Scarlet (Out of Control Book 1)

By Nia Arthurs

Our experiences shape our existence and memories hold the keys to our identities.

Scarlet Ruiz awakens in a hospital room with a gunshot wound to the side and six months worth of lost memories. While trying to make sense of the madness, Scarlet realizes that she can hear people talking without seeing them move their lips. She’s stronger than she looks but waking up with the ability to read minds is not something that Scarlet had ever seen coming. Immediately, she’s cast into a world of secrecy, shadows and intrigue.

Dr. Carter Mathews is a man of mystery. Cloaked in guilt, he prefers his own company and doesn’t let anyone close. Until he meets Scarlet. Carter willfully steps into her whirlwind of uncertainty and fear with his own agenda. He is determined to use Scarlet as bait to draw out the organization behind her memory loss. As he travels with Scarlet on a journey to revive her memory, he comes to realize that he may have more invested in their mission than simple revenge.

Can Carter find the absolution he’s been looking for? Can Scarlet put the pieces of herself back together while juggling the ability to see into the minds of others?

Things are never as they seem in a world so out of control.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nia Arthurs
• Release date: Feb 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310864780

Nia Arthurs

I live in a country where the beaches are always picturesque, the Mayan ruins are always intriguing, and the Blue Hole is just minutes away. Yet I prefer sticking close to home, reading a good novel and then picking up my laptop and trying to write one. Look for the Kingdom Series (Taming Mr. Jerkface, Taming Mr. Charming, and Taming Mr. Know-It-All) in ebook format. Thank you for looking and God bless.

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Scarlet

Out of Control Book 1

Nia Arthurs

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2016 © Nia Arthurs

Published by Nia Arthurs at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

To Faith, for giving me a little bit of hope every day.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

She knew she should loathe this man but she didn’t. She knew she should do something, run, scream down the building, anything. But she didn’t. She just stood there, watching as he inched closer; his even gait exposing that he was a confident man. His pinstripe three piece suit declared his wealthy stature. She was pretty sure that was a Rolex on his wrist. She tried to read his expression in the deepening shadows of the coming evening but his face was inscrutable. His dark almost black eyes did not glint with evil nor twinkle with pleasure. His eyes were as steady as his jaw. She felt a myriad of goose bumps invade her arms and she fought the urge to hug herself. She did not want him to see weakness. She did not want to give him the satisfaction.

You came back. His voice was low, gravelly. She continued to stare at him hoping her face did not give away the fact that her heart was thumping wildly.Why are you here?

Still no expression.

She swallowed before retorting in a calm voice.

You know why I’m here. His lips twitched into a demented smile and she fought the urge to vomit at the thoughts running through his mind.

So my little mind reader returns … with a proposition I hope. He spoke with the ease of a man who had already gotten his way.

It’s not that sweet and simple, Sheldon. She could not hide the hard edge to her voice.

Oh, but its sooo sweet, Scarlet. He was egging her, fishing for a reaction, And very simple.

She blocked her mind to his thoughts and focused on the fact that night was approaching and she had yet to finish this business.

You know why I’ve come and I know how to leave so why don’t we skip to the part where we both get what we want? Do you have the stuff?

He finally donned an expression that made her pulse quicken and she broke out in a cold sweat as his hands drew into the inner lining of his expensive suit.

Scarlet, dear… I’m afraid another very influential party has become involved.

The steel barrel of a gun glinted in the gloom and before she could run or scream or curse her own weakness, it fired. She watched the spark almost in slow motion and then as the gun’s boom reached her ears, Scarlet’s world tipped to black.

CHAPTER ONE

The rush of feet against tiled floors echoed in the hallways. Adrenaline pushed the team of small town nurses onward. They burst through the doors of the emergency room and wheeled the woman lying on the stretcher unto the bed. Thirty year old, Dr. Carter Mathews shoved his way into the room and immediately grabbed for a syringe.

What are her vitals? He barked at the pretty young nurse who had never seen so much blood in her six months of hospital training. Her white uniform was paired with dark stockings and pure white shoes. In this town, the nurses wore the little hats with the crosses on them.

It took Carter a while to get used to that.

Unfortunately, her uniform was smeared with the blood of the victim. Those stains would never come out.

The nurse’s voice trembled as she obliged. Female, about twenty five, gunshot wound to the chest…

Carter observed the woman in the bed as the nurse’s diagnostics played in background. For a brief moment, he moved from critical doctor to red blooded male as he scanned her form, shapely even beneath the white sheet. Her dark black hair spilled onto slim shoulders. Thin black eyebrows arched over large oval shaped eyes which were closed in unconsciousness. Her nose was long and statuesque. Her lips plump and pink. Carter made these observations in a split second and then immediately returned his ponderings to ‘doctor-patient’ thoughts.

She was very still. Blood poured from her chest and stained all the way to the collar of her ruffled blouse. Her hands were clammy and she was not responsive.

We’ll need a surgeon. He deduced before the nurse had completed her evaluation, Get her into the MRI scan room.

Dr Mathews- The nurse began to protest. The hospital had just instituted a Pay-First, Service-Later clause into their proceedings. In a town this size, everybody knew everybody and people often wanted medical attention on credit.

