anatoly called from across the way in a tone that meant for her to shut up. "Be nice. Not everyone here is as prosperous. Declan here is a guest of Mike, not on the official guest list. This isn't their normal crowd."

Yelena sipped her drink. "Then what's the excuses for the others?"

I grabbed for my wine. Was this woman for real? She was the loudest, most disrespectful person I've met and now I'm stuck next to her and her constant insults for the night.

Not long after, our food arrived and I thanked God thinking that this would finally shut her up from all of the negative things she had to say about seemingly everything. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky. The food wasn't to her liking and she made sure to let everyone know.

Once dinner was over, the lights in the room dimmed. A spotlight shone at the stage at the side of the room then quickly moved to the side of the stage where an elder man in about his sixties walked out from behind the red curtains. A dull round of applause came from the guests and ended the moment he reached the podium at center stage.

"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. I am William Reed, CEO of Wyndham Pharmaceutical Corporation and on behalf of Wyndham, I would like to welcome you all to our charity event this evening. We cannot thank you enough for all of your very generous donations that have been made tonight in the name of medicine." He paused for his audience to applaud their philanthropy. In all honesty, they weren't here donating out of the kindness of their hearts. They didn't care about helping people in need, the only reason they were donating anything is because it would be a tax write-off.

"It is with donations from people like yourselves that we have been able to do what we do. With all of your help we have been able to produce Zenalyn, an incredible life altering medication. It has been used in life threatening situations, able to help relieve intense pain that patients experience in events like car accidents or helping to manage pain caused by cancer treatments. It's been able to give back the lives of patients who suffer from intense, chronic day to day pain. It truly is an amazing drug and our team here at Wyndham is the best of the best.

"Now, all of these wonderful things being said, I know you have all heard what they are saying on the news. They are saying there is a second, lower standard form of Zenalyn being pushed on the streets called Z. Our Mayor, as wonderful as he is, is trying to push a bill to our state senator to bring up to congress that the production of Zenalyn should be terminated. Saying with the growing opioid epidemic here in America there is no need for another, as they claim 'highly addictive' opioid on the market." Boos came from a few tables around the room. William chuckled at this then straightened his tie before he continued.

"This would not only keep patients away from life altering medication but think of all of the jobs that would be lost if we are put out of business. Our Mayor is not the only one who is trying to end the production of Zenalyn. It has been brought to our attention that there are quiet organizations throughout the city trying to dismantle our company."

Without even having to scan the crowd, William looks directly at Declan. I watch as Declan holds his stare, not blinking. William finally gives, blinking first. After his long pause he chuckles and clears his throat. "Just something to keep in mind in the upcoming elections this year. Our great city of Portland could do with less organized crime and under the table dealings and more organizations that try to better the lives of the people of this great city like the Wyndham Corporation does."

The crowd laughs and cheers in agreeance as the lights turn back on. William stays at the podium while paparazzi snap pictures of him as he smiles and poses at different angles.

"Let's get to the ladies room before they serve desert." Yelena says, leaning over to me to take the napkin from my lap and throw it on my empty plate. "We are going to ladies room to freshen up." She announced. Arkady, Garrett and Declan where in such a deep conversation that they didn't bother to look up at us as we stood.

Anatoly's eyes moved from Garrett and whatever he was talking about to look at me. His eyes traveled up and down my body making my skin crawl. His lips turned up in a smile when he saw how uneasy he was making me.

"Don't get lost now." He called to the two of us as his wife pulled me through the crowd.

The restrooms were empty save for the two of us. Not wanting to be away from Declan for longer than necessary, I quickly did my business and walked to the sink to wash my hands. Wiping my hands with the napkins, I rested against the sink to wait for Yelena. She'd been complaining about everything so far this evening, I didn't want to add me not waiting for her to the list.

I turned and looked at myself in the mirror, looking over my makeup. Reaching for my purse when I saw my lipstick could use a touch up, I let out a frustrated sigh. I forgot to bring it with.

"Great," I sighed to myself, dabbing my middle finger against my lip to try and even it out. "Yelena, are you almost ready?" I called. We'd probably been in here a good ten minutes now.

"Yelena?" I turned around to look at the doors to see if any were opening. Confused, I tried to discreetly look under the stalls to see if I could see her.

Maybe she went back already? I thought, shrugging to myself. Turning to leave, I reached for the door handle just as the door started to push open towards me. Three men in suits invaded the space, locking the bathroom door behind them.

Taking a few steps back, my heart started to race. "I think you guys have the wrong bathroom." I laughed nervously. They remained silent, staring at me.

