0.32

"i told you. i've done my part, moriah. finish yours."

drip... drip... drip...

moriah sighed. "marlene, i will but—"

"it's mrs. pierce to you," marlene sneered. "where are young people's respect these days?"

"mrs. pierce, please ma'am, just listen to me," begged moriah. "scarlett hasn't given us any further instructions until—"

footsteps stomped down the stairs, revealing the redheaded woman. "what's the hold up? i'm here now."

"the hold up? it's your awful planning, that's what," marlene shot back. "you ask me to bring that girl here and don't even instruct what to do after."

scarlett rolled her eyes. "oh please, i know exactly what i'm doing. let me be."

"i'll let you be once i get my payment," marlene hissed.

the zip of a jacket rang out into the stale air along with the unzipping of a wallet. papers ruffled against each other while getting torn from the wallet.

"fine. is this enough?"

silence.

"personally, i would've paid more but.. this is fine," marlene responded.

silence.

"can i get a thank you?"

"bye, scarlett. you're pushing it."

and just like that, gwendolyn heard marlene leave the room she was in.

gwen pushed her body up against the cold concrete, arms trembling under her body against the pressure.

her eyes scanned around the room she found herself captive in. exposed wooden beams stretched across the ceiling, cobwebs resting in each corner possibly with dust and grime covering the floor.

what kind of dusty ass basement—

"you're awake," scarlett smiled. "are you alright?"

gwen blinked. "huh?"

"i said," scarlett repeated, "are you alright? the drugs still must be in your system."

"there are no drugs in my system, scarlett. i'm wondering why you're asking me such a stupid question; that's all."

scarlett flipped her hair over her shoulder. "just looking over my friend, that's it."

"what kind of friend kidnaps people?" gwendolyn sneered.

"ones that want to keep you safe," scarlett hissed. she inched closer to gwendolyn, kneeling in front of her on the ground. "it's for your own good."

gwendolyn looked right into scarlett's ice-blue eyes. eyes that held more than what she was telling her. "what... what are you planning to do?"

a big grin stretched across scarlett's pink lips. "that's the thing gwen, my pretty. you're a big part of this plan of mine. just wait."

scarlett's unfamiliar fingers gripped gwendolyn's chin. "karla won't know what hit her."

"get off of me!" shouted gwen, yanking her head back. "d-don't touch me like that!"

"fine then," scarlett frowned. "you won't be seeing her any longer, get over it."

gwendolyn shook her head. "i knew there was something going on between you two, but i thought you at least could tolerate each—"

"please, you're more innocent and stupid than i thought," scarlett sneered. "everything i do is for a reason, don't you get that?"

"even talking to me when we worked at the flower shop together?" gwendolyn murmured.

"listen, gwendolyn. remember when i said you'd probably not find yourself in a situation like this?"

gwendolyn felt her heart grow cold.

"sorry, i lied."

and her red-headed "friend" slammed her fist right across her face.

"ezra, you've got to be fucking with me."

ezra sighed, rubbing his eyebrows. "it's been almost 24 hours, karla. and we've already established the fact that your own mother took part in this."

"damn it," karla huffed under her breath. "it's my fault. i knew better than holding hope that my mother wanted things to change."

"karla, its not. you're her daughter; you can't help but want to be loved by her," erza explained. "we've got to focus on finding gwendolyn, that's it."

it should've never happened in the first place, karla bitterly thought.

under her instructions, both cj and moriah had been dismissed under "uncertain" circumstances; although based on what gwendolyn had told her—karla completely knew why she had fired them.

and she knew they both had a role bigger than what it appeared to be.

"ezra," karla started. "remember odette? the lady that had been taking millions from us?"

"of course i do. how could i forget something like that?" ezra responded.

"bring her files back to me. i'd like to take a closer look."

from what she had remembered, odette seemed to be a powerful woman who slid into any security precautions taken; even after karla continuously refined and changed them.

breaking the rules that only her right hand would know.

"i get it now," karla sighed. "it's scarlett." the woman looked down at the engraved flower ring resting on her finger, the shining gem piercing right into her eyes. "she has her."

"but where?" ezra asked.

"cameras are everywhere, ezra. hack into them and find where she could be," karla instructed. "i've got to worry about what i'll do to scarlett."

ezra nodded and left the room with a slam of the door.

leaving karla with a mind of her own.

🥀 ONE YEAR AGO... 🥀

"scarlett."

"yeah?"

"i can't keep on doing this anymore," karla whispered.

scarlett moved her dark brown hair out of her face. "what... what are you talking about, karla?"

"this whole 'relationship' of ours, i can't be doing all this stuff without a title anymore."

"but we had an agreement, karla!" scarlett shouted, lifting her whole body from the bed. "i thought you wanted things to be this way?"

karla shook her head. "i've never said how i wanted things to be, scarlett. i only wanted to do this for one night."

"then why all this? i thought you loved me." scarlett frowned.

"scarlett, i don't love you."

"but you said—"

"i have never said i loved you, scarlett." karla narrowed her eyes, standing up from the bed.

"i kept on doing this because eventually, i thought you would realize this isn't real love."

"i kept on doing this because i thought somewhere in my heart i could eventually say i love you."

karla gave an exasperated sigh. "we have to stop. i-i can't keep on doing this to you. i'm sorry."

and she left.

scarlett's heart shattered into individual pieces,

but more importantly;

she despised karla, her first love.

┈┈┈┈․°🌹°․┈┈┈┈
hey y'all 👋🏾

what's your thoughts on karla and scarlett's relationship?

ik this chapter is short and there was no gwen x karla interactions, but they'll be back together 😊(eventually)

what do you think will happen next?

- blushlily💋