The Devil’s Mansion

Chapter 2:

The Devil’s Mansion:

Scarlett stared at Damien's outstretched hand like it was a snake ready to strike. His fingers were long and elegant.

"I can get out myself," she said, ignoring his hand completely.

She pushed past him, deliberately knocking his arm away as she climbed out of the car. Her wedding dress caught briefly on the door frame, and she yanked it free with more force than necessary. The expensive fabric tore slightly, but she didn't care. She'd rather burn the whole dress than let it remind her of this nightmare she was facing.

Damien stepped back, watching her with those dark eyes. He didn't seem angry that she'd brushed him off. If anything, he looked amused.

"Fiesty one, I like that," he said, straightening his suit jacket. "Most women would be crying by now."

"I'm not most women." She fired back.

"No, you're not." He started walking toward the mansion's entrance. "Come along, sweetheart. Let's get you settled in."

Scarlett fell into step behind him, her heels clicking on the stone driveway. She kept her head down, pretending to be the obedient captive while her eyes scanned everything around her. The circular driveway. The perfectly trimmed hedges. The distance to the iron gates.

Most importantly, she was looking for guards and security cameras. Anything that would make her escape difficult.

She didn't see any guards at all. The property looked empty except for them and the driver, who was already getting back into the car. Maybe Damien was overconfident. Maybe he thought his money, command and reputation were enough to keep people in line.

Well, he was about to learn differently.

They were halfway to the front door when Scarlett made her move. She hiked up her wedding dress with both hands, bunching the heavy fabric around her waist.

"What are you doing?" Damien asked, turning to look at her.

Instead of answering, Scarlett spun around and ran as fast as she could.

Her legs pumped hard as she sprinted across the manicured lawn. The wedding dress billowed behind her like wings, but she didn't let it slow her down. Years of track and field training kicked in automatically. Her breathing stayed controlled. Her stride stayed long and powerful.

She'd been the national high school champion in the 400-meter hurdles three years running. She'd won gold medals at state competitions. She'd gotten a full scholarship to college based on her speed alone which her father had rejected and told them to their face that he wasn't poor.

Damien Blackwood was about to find out that he was messing with the wrong girl.

The iron gates looked closer with every step. Fifty yards, forty, thirty. She could see the mechanism that controlled them. If she could just reach the manual override...

Twenty yards.

Men ran from behind her and overtook her in front which made Scarlett stumbled, her heart slamming against her ribs. Where had they come from? She'd looked everywhere and was sure there was no one.

More men came to join the ones blocking the gates. Big men in dark suits with earpieces and the kind of builds that came from years of serious training. They didn't run toward her or shout at her once they stood in front of her. They just stood there, blocking every possible exit, their faces blank and professional.

She counted 20 of them. All positioned perfectly to cut off any escape route. All waiting patiently like this happened every day.

Scarlett spun in a circle, looking for any gap she could squeeze through. But they had her surrounded completely.

"Going somewhere?"

Damien's voice came from right behind her. She whirled around to find him walking across the lawn at a leisurely pace, his hands in his pockets like he was taking an evening stroll. He wasn't even breathing hard and he look so damn fine. Insane monster.

"How did you know..." She looked back at his guards, then at him. "They came out of nowhere."

"Did they?" He stopped a few feet away from her, close enough that she could see the gold flecks in his dark eyes.

"I looked everywhere. There was no one." She insisted.

"There's always guards here, sweetheart. You just have to know where to hide them and use them for surprises."

Scarlett's chest rose and fell rapidly. Her carefully planned escape had lasted less than two minutes. These hidden men had been watching her from the moment she got out of the car, probably laughing at her as she thought she was being clever.

"Impressive run, though," Damien continued, circling her slowly like a predator studying its prey. "I'd guess you were an athlete. Track and field, maybe? You've got the build for it. Strong legs and good lung capacity."

She didn't answer. She was too busy trying to figure out her next move. The guards were still in position, but they weren't crowding her. Maybe if she feinted left and then broke right...

"I wouldn't," Damien said as if he had just read her thoughts effortlessly. "Marcus might have been too soft to handle you, but I'm not Marcus."

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know you're fast. I know you're smart enough to look around before you run. I know you're brave enough when you slap a man twice your size." His smile was sharp and cold. "And I know you're foolish enough to think you can outrun men who hunt people for a living."

"Hunt people?"

"What did you think they were, landscapers? Corporate security?" He laughed, and the sound made her skin crawl. "Sweetheart, you just tried to escape from one of the most dangerous men in this city using skills you learned in high school. Did you really think it was going to be that easy? You can outrun my men not to talk about me."

The reality of her situation hit her like a physical blow. This wasn't some rich businessman with an ego problem. This was something much worse. The kind of man who had professional hunters on his payroll. The kind of man who made people disappear from the surface of the earth. He is handsome but wicked at heart.

"What do you want from me?" she whispered.

"Right now? I want you to walk back into my house like a good girl and sit down while I decide what to do with you." He stepped closer, and she caught his scent again. "Because you've got two choices, Scarlett. You can come willingly, or my men can carry you. Either way, you're going inside."

She looked around at the guards again. They hadn't moved, but she could feel their attention on her like a weight, very professional, patient and waiting for orders.

"How do you know my name and my ex fiance's name?" She asked now that she recalled him calling Marcus name.

"I know a lot of things sweetheart. Your full name is Scarlett Rose Martinez. You're twenty-three years old. You graduated from Stanford with a degree in art history that your father thought was useless. You are very good at sports which also is useless to your father. You've been engaged to Marcus Wellington III for eight months, and today was supposed to be the wedding of the year between both families." His smile widened. "Should I keep going sweetheart?"

Her blood went cold. "You've been watching me."

"I've been watching everyone, sweetheart. Information is power, and power is survival. The question is, what am I going to do with you?"

"Let me go, please. I won't tell anyone about this. I'll disappear, I entered your car by mistake. You'll never see me again I swear."

"Disappear to where? With what money? Your father cut off your credit cards the moment you left that church. Marcus's family is already talking about suing you for emotional distress and breach of contract and the airport in the city has been surrounded by his men. You've got nowhere to run and no way to disappear sweetheart."

He was right, and they both knew it. Her escape plan had been built on desperation and hope, not actual resources. Maya's help would only go so far, and after this disaster, she doubts even her best friend might not want to get involved now.

"So what happens now? I mean to me?" she asked.

"Now you stop running and start listening to me. Because like it or not, I'm the only thing standing between you and a very angry pack of wolves." He turned toward the house, clearly expecting her to follow. "Coming?"

Scarlett looked one more time at the guards, at the gates, at the world beyond this prison disguised as paradise. Then she looked at Damien Blackwood walking away from her like he owned her already.

She followed him toward the mansion, her wedding dress dragging behind her in defeat. But inside her head, she was already planning her next move. This wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

She'd just learned the rules of his game and escaped but before then, she could use him against her father and Marcus since he claims he is powerful.