I moved forward, trying to shoulder past them but one of them grabbed my bicep and pulled me back in front of him while the other two moved to my sides, trapping me. I could hear my pulse hammering in my ears, my lungs struggling to take in air.

The one to my left brought his hand up to his ear and spoke. "Tell Anatoly we have her."

"You have the wrong person, let me go!" My words came out so fast I doubt they could even understand me.

The guy to my right started to get touchy. "Boss is gonna get a pretty penny with this one."

I slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me! Let me go!"

More hands started pawing at me, groping me and moving my dress to try and expose me to them as I struggled to get out of their hold. A hand gripped my hair at the back of my head, pulling my head back to expose my neck while one of their mouths bit the side of my neck making me screw my eyes shut and scream out in pain.

I did the one thing I knew I could to hurt them. I brought my knee up with all of the force I could muster and kneed the man in front of me in his balls. With my free arm, I closed my fist and punched the one to my left in his dick. He released my neck from his mouth as they both fell to the ground, clutching at themselves as they groaned in pain. The other one to my right let go of my chest and looked down at his friends, confused as to why they were suddenly on the floor. I quick brought my foot up and used the heal of my stiletto to kick him in his balls, dropping him to the floor too.

I sprinted as best as I could to the door, unlocking the latch and pulling it open. The moment the door was cracked I screamed. 

"Declan!"

A hand clamped down over my mouth before I could yell for him again. I was dragged away from the door by the other two as my arms were forced back behind me and my wrists zip tied together. I bit down on the fingers that covered my mouth. He pulled his hand away, hissing out in pain.

"Declan!" I screamed again, thrashing as violently as I could in their grip. My head snapped to the side and I felt the biting sting on my cheek from being slapped.

"That little fucker isn't coming for you." The one who slapped me growled, grabbing my hair at the top of my head so that I was looking up at him through the tears in my eyes. His closed fist came up to my face making me flinch, thinking he was about to hit me. Instead, he looked down at his wrist watch. "He should be dead by now." He laughed, his hand moving down to unzip his pants, a disgusting smile on his face.

"No," I gasped, hot tears falling down my cheeks. Dead? Oh God, no he can't be dead! I could feel my heart tearing further apart with every beat making it hard for me to breathe. I sunk into their grasp, struggling to breath as the world stopped around me, the only thing I could do was cry as I imagined Declan bleeding out somewhere. I sobbed as they started to pull up my dress. 

"P-please stop!" I chocked. "Declan!"

The one in front of me grabbed my jaw, forcing his thumb and index finger in-between my teeth so that my mouth opened. "I've got something to occupy that mouth."

Before anything could happen, the door to the bathroom burst open, the wood of the door frame splintering. Through the tears in my eyes I could see two men dressed in waiters uniforms standing in shock at what they saw happening. 

They rush to the first two Russians, pulling them off of me and immediately knock them to the ground and start pummeling them. I fall to the cold tile floor, my face hitting off of it from having my hands tied behind me, the air knocked out of my lungs.

Opening my eyes, I instantly recognize one of the waiters as Ben. He smashes his closed fist into the Russians' face, breaking his nose on impact. I scrunch my face up at the wet sound of blood and breaking bone and force myself to start crawling as best as I can away from them.

Instead of trying to pull the two waiters off of his friends, the third Russian grabs my forearm and pulls me to my feet. I stumble in my heals, twisting my ankle as I fall into his chest. He chuckles, putting his arm around my waist and walks me towards the door.

"No, please!" I beg, kicking off my heals and fighting to get out of his grasp.

The moment he pulls the door open the tip of a suppressor is shoved in his face. A tall, athletic built man with shaggy brown hair that fell in front of his eyes forced his way inside making the Russian walk backwards until his back hits against the stalls.

"Giver her to me and your brains stay inside your skull." He threatened, pushing the gun harder into his skin.

"She's property of Anatoly." The Russian shot back.

"Do you not see the gun held to your face?" He questioned sarcastically.

"Fuck you, you stupid сука." He shot back, spitting in his face.

Scowling, he wiped his gloved fingers across his face to get the spit off of him. "Eh, your choice." 

I was pulled violently from the Russian into his chest and saw the gun recoil in his outstretched hand. Even with the suppressor the sound coming from the gun has my ears ringing making everything around me sound muffled.

The Russian who was standing in front of us had fallen to the floor, half of his skull was missing, revealing bloody brain matter while chunks of bloody flesh and bone was splattered on the walls and floor around him.

"Oh God," I muttered, feeling the contents of my stomach rise up.

