Scarlet Vendetta (Book #4)

"Dismissed." Karen told them before they could kneel to her. One by one they bowed to her before hurrying past. Once past, they quickly banded together again and resumed their excited conversation.

Callie appeared in the doorway.

"They're fine. Nothing broken and not much blood. No need for emergency medical either."

"It took you three minutes."

"Hey, you're the one who wouldn't let me do anything. I had to be really careful."

Karen smiled at her friend, companion and confidante. Holding out her hand to Callie, who grasped it immediately, they re-entered the room.

"She cheated." The leader of the group complained from his position on the floor.

Karen looked at the four men. They were in various sprawled positions on the training mats. As Callie had said, not much blood. Maybe a broken nose. Karen looked at Callie in surprise.

"He ran into my elbow." Callie hung her head. "I wasn't even trying to hit him at the time. He just ran into me."

Karen gave her a ghost of a smile before turning to the four on the mats.

"Your plan did not work out the way you anticipated." Karen's voice had gone hollow sounding. At the echoing tones, the four looked up at her. Karen looked at the one who was holding his shirt to his nose to try to stop the bleeding.

"You will go to First Aid. If necessary, they will take you to the hospital. Otherwise, you will wait there until you stop bleeding and they say you can leave. You will find me afterward. If I am not here, you will wait in my office until I return no matter how long it takes. Even if you have to wait all night. Do you understand?"

The man nodded. His "Yes, Domna;" was muffled while his eyes, as they looked at her over his wadded shirt, were respectful. He'd learned a very valuable lesson and knew it. Things were not always what they appeared to be. He needed to be paying attention all the time, not just when someone pointed things out to him. And he definitely needed to stop goofing around because someone else thought it'd be fun.

"Dismissed." Karen told him to go and turned her attention to the remaining three. As she turned toward them, her eyes began to blaze with an intensity Callie had never seen displayed by anyone else. Combined with Karen's hollow sounding voice, she was very intimidating.

"At this point I am disinclined to allow your continued presence in Scarlet. You have no respect for discipline, actively disrespect those above you in power and position and fail to listen even when given the broadest of hints. You are willfully disobedient and a disruption in My House.

"You have until . . . ," Karen paused and looked at Callie. Callie kept her appointment calendar. She knew when Karen had openings in her schedule.

"Next Tuesday at two." Callie interjected the appointment time.

"Tuesday afternoon at two pm. On that day, at that time, you will present yourselves in my office. As your behavior reflects directly upon them, your Owners are required to be present. I will address any petitions at that time and not before."

At that point, the door to the private room opened and two women slipped inside. Karen glanced at them, curious as to why Violet and Fox were interrupting her. Violet was redheaded, petite, beautiful and Karen's best friend. She was also a Submissive in the Club. Her role was the liaison between Club members and the directors of Scarlet; the Dominus. The men and women who ruled the House of Scarlet. Who answered only to Karen and whose only desire was to ensure that Karen was happy with them and the way they ran the House for her.

Fox was not a member of Scarlet. She knew about Scarlet because her mother ran of one of the subsidiary BDSM clubs for Scarlet. Growing up knowing about Scarlet meant she was trustworthy enough she could work there without revealing the secret. She'd been quietly assigned to Violet, and liaison, to try to help cure her shyness. As part of her job, she also took care of Violet's infant son, Daniel. Fox carried Daniel in a chest carrier and had a padded totebag full of baby necessities in one hand.

As Karen looked, Maria also entered the room. Karen's co-executive of the company which owned and managed the business covering for Scarlet, looked stressed. In addition to helping run GreenWood Investments, Maria was also one of the Dominus. That all three of them were there together meant something important had happened. Something which needed her immediate attention. Karen returned to speaking to the three men on the floor.

"Until then, all your rights and privileges are suspended. You are not to return to the House until Tuesday at two p.m. You will not discuss any of what has occurred today, or what you believe may occur upon your return. Not even with each other. Do you understand?" Karen ended with the three traditional words and waited for their responses.

"Yes Domna, I understand and obey." The three men gave her the answers she waited for.

"Dismissed." Karen closed her eyes, turning to face her friends. When she opened her eyes again, the blazing fire was gone.

