Page 14 of Fighting for Scarlett

It wasn’t because she was in shock or panicking because of a lack of field experience.

It was because she couldn’t move.

Someone had tied a large rock to her leg. It was too big for her to pull around with her which meant she was stuck there.

For a moment Tate faltered.

Why was she outside, naked, by the pool with a rock tied to her leg?

Made no sense.

There would have been no time for Raul to organize for her to be disposed of and get himself onto a helo if they'd set off a sensor.

Which meant he had already been planning on disposing of her.

Had she been double-crossed?

Would serve her right if she’d given her intel to Raul, and he had promptly decided to be done with her.

“Scarlett,” he called her name as he got closer.

Immediately, her head whipped around in his direction. Was he mistaken or was that relief on her face as she spotted him sprinting toward her?

Before he could examine her expression, she cried out, and the next thing he knew, she was falling into the pool. The weight of her body falling was enough to drag the rock, which as he was closer now, he could see had been balancing right on the edge of the pool, down with her.

Water splashed everywhere as Scarlett thrashed, but she was weighed down with her head beneath the surface.

Drowning.

She was drowning.

Unless he got her out, she’d die.

“Oh no, you don’t,” he muttered as he reached the pool and dived into the water after her. Scarlett didn't get to die now. She was going to stand and face justice and suffer the consequences of her actions.

As soon as he reached her, Scarlett began to grab at him. For a moment Tate thought she was trying to shove him away as though that would somehow stop him from getting to her, but he quickly realized she was panicking and thought he was her savior.

Not your savior, sweetheart, not even close.

I'm about to become your worst nightmare.

I won't stop until I make sure that justice prevails and you’re punished for what you did.

Unable to do anything with Scarlett panicking like that, he moved behind her, locked her arms to her sides as he wrapped one of his own around her chest and pressed her against his body. Then, with his free hand, he pulled out his knife and sliced through the rope attaching the rock to her leg.

With Scarlett free, he swam them both back to the surface then lifted her up and onto the tiles, keeping a hand on her as he pulled himself out in case she decided to try something stupid and make a run for it now that she was free.

But that wasn’t what she did.

The opposite in fact.

Water streamed down off both of them as Scarlett threw herself into his arms, wrapping herself around him as though she were a small child who’d had a nightmare and needed to be comforted.

Automatically, his arms wrapped around her, and that was when he noticed. Her back was littered with raw, open wounds. There were bruises on her pale skin as well, and her wrists and ankles were also covered in open wounds.

Looked like she had been tortured.

But that made zero sense.

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