Defending Him

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CHAPTER 19

As soon as Ryker was done with the call, he turned to Arsenio. The latter was calmly drinking wine as he sat on a chair, legs crossed. His posture made him look majestic and elegant as always.

"I'm all ears," Arsenio hinted Ryker to speak.

"Ahem. She has accepted to work for you. I told her where we would meet to finalise everything," Ryker informed him.

"Hmm," Arsenio sounded. He gently twirled the glass in his hands making the content in it, spin.

"And what about the contract?" He asked.

"It's ready."

"Hmm."

Ryker took a few seconds to look at Arsenio. He was trying to read him but got nothing. So he served himself a glass of wine and sat down.

"Say, Arsenio. What do you have in store for that girl? Do not tell me you want to make her your personal maid or, do you?" Ryker asked out of curiosity.

"What is bad with being my personal maid?" Arsenio questioned back with raised brows.

"Nothing. But are you really going to–"

"She won't be my maid," Arsenio said after gulping down the remaining content of wine in the glass.

'I can't make her go everywhere with me if she is just a maid,' he thought.

"Then what will she be?"

"Ryker, we have work to do tomorrow. I'm going to rest," Arsenio avoided his question and left the room.

****

Meanwhile, Scarlett found herself seated opposite her brother who had the business card Ryker gave to her.

Kayden had been passing by when he heard Scarlett on the phone about agreeing to something. So he curiously stayed to find out.

"So, you met Arsenio today?' Kayden inquired.

Scarlett sighed and nodded. Seeing this, Kayden thought for a while before speaking again.

"What happened that you guys met again? Don't tell me you were also in trouble or something."

Scarlett shrunk a bit on the chair. "You know how I said I was chasing Uncle Mark?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, it did not just end with me losing sight of him. I saw something I was not supposed to. Some men were beating a man. He was almost dead if not dead already," she told.

"What?" Kayden questioned with shock.

"I chased uncle Mark to an alley. That's where I saw them. The way they talked about silencing any witness of the murder, they must be either from a gang of loan sharks. Anyway, Arsenio happened to be around the area I ran into. So he helped," she shrugged.

"Sigh. You really need to be careful when you go out Scarlett. I can't risk losing you too," Kayden said with a sigh.

"I know. But it is not like I love having trouble come my way. Well, at least I was not killed this time because Arsenio was there," she said.

"Speaking of Arsenio, why is it that he appears every time you get into trouble? It makes me wonder if he has something to do with them," Kayden reasoned with a frown.

"Hey, don't speak badly about my saviour. He has nothing to do with anything. I am sure of it," Scarlett defended him.

Kayden cocked a brow at her. "You are already defending him?"

"Why not?"

"Why are you with his business card? Did he offer you a job? Why?" Kayden fired a series of questions at her.

"Hey hold up. This is not a police station where people get interrogated, okay?" Scarlett put her hands up for him to stop.

"I know it's not I just want to know why he is doing all this."

"I don't know. Maybe because he has a good heart or–"

"Because he is interested in you," Kayden cut in.

"Pfft. That's not possible. I'm not his type," Scarlett swatted her hand at him and laughed it off.

"What makes you think that? You are beautiful. You basically have everything a man wants in a woman," Kayden listed.

Scarlett pouted and glared at him. "There you go again with your sweet talks, Ayden. Tsk."

"I am being serious."

"That's not it trusts me. He said so himself. Well, he gave me that card because he wants me to work for him as compensation for helping me," Scarlett said.

"In return for helping you? I thought he said he is not like that?" Kayden frowned.

"When did he say that?"

"You were drunk so had no idea. But when I confronted him about it, he said he was not like that," Kayden replied.

"I know he is not bad, Ayden. My guts tell me so. Just let me go to that appointment tomorrow and see how it goes, okay?" Scarlett pleaded.

"Alright fine. I'll let you go. But I'll drop you at the location and pick you up. At least for safety's sake," Kayden agreed after a little thought.

"Thank you. You are the best brother in the whole wide world," Scarlett praised him with a big smile.

Kayden chuckled and went to pat her head. "Just make sure to be careful from now on okay?"

"I will," Scarlett nodded.

"Alright, I'm off," Kayden said before leaving the room, locking the door behind him.

~The next day~

Scarlett got prepared early so as not to get to the restaurant late. She was dressed in a simple green dress with a black trench coat over it.

She matched her clothes with a pair of black flats and a purse. As usual, she left her red hair fall in waves down her shoulder and midback.

As agreed, Kayden drove her to the restaurant and left, promising to come back for her when she was done. Scarlett took deep breaths before proceeding into the restaurant.

It was a high-class restaurant as she had suspected it to be. Someone as elegant and rich as Arsenio will not dine anywhere shabby.

As soon as she stepped in, a waiter dressed in black and white with a white towel hanging on his arm approached her. He had a kind and polite smile on his face.

"Good morning, Miss. Welcome to Golden Foods. Do you have a reservation with us already or do ypu need a table?" The waiter asked.

"Uhm, I have a reservation under the name, Mr Stone," Scarlett replied to him.

"Oh, very well then. Please follow me. This way."

"After you."

Scarlett walked behind the waiter to the place where she would be meeting with Arsenio and Mr Jones. On their way, she did not fail to take in the beautiful interior of the restaurant.

She was impressed by the architectural work done and she has to say that Arsenio had good tastes in places.

"This is the booth under Mr Stone's name," the waiter's voice called Scarlett's attention.

"Oh, thank you very much for your guidance," Scarlett thanked him.

The waiter smiled and nodded before knocking on the door and pushing it open. He held the door for her to step in.

Scarlett thanked him once again. As soon as she was in, her eyes met with two men already seated in the room.

"Good morning, Mr Stone, Mr Jones," she greeted.

"Good morning, Ms Scarlett. Please have a seat."

It was Ryker who answered her while Arsenio checked the time. He nodded a hit as he was satisfied with Scarlett's timeliness. She arrived a minute before the appointed time.

"So should we proceed to the order of the day or should we have something to eat first?" Ryker asked.

"Let's eat first," Arsenio answered.

"Okay," Ryker nodded and then called for the waiter.