Page 54 of Fighting for Scarlett

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up outside Prey, and he paid the driver and then headed inside. Standing in the lobby was none other than Eagle Oswald himself. With his jet-black hair, piercing blue eyes, expensive suit, and confident posture the man looked every bit the legend he was.

“Laurier,” Eagle said in way of greeting, gesturing for him to follow him into a quiet conference room just off the lobby. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

There was no way Eagle didn't know about the dead bodies left behind just down the street from Scarlett’s house. Or that his own place had been shot up. The billionaire didn't look surprised to see him there, so he knew exactly why Tate had come.

Scarlett.

“Was I wrong about you, Laurier?” Eagle asked, a taunting lilt to his tone.

“Wrong about me?”

“When I requested your team go in after Scarlett.”

“You requested us?” He had assumed they were just assigned that op because they were the only available team, not that they had been a special request. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I needed someone who cared to go after her. I couldn’t risk her being hurt and I knew you would make sure she was safe even if you thought she was a traitor.”

“How could you know that?” He had never spoken to a single person about his night with Scarlett.

“You ran a search on her a few months back, right before Halloween. Any time someone searches one of my employees I'm notified. I assumed it was because of a romantic interest so I did a little digging into your background. I don’t know why nothing ever happened between you two and I don’t care, but when I needed someone I trusted, I asked for you. Was I wrong? Should you bring her in so I can assign someone else to look after her?”

Why did Tate get the feeling the man was playing matchmaker?

And why did the thought of anyone but himself protecting Scarlett fill him with a deep protective rage he’d never felt toward another person?

“I can keep her safe,” he replied and was rewarded with a smile as Eagle’s posture relaxed. “Wait, you said you needed someone who would keep her safe even if they thought she was a traitor. You never doubted her. How can you be so sure she’s innocent?” As far as he was concerned, everyone at Prey was a suspect except Eagle. There was no need for him to sell anything, he was richer than Raul Castillo could ever hope to be. Still, he wondered how the man was so sure.

“Because we only released part of the evidence,” Eagle replied, pulling out a chair at the table and gesturing that Tate should join him. “More than one email was uncovered. Whoever wrote them slipped up. One out of the six emails wasn’t signed with Scarlett’s name, it was one of the other women on her team.”

“So, Scarlett didn't write those emails.” Tate waited for the wave of relief to hit having verifiable proof that Scarlett was innocent, but it didn't come. Somewhere along the way, he had come to the conclusion on his own. He’d known it, felt it, understood it even when he didn't realize that he did.

“I'd confirm that, but you sound like you already believed it anyway,” Eagle said with a grin, before sobering. “We knew it wasn’t Scarlett, but then she was kidnapped, and I knew that if I released everything I had, it would be tipping my hand, putting her and the rest of her team in more danger. Whoever set her up wasn’t targeting her specifically. I believe there were emails “written” from all of the women, so whoever they ended up going after could be framed. The timing of us finding those emails suggests we were supposed to find them, supposed to believe Scarlett was guilty so we wouldn’t be looking anywhere else.”

The same conclusions he’d come to himself even without knowing there were emails in one of the other women’s names.

“I have a mole in my company,” Eagle said, tone gone dark and cold. “I won't tolerate that. I needed to keep that evidence under wraps because I need whoever really wrote those emails to think they worked. They would have been suspicious if we immediately turned on Scarlett, so I've played everything as though we believe in her, because we do, but that we’re also bringing in outside help so nobody can accuse us of covering anything up. We need to keep the mole content. So long as they think the focus is still on Scarlett, they’ll become complacent and I can flush them out. When I do, I’ll make them wish they never thought of hurting one of my people.”

Tate liked that Eagle’s main priority was on the people who worked for him and not his company’s reputation.

“What do you need me to do?”

“I need to know that Scarlett is safe and being protected. I'm trusting you with her life, Laurier, and I think possibly with her heart. Don’t make me regret it.”

The threat hung in the air between them, and Tate wished he could say that Scarlett would walk away with her heart intact, but the truth was, he wasn’t sure either of them were going to.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

January 16th

5:11 P.M.

How could he do this to her?

Locking her up like she was a prisoner.

Scarlett was fuming as she circled the room in another futile attempt to find a way out.

Tate had lied to her.

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