"Yes?"

Maria held out her hand as she walked closer. But to Callie, not Karen. Callie gently locked hands with her friend.

"Forever." Callie whispered the single word which meant so much between them. As long as Callie lived, Maria would never be alone. Between them there was an unshakable bond of friendship. They were an almost inseparable trio. A triad of love, strength and harmony. Three women who wore Fede rings on their right hands inscribed with those very words.

"Always." Maria whispered back, drawing Callie closer while holding our her other hand to Karen. Karen stepped over to huddle with them both as Maria spoke in her normal voice. "We have bad news."

"Your parents called. Tulip is in the hospital." Fox blurted out before Maria could cushion the shock. "She had an accident."

Callie stilled completely. Karen felt the fear that ran through her.

Three

T Rose finished the bookkeeping for the day's sales. With a sigh, she closed the ledgers . Raising her arms over her head, she stretched until she felt her spine pop.

Ahhh!

It had been a long day and it wasn't over yet. Suppressing a yawn, she gathered her things in preparation to head out to the hospital. It had been a month since her sister had the accident and Tulip still hadn't come out of the coma. The doctors told them she had good brain activity, but the head injuries were severe. Her helmet had saved her life, though she'd still been badly injured by the hit and run driver in the stolen car.

That wasn't even counting the other injuries she'd had either. Quite a few broken bones and some internal injuries too. Tulip had pretty much healed from those, now all they could do was wait until she woke up again. If she woke up again. Please Tulip!

Hearing voices, she paused and turned toward her loading dock in the back of her bakery. There shouldn't be anyone there now. All the daily deliveries to her customers were made in the mornings, not afternoons. Exiting her tiny office on one side of the loading area, she walked toward the rear door to see what was happening.

"I told you to get out of here."

T Rose recognized the voice as belonging to her general manager, Mario. As she walked through the rear door to the outside loading dock, she saw Mario and a slender man brown haired standing in the alleyway that ran behind her business.

"I'm not on your property man." The brown haired man lived in a tent on the edge of the vacant lot next door. He'd shown up about a month ago, right around the time when Tulip got hurt. His face had been bashed and was very bruised at the time. It looked like someone had beat him up. Maybe for being homeless and in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since then the bruising had disappeared though some swelling was still there. In all the time he'd been living in the tent, he'd not been a problem to them. He was quiet and respectful whenever they'd bumped into each other in the alley. She didn't know why Mario didn't want him around.

"Mario." T Rose interrupted them with a call to her manager. "What's the problem?"

"Miss Rose, he shouldn't be here." Mario tried to explain. "People like him, they do drugs and things. Steal stuff."

"Well, he's not on our property. We can't do anything about him living next door. So, leave him alone."

"We should call the police and have them come arrest him."

"Why? What's he done?"

"Nothing. Yet." Mario gave the brown haired man a mean look.

"If he hasn't done anything, then quit harassing him."

Mario looked like he was going to object but T Rose just gestured toward him. "We have our own things to take care of. This isn't our business and I don't want to see or hear you giving him any more hassle about being here. Understand?"

Mario grumbled under his breath, which T Rose ignored. He was a good manager and knew how to help her run her confectionary bakery. It was only when he got out of his comfort zone that he needed supervised and watched. He was the third manager she'd hired after the first two tried various ways to either steal from her or her customers. Mario, at least, was honest and dependable.

T Rose gave him a look and indicated that she wanted him to go back inside with a thrust of her chin toward the door. Mario left with only one backward look. At the guy, not her.

"Sorry." T Rose told the brown haired guy.

"It's ok. I'm getting used to it." The guy held out his hands and shrugged

"Getting used to it?"

"I used to have a place but lost my job. My girlfriend kicked me out. I'm trying to find work but . . . " He shrugged again.

T Rose knew that the longer he was on the street, the harder it would be to find work. Appearance was everything to a prospective employer.

"How'd you lose your job?" Rose wanted to know if the guy was a troublemaker. If so, then she'd see what she could do to pressure him to find another place to stay.