"Let's go!" The one behind me yelled to Ben and the other. They stood from the half conscience bodies on the floor, pulling out balaclavas and tugged them on over their heads and drew their own firearms from their holsters under their suit jackets. They both cocked their guns, aimed and fired bullets into the skulls of the limp bodies.

Scrambling out into the hallway, we ran in the opposite direction of the crowd to one of the service elevators. Ben slammed his fist against the button while looking past us to make sure no one was coming.

"What about Declan?" I asked, sniffling back sobs. My whole body was shaking from the massive amounts of adrenaline that were coursing through me. The ringing in my ears finally was starting to dissipate. "They, they said he was dead."

The doors to the elevators opened and the three of them hurried inside, tugging me along with them. Ben immediately started pressing the button for the basement level then the button to close the doors. The other one who had remained silent this entire time reached up and used the butt of his gun to smash out the security camera in the corner of the elevator.

"But Declan, he-"

"Relax," the sarcastic one said. "He'll be fine. Oh, speaking of..." he held his middle finger to his ear. "Got her, bossman. She's safe. Ow, fuck!"

He reached up into his mask and fished out his earpiece. "Feedback," He said, looking between his two partners.

Feedback? His earpiece isn't working? Oh God, they were right.

"W-who the fuck are you guys?" I snapped, looking between the three of them.

"Introductions later, sweetheart." The sarcastic one pulled a pocket knife from his suit jacket, flicking his wrist so the blade swung open and easily cut the plastic around my wrists. My hands started to rub at the broken skin. "Don't know who's listening."

A loud ding chimed inside the elevator the moment the cart stopped. The doors opened to reveal the basement parking garage. The moment Ben stepped out of the elevator we were met with gunshots. I screamed as the silent one pulled me back behind him while the other two started shooting.

"Come on!" He yelled, pulling me by the wrist around the corner. Bullets landed in the concrete walls making dust fly into the air all around us as we ran. My bare feet were getting cut up from all of the tiny pebbles and debris as we ran through the parking garage.

Within a few moments, all of the gunshots stopped and we heard heavy footsteps coming our way. Looking back in a panic thinking it was the Russians, I saw the others running towards us.

"Let's go, let's go!" Ben yelled, pulling out keys from his pocket and pressing a button. The lights of a large, black SUV flashed by us. It was Declan's 4Runner.

The quiet one tugged open the door and without hesitation I jumped inside, moving across the back seat to let him inside. The others climbed in the front, Ben in the drivers seat and the sarcastic one in the passenger seat.

More gunshots erupted from outside hitting the cars around us. We all ducked, covering our heads as Ben floored it out of the parking spot. He cut the turn too sharp and scraped the side of the SUV against the car that was parked next to him making its alarms blare. The sound of screeching tires and gunfire echoed through the parking garage until we made it out onto the main road. Ben swerved around traffic, ignoring red lights and the other cars around him.

"Bossman's gonna have your ass for that one," The sarcastic one laughed, tugging off his mask and running his hands through his hair. He turned back to me and put out his hand. "Now we can get back to introductions. Name's Noah."

Arching a brow at how cocky this guy was, I slowly took his hand. "Pleasure to finally meet you." He said, flashing a toothy grin.

The quiet one took off his mask and used it to whip Noah in the face. "Lecher." He chided Noah. Noah glared back at him before turning around in his seat, pulling out his phone. 

"I'm Paul." He said, turning to face me. His eyes were a striking blue color, his disheveled hair a dirty blonde color. Paul took his gloves from his hands revealing colorful tattoos before he too took out his phone.

"So you're his lap dogs?" I questioned.

Noah scoffed, looking over to Ben. "Didn't we just save her?" He asked, using his thumb to point back at me. He turned to look at me, a disbelieving look on his face. "Didn't we just save you and you're gonna call us lap dogs?"

"Where are you taking me? Where's Declan? Th-they said he'd dead, that they killed him." I could feel the tears welling in my eyes. I clenched my dress in my fists to try and calm myself but I was already starting to hyperventilate. "Please, tell me he's alive!"

Paul put his hand on my fist to calm me. My head snapped in his direction, recoiling from his touch. He could see how hysterical I was getting and gave a tight lipped smile. "He's alive. They separated you two so they could kidnap you and kill him. He had us protecting you tonight, he said he could take care of himself. We're taking you to him now."

I let out a shaky sob, my heart swelling inside my chest.

-----------------------------------------------

Oooo, Scarlett has got it bad. No more explaining away her feelings for Declan now. 

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