Scarlett (Second Edition) by Karima Saad Usman novel Chapter 136

Scarlett

Chapter 136

Clay’s POV

Learning where Scarlett was, hearing about Keith’s intentions for her–it shattered me in ways I didn’t know were possible. I’d spent countless hours on the road, searching from town to town, scouring every place I could think of, desperate to bring her back. I’d sent scouts to the South with the faint hope that maybe, somehow, we’d missed a clue, that she’d be there, waiting to come home. But all of it had been for nothing. Every lead, every direction I turned, had ended up empty.

When I met the traveler at that rundown tavern in the Highlands, I felt something shift, a pull in my gut that told me he knew something real. He was the one who revealed Keith’s obsession with Scarlett, calling her “the last of the Vladislavs.”

The reverence in his voice when he spoke of her and Nikolay left no doubt in my mind. To him, to them, she was someone to be honoured. Not a ghost to be chased or a lost mate, but someone of value.

And then Elsa’s words came back to me, those warnings about Nikolay, how much we’d wronged him without even realising. We’d trade choices that haunted us now, leading us to betray not only Scarlett but ourselves. There was no escaping that.

Visiting the Highlands was supposed to be a routine trip to oversee the packhouse renovations, but I saw it as more than that. It was the start of something new, something away from Lucian and Maxwell. Their influence had suffocated me, kept me from following my instincts. Time after time, I’d been overruled, pushed to the side. Lucian, with his cold anger, was always there to choose the harshest path, unable to see anything past his hatred. And Maxwell, his loyalty to Lucian unwavering, had always taken his side, backing every decision that cut me deeper than they’d ever know. We were caught in an endless loop, a cycle that had brought us here, to the edge of losing Scarlett forever.

I couldn’t shake the thought that Keith had planned this from the start, that he’d sent “Gregory” to plant seeds of discord, to push Scarlett away from us, knowing we’d drive her into his arms. But there was a flaw in my theory–the timing. If Keith had been behind it, he wouldn’t have let her linger, wouldn’t have left anything to chance. She must have gone West not because of Keith himself but because of the words that imposter, Gregory, had planted in her

mind.

After I shared everything I’d learned with Lucian and Maxwell, we were all left with one, unavoidable conclusion: we couldn’t act rashly. We’d misstepped

too many times already, and one more could spell the end of everything. We needed Elsa’s counsel, a voice of wisdom to guide us before we made any move.

I felt the heaviness of the decision weighing on me, but also a spark of hope. Maybe, just maybe, we still had a chance to set things right.

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