"You remember my face? My broken nose?" The guy asked while pointing a finger at his nose. "I got hit accidentally but customers thought I had been fighting. It scared them and they said things to my boss. He fired me because of it."

"Were you?"

"No. It was an accident." He hung his head. "I mean, kind of and accident. I was trying to do something to impress my girlfriend. I screwed up."

"Well, if you think you have a good lead and need something, let me know. No promises, but I'll see if I can help."

"I don't need your charity."

"It's not charity. If you find a job, you'll eventually move on to a place of your own. That means Mario won't be out here hassling you when he should be working. Which means I get less stress and more work done."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

"I'm sure you will. But, like I said, if you need something, ask."

The guy nodded but T Rose could see he wouldn't unbend enough to ask for help. Too proud.

"Hey, what's your name anyway?" She asked him casually.

"Brian. Brian Gardner."

"Good to meet you Brian. Any special kind of work you're looking for? If I hear of something I can let you know. My drivers go all kinds of places."

"I used to work in a nursery."

"A nursery? Like kids?"

Brian laughed a soft chuckle. "No. Plants and things. Like my name; Gardner the gardener."

T Rose smiled at the pun. If he only knew . . . "Ok, I'll have them keep their eyes open. If something shows up, I'll tell you about it. Ok?"

"Fair enough I guess."

T Rose nodded at him. Opening her car door, she gave him one last look before she got in and drove away. He just stood there watching her leave.

When Rose got to the hospital, Callie was there. Karen and Maria were with her, as usual.

"Karen! Maria! How are you?" Rose held out her hands in greeting. She was genuinely fond of both Maria and Karen. They had done so much for her. Giving her financial help, business help, contacts and customer lists, everything. She owed them a lot more than just repaying the money they'd lent her. Well, the money GreenWood had invested as venture capital and a line of credit in her little startup bakery. She'd turned that investment into a going concern which had repaid the loans in less than half the time they'd agreed to. She owned her bakery outright, though she still asked for business advice from the two women on occasion. Who wouldn't? Maria and Karen were two of the smartest and most successful business women she'd ever met.

"We're fine. Things are slow for us right now." Karen spoke as Maria hugged Rose. T Rose hugged her back and gave her a kiss on the cheek as interest.

"Any change?" Rose asked Callie once Maria released her.

Callie shook her head. T Rose saw tears start in her big sister's eyes. "Mama is in there with her now."

"You are not responsible for this." Karen scolded Callie having caught the tears as well. "This is not your fault!"

"It was my scooter . . ."

"Accidents happen. They happen every day. You could not have foreseen this." Maria touched Callie's arm in support and friendship.

"She's awake!" Callie's mother nearly ran into the room to tell them the good news. "The doctors are with her right now. They say we can go back in after a few minutes. They want to evaluate her first."

"She's awake? You're sure?" T Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Her mother nodded as tears of joy began to run down her face. "She opened her eyes and looked at me."

Callie couldn't take the suspense and ran from the waiting area toward Tulip's room. T Rose followed, a half step behind her. Her sister was finally awake!

"Karen. Harper."

The words came from behind the three doctors standing around Tulip's bed. T Rose heard them as she and Callie dashed into the room.

"That's me. I am Karen Harper." Karen heard her name and introduced herself as she entered the room.

T Rose startled at the words from behind her. She hadn't realized that Karen had followed them.

One of the doctors turned around and looked at Karen briefly before spinning back around toward Tulip.

"Are you sure? We have you listed as Tulip Mee."

"Am Karen. Twennine. Marry. Scott. Ten. No Tulip."

The doctors nodded together. One made notes on an electronic tablet.

"Hear?"

The doctor who had looked at Karen stopped making entries on the tablet. "We heard. I'm updating your records. How do you feel? Any pain? Headache?"

"Hurt. Happen?"

"You were in an accident. Your motorscooter was hit by a car."

"No scooter."

The doctor paused again. "You're sure? No motorscooter?"

"Am." T Rose could hear Tulip's firm response from the bed.

"Ok. Try to rest and I'll see what I can do for that headache." The doctor who seemed to be in charge soothed Tulip. As one, the three medical practitioners shooed the family from the room.

