Chapter 195: What If I Lose?
Fortunately, the light was dim, and under cover of night, she became a little braver, so she leaned forward and had her hands against his chair and asked, “Well, speaking of that, I gotta find that out. If you dare to lie…”
However, before she finished what she tried to say, Francis just pulled her into his arms and began kissing her deeply. Scarlett stayed in his arms. She sat on his thighs and kissed him back passionately, holding his face in her hands.
Realizing that Carlos was right there looking at them, Scarlett blushed with shyness.
Carlos was very calm, he just rubbed his sleepy eyes and said, “Mommy, sleep.”
It was already dark outside, and it was eight o’clock, the time of his bedtime.
Scarlett held him up and kissed his cheek and said, “My sweetheart, let’s go to sleep. If you want to sleep now, just sleep in my arms, okay?”
Carlos had his head on her shoulder and rubbed his tired eyes. And then Francis said, “Let me take him. He is very heavy now!
“No, no matter how heavy he is, I would like to hold him by myself.” Scarlett refused.
Carlos had already fallen asleep when they arrived at the hotel and stayed in his father’s arms. He had even started snoring.
***
Because of a meeting she had scheduled a long time ago with her professor, Scarlett was not able to see Francis and Carlos off at the airport. Still, Scarlett felt that last night’s steamy tryst had been a fitting goodbye to Francis. Although she had been a little bit shocked when Francis told her that he hadn’t used a condom when they had had sex earlier, Scarlett hardly had time to fixate on it right then. She just hoped that it would all be okay. With regards to Carlos, however, Scarlett felt a sense of deep guilt. What kind of mother was she anyway?
In the middle of the conversation with her professor, Scarlett felt her phone vibrating wildly in her pocket. She smiled apologetically and turned her phone off. The call was from none other than Eve.
When Eve couldn’t reach Scarlett, she felt very annoyed. “She might be very busy now because it seems she has no time to pick up my call.” Eve grit her teeth but tried to keep a pleasant expression on her face despite her irritation.
“Oh, that’s okay. I can wait.” The guest pulled a chair out and sat down. His men dispersed to guard every corner. The unexpected visitors were Elijah and his multiple henchmen.
Once Scarlett finally was done with her conversation with her professor, she called Eve back.
“What’s the matter? What happened? Sorry, I couldn’t take your call earlier… I thought I mentioned that I had a meeting this morning with my prof… Anyway, what’s up?” Scarlett asked on the phone.
“Do you know someone called Elijah? He is waiting for you at the restaurant.” Eve said concisely.
Scarlett rushed to jump into her car. With that, she hurried to the restaurant.
When she arrived, the tension in the restaurant was not as she expected; instead, Eve and Elijah were talking and laughing while seated at a simple wooden table.
“Mr. Cotton, what brings you here?” Scarlett wondered.
“Please, call me Elijah.”
Scarlett smiled, but she knew he was not a simple man, so she had to be very careful in dealing with him.
“Have you been waiting here for a long time? Is there anything I can do for you?” Scarlett said as she sat down next to Eve.
Elijah was satisfied with Scarlett’s attitude and smiled, “Well, I wouldn’t come to you if I hadn’t something to ask of you. I’ve come here to cut a deal with you.”
What kind of deal could she make with a black-market arms and ammunition dealer? How ridiculous it sounded!
Eve grabbed her hand and smiled, “She is just a student, what could she possibly do for you? If you really want to talk about a business deal, why don’t you talk to me? I’m very interested in doing business.”
Elijah just chuckled, and with one hand on the table, he pointed at Scarlett, “She can race cars like a pro, can you do that, too?”
“No, I can’t, but I can help you find a better driver if you want. My network is quite large and impressive, if I may say so myself.” Eve smiled.
“I just want to make this deal with Scarlett. Certainly, you can listen here because your interests are involved in this.” He said as he shook his head.
“Racing cars is too dangerous, and I don’t want to take that risk!” Scarlett said.
Elijah narrowed his eyes at them as if countless guns were pointing against them. Eve felt kind of horrified, and her trembling hand grasped Scarlett’s hand tightly.
“I have done a little research about you, and I learned that you have a child in America.” Elijah smiled.
Showing no fear, Scarlett folded her arms across her chest and said, “Well, if you use my kid to threaten me, I have to admit that I have misjudged you!”
“Oh? What do you think of me?” Elijah leaned forward with his hands clasped; obviously, he was very interested in knowing what Scarlett thought she knew about him.
“You are a famous man, and you won’t degrade yourself by using such a dirty trick. What’s more, you just want me to race cars. And it’s not a big deal to me.”Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.
Eve stared at her with widened eyes, trying to stop her from being impulsive.
Elijah waved his hand to one of his men, giving a sign to him to take Eve away,
“Find a place for Miss Crawford to take some rest. I want to talk with Miss Scarlett alone.”
Under the pressure of his bodyguard, Eve just walked away reluctantly. But before she left, she whispered to Scarlett, “Don’t be impulsive! Remember what I said earlier!”
Scarlett just nodded to assure her that she understood her.
“The deal is very simple. You race for me, and I promise you that your restaurant will do very well in the future!” He made his point very clearly.
“What if I lose?” Scarlett asked.
“You won’t!” he said confidently and hopefully.
“Why do you have such confidence in me?” Scarlett asked.
“Because I’ve only lost once in my whole life when it comes to racing. And it was against you.” He replied plainly.
“But we still can run this restaurant without your support.”