"Hold on." Carlos stopped the man from speaking and adjusted himself in his seat dramatically. "Don't mind me. I thought you just asked me to marry the ticking time bomb."
Farren narrowed his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic."
"I just want a clear explanation, that's all."
Gordon grabbed Kara's picture viciously, glaring at his nephew for feigning ignorance. "In case you have forgotten, you are a member of the Aubert family too."
Carlos smiled when he understood his implication. The men thought Kara would let them off if she became a member of the Aubert family. However, they didn't know what Kara was capable of. The woman would hack her father to death if he was still alive for what he did to her mother, let alone the Aubert family for killing the only person she cared about.
However, he was not going to be the one to enlighten them. He stood up. "I'll let her know that you think she's a potential granddaughter-in-law of the Aubert family. If she says yes…"
"She will if you do it right." Gordon interjected, his meaning clear. There was no way she would completely reject him if he seduced her. And if that didn't work, he could use other means. Namely, coercion.
He walked out the door and slammed it shut behind him, barely hearing Gordon swearing as soon as he was out of the room. The man couldn't wait to shove a knife into his chest and wished he had the chance.
___
When Kara got home, she changed out of her gown and into leggings and a t-shirt, then she met up with Ash and Shera for a drink.
"Ok, this is making me nervous." Ash whimpered. Kara had sent them messages out of the blue and asked them to meet in the café down the street.
"You didn't bomb down L'Onyx, did you?" Shera leaned over the table to ask in a dramatic, low voice. "Don't worry if you did. La Rose Noire will make sure no one traces it back to you."
"I don't need that…yet. Thanks." Kara sipped her cappuccino with a smile. Shera ran a syndicate she no longer felt the need to keep secret, and could basically clean up evidence of any crime.
"Mark works for the Aubert family." She broke the news anxiously. "Do you know what that means? They freaking didn't leave me alone even after I promised to stay away from them."
Shera's brows furrowed. "It was not a good idea to let them off."
"Thanks for not saying 'I told you'." Kara slumped back into her chair, but Shera's gaze let her know that she was rejoicing too early.
"I told you, Kara. They hurt you. They knew that they hurt you and that you wanted to go after them for revenge. Backing out without an actual agreement would do nothing but put you in their line of fire!"
"I know, okay?" Kara grabbed at her hair in frustration. "I didn't actually want to hurt anyone. I was just bitter about the past."
She pushed her cup around, looking down into her drink with her eyes drooped. She had never taken pleasure in hurting anyone. She was just angry that she had been left alone in the world when she didn't deserve it. Her aunt didn't deserve having her heart taken out either and the culprits didn't deserve to be happy. But when she reunited with her mother, all she wanted was to protect her.
"I get it. I really do." Shera patted her hand. "However, they are after you now and you can no longer keep the peace."
"Shit!" Ash cursed out of the blue, banging the table in the process and sending the drinks sloshing.
"Ashley, I have no desire to get scalded." Shera glared at her at the brink of losing her patience.
"Sorry, boss. Just…" She pushed her chair even closer to the table so she wouldn't need to be loud. "Kara, do you remember what I told you about a woman who paid Ms. Willaims a visit in the name of looking for you?" She asked.
"What about her?" Kara had a bad feeling.
"I remember her." Ash cracked her knuckles. "I saw her beside Vivette six years ago."
Kara shook her head. "How many women were beside Vivette at some point six years ago?"
Vivette was a rival of La Rose Noire in the past and had lost her life in a wild fight six years ago.
Ash scratched her head. "We all know her. I just can't remember who she really is. She's a doctor. Tall, ginger hair…"
"Lana Aubert." Kara gritted her teeth, finally making sense of Ash's description.
So this was her doing all along.
"I should have killed her when I had the chance."
Her phone rang. When she saw that Carlos was calling, she was infuriated. "What do you want from me? Are you after my life like your family is?" She snapped.
Some of the few other patrons looked over, prompting her to lower her voice.
"Do you want my life too?"
"Why are you so salty? I just want to have a word with you." Carlos responded. "Can you make it to Scarlet bar right now?"
"I'm out with my friends. Not coming." She pulled the phone away from her ear to hang up, but not before hearing his last words.
"It's important. I'll wait for you."
She ended the call and returned her gaze to her friends.
"It must be about Lana." She shoved her phone back into her purse.
"You should meet up with him. You know, just to be certain what it's about." Ash stated.
"The last person I want to see right now is an Aubert." She admitted. She couldn't promise to keep herself from ending his life out of anger for his family.
So when she finished her drink, she parted ways with her friends and buried herself into bed as soon as she got back to her apartment.
When her phone rang within what felt like only a few hours of sleeping, she groaned in fury.
"It's my day off." She growled into the phone, seeing that the caller was Cleo.
"Dr. Williams…" Cleo sounded out of breath. "Dr. Aubert just got to the hospital a while ago."
"Of course he got there, Cleo. He works in the damn hospital!"
"No…" Cleo's voice trembled. "In an ambulance. I think he was shot."
She sat up in shock. "What?"