"Why is she saying that?" Mama asked quietly as they preceded the doctors out of the room.

"It's not uncommon for someone with severe head trauma to believe they are someone other than themselves. The brain is a very complex organ. We don't really understand how or why this happens. We just know that sometimes it does." The doctor who had been making notes answered her question.

"You don't believe her do you? That she's Karen Harper?"

"No. Her appearance matches the ID she had on her when she came in. She's not physically developed enough to be even close to twenty nine chronologically. And, she's never been pregnant." He turned toward Karen. "Besides, I remember you. You're Karen Harper. How's the ear?"

Karen touched her ear in remembrance. She'd needed stitches in her earlobe after a rape attack a couple of years ago had ripped out her earring. Among other injuries. The fine white scar had faded into near invisibility by now. Callie immediately hugged her and Maria took her hand in a gentle grip. They both knew how horrible the attack had been. Maria had been with Karen at the time and Callie was one of the few who had seen the security video recording which had captured the event.

"It's fine. No problems. Thank you." Karen shook off the bad memories. "What else can you tell us about Tulip?"

"I'm no specialist but I have some exposure to this sort of thing. It's not uncommon for brain trauma cases to have temporary amnesia. That condition usually goes away fairly quickly most of the time. In this case, you can probably expect that she will have memory lapses or remember things which never happened. Those memories can be particularly vivid and real to her though you will know that the memory is false. Sometimes that can be permanent.

"Often there can be altered speech patterns or newly acquired accents. Those are usually permanent. It is unusual for the patient to display a different personality or identity, but it's not unknown for the patient to believe she is someone else entirely either. Rare, but not unknown. As I said, we don't know much about how the human brain works or stores information."

"So, she'll eventually remember who she really is?" Ohiro asked if her daughter would be ok.

"We don't really know. Sometimes the changes are permanent. I'm a trauma surgeon, not a specialist in this field of medicine. A specialist could probably tell you more than I can."

"When can she come home?" Ohiro wanted to know.

"I'd like to keep her here a few days to be sure there are no physical problems. If everything checks out, she can go home after that."

"What about her memory? What happens if she keeps thinking she's someone else?"

"You'll need a specialist in that area for that. It can be a short or long term, or even lifelong, issue she will need to deal with."

"Can you recommend anyone?"

"Well, there's a doctor I've worked with in the past for something similar. She gotten good results with her patients."

"Ok, who?"

"Doctor Chasandra Moetz. She has an office nearby. She's pretty good actually. Behavioral therapy is her speciality though she has an MD degree. She's not the usual type of doctor and her methods aren't exactly textbook. However, she often gets good results in cases where others have totally failed."

Karen smiled. "Yes she does."

"You know her?" The doctor was surprised and looked Karen up and down.

Karen just smiled again and didn't answer.

Four

Wolfe opened her eyes to see Karen's sleep tangled silver hair on the pillow in front of her. No matter what Karen did, her hair refused to stay confined while she slept. Ties, braids, knots, nothing worked to keep her hair from coming undone. Karen's hair was a living thing in its own right. With a mind of its own always seeking freedom from restraint. Just like Karen.

It had been Karen's hair, tickling her nose, which had awakened her. Callie, nestled tight behind her, somehow felt her awakening. She snuggled tighter against her back. Her breathing soft on Wolfe's neck.

Wolfe was content with the three of them in bed together. Everyone, including Steven, thought they were lovers by the way they constantly touched and kissed each other. Their sleeping together was just one more item that reinforced that sort of thinking. Yet, everyone was totally wrong.

They slept together. Slept. Not sex. They did nothing but sleep. The constant touches, hugs and kisses they gave each other were as equally innocuous. None of it meant what it looked like. It was merely their way of reaffirming their connection, the emotional bond between them. A sisterhood of intense shared memories and experiences, most of it bad slowly being overlaid by good.

Tulip's awakening yesterday had somehow triggered a need for their bonding in Karen. She had stayed the night to sleep with her and Callie. Poor Steven had been relegated to the couch again. He hated sleeping on the couch, Callie's usual bed in the small apartment the three of them shared. Callie at first had hated it too but didn't seem to mind any more.