Narrowing his dark brown eyes, Carter repeated in a firm, steady tone. Do it.

She bobbed her head and the team of three wheeled the woman out.

Carter took a deep breath and then followed after them.

The woman was in bad shape. As gruff and shielded as he usually was, he hadn’t seen an assault quite like since his days roaming the dark alleys and side streets of New York. It was a miracle that Jane Doe was still alive. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he followed after the team of nurses. He hadn’t become a doctor to sit on the sidelines, bite his nails, and pray for miracles.

Someone’s life was on the line and he was the only one that could make miracles come true.

Scarlet was trapped in a darkness so thick, it was almost a living, breathing thing. She opened her mouth to scream, but the darkness seemed to laugh at her attempts. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. She’d been fighting for too long and was no match for the darkness’s power. Falling limply into the fog, Scarlet gave herself up to the nothingness.

The room stank of stale tobacco smoke and fried chicken. A dirty cot lined with sweaty clothes was smushed against a blue wall that had long since turned grey. A huge man wearing a white tank top and jeans pants gripped a small black burner phone in his large paws.

It’s done.

 Can she talk? Does she remember?

I don’t know, boss. She’s in the ER. The fact that no one has come to claim her is keeping them extra diligent. Whoever placed her there knows what he’s doing.

Fine, we can’t kill her yet, but we will. Find the guy who found her and bring him to me….Dead.

Yes, boss … but before I go, about my-

CLICK. The sound of a dead line. Andres swore and crushed the phone until it broke; he gritted his teeth and started his computer. Let the games begin.

The surgery took over forty minutes but the girl emerged alive, her vitals stable, and her dark brown skin reclaiming the glow of the living. She wasn’t out of the blue yet, but Carter looked toward her recover with grim optimism.

The bullet that struck Jane Doe traveled the length of her side — it entered from the back and exited through the front of her left chest wall. She was responsive to voice commands after the surgery and was able to blink her eyes and twitch her fingers when the nurse asked her a series of questions.

Feeling satisfied at her rapid recovery, the doctor lounged in the small cafeteria munching on a turkey sandwich. He was still a bit shaken. Being in a small town didn’t absolve anyone from death or pain and many other patients that he’d worked on in his two years in the General Mills County Hospital didn’t walked away virtually scotch free. He hadn’t encountered such a serious injury like that in quite some time. The realization rocked him, but at least the woman was pulling through. That stood for something.

Someone called out in the cafeteria and he jerked his head up, but the greeting wasn’t meant for him.

Carter returned to his lunch. Alone.

Life went on around him. The hushed whispers of an elderly couple who had come to watch over their grandson reached his ears. The woman’s wispy grey hair flowed in gentle waves to her chin. Her name was Mabel Walters. Her husband, Gregory Walters, had a slight punch, wrinkled lines around his eyes and lips, and a tall composed stature. They paid no heed to the doctor eating alone. The townsfolk had long ago learned to leave Carter to himself.

The couple lived a few doors down from Carter’s bungalow. He didn’t step over to their table to inquire about their grandson and they didn’t stop by to talk.

That served Carter just fine.

He’d moved to Refuge, Illanois from the big city where everyone was running at top speed, all the time, rushing to work, rushing back home, and then going through the cycle all over again. Carter was glad that he’d gotten out of the rat race and into a small idyllic town like Refuge. At first, the locals had surrounded him like a dog to a shiny, new, twenty-six year old bone. The church folks brought cakes and pies; the single ladies brought casseroles, and the neighborhood kids brought scooters and kites. Carter was polite enough to convey his appreciation and withdrawn enough to hint at his disinterest in anything more than a shallow, surface acquaintance.

The system had served him well so far.

No entanglements held him to this place. He could treat patients with objectivity instead of emotions. He could pack up and move any time he felt like it without regrets, without looking behind and longing for the ‘good-ole days’. Carter’s journey to this state of autonomy had been hard-won, but worth it. He wasn’t about to let it go now.

CHAPTER TWO

White. She was surrounded by white. Light blinded her eyes and she winced. The faint beeping of a machine followed the patterns of her heart.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

She tried to lift her arms and groaned. Dull pain thudded in her skull. The smell of stale blood and antiseptic hung over her like a dark cloud. Scarlet racked her brain for memories but couldn’t come up with anything.

My name is Scarlet.

That was a start.

Fighting through the pain, Scarlet lifted her head and gazed about the room. Cream walls lined with green patterns danced across her senses. Apart from the machinery blinking next to her and the white cot that her body was reclining on, there wasn’t much else in the way of furnishings. Blinds covered the large glass pane windows, but the sunlight invaded the room anyway.

My name is Scarlet.

I’m twenty five.

She knew two things.

She should know more. Why didn’t she know more?

What day was it? Why was she here? Why was her head pounding so hard?

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Scarlet searched the recesses of her mind and found herself at the edge of a black void yawning over the space of her recollections.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

She tried to slow her breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

I was born in Belize City.

She recalled her childhood years. The wrinkled brown