Chapter 14

Being freed of the hotel room, where she dropped her guard and panties for Oliver Queen, was a blessing. Kadienne didn't want to stay there after what transpired between her and Oliver, but his bodyguard, John Diggle, wouldn't allow it. Not until he was sure it was safe. Kadienne left without a word and went straight to her apartment, locking the door and all the windows. It wasn't a surprise to discover The Hood had both of her windows fixed that had been broken during the last break-in. Kadienne wondered if maybe it was time to start looking for a new place to live since she'd had several break-ins within the few months. Funny how it all started the moment she agreed to work at Verdant with Thea and…Oliver.

The memory of what happened between them surged through her mind, forcing tears to surface. His cold demeanor and the way he nonchalantly left without so much as a word to her stung deeply. Oliver was the first man Kadienne trusted in a long time and she regretted it. She regretted ever meeting him. Every assumption about him and how he thought of her was unfortunately correct. All he wanted was sex and nothing more. Hell, Kadienne was shocked he even wanted that much from her considering he could have anyone he wanted in the blink of an eye. Kadienne chalked it up to being in the heat of the moment with the subject they were discussing and Oliver kissing her.

What happened couldn't be changed and Kadienne had to move on with her life. The sex was incredible and that's all it was – great sex between two people who needed it. Kadienne was stupid to think something more would develop between her and Oliver. Even with the deep conversations and getting to know each other, their families knowing each other from back in their childhood days, none of it amounted to anything. She made a mistake by letting her guard down with the billionaire, the prodigal Queen son, and walked away with a broken heart. How could she be so stupid to fall for an unavailable man like Oliver Queen? She made a decision to sleep with the devil and paid the price for her inanity.

Looking up at the building with the Verdant sign on it, she sighed softly and put one foot in front of the other to walk inside. Kadienne would start looking for another job, but in the meantime at least this one paid the bills and let her live comfortably. She still hadn't spoken to Thea since the incident at the Queen mansion with her father, keeping things strictly professional between them. Maybe now was the time to finally talk about what happened and try to get their friendship back on track. She didn't see Thea anywhere, figuring she wasn't in yet and went up to the office to start looking over the inventory for that night, trying to get her mind off of all things complicated in her life.

Unbeknownst to her, Oliver watched from below in the Foundry, having cameras set up in every corner of every room in his club. His eyes never left Kadienne for a second while she sifted through the paperwork. He could only imagine what she thought of him after he took off on her. Oliver needed time to process and think about what happened between them; he needed space. Sleeping with Kadienne didn't defile Felicity's memory or what they had because there was no relationship besides a deep seeded friendship. With Kadienne, he took a step he never did with Felicity and didn't know how to feel about it.

Did he regret it?

No.

Did he want to do it again?

Yes.

Should he have left her high and dry right after they had sex?

Probably not.

Did he have feelings for Kadienne that were more than friendship?

The more Oliver watched her through the computer monitor, the clearer his mind became. Yes, he did. He knew it the moment Kadienne kissed him as The Hood and even more when he kissed her as Oliver Queen in the hotel room. It scared him how strongly he felt for the redhead and didn't want to hurt her in any way or put her life in danger because of his need to protect Starling City. Oliver made a vow not to engage in any activity with Kadienne and broke it when he kissed her – when he allowed his emotions to overwhelm all rationality and made love to her. Now everything was complex, messy and Oliver had no idea how to fix it without endangering Kadienne.

After two days of silence with no signs of break-ins at her apartment or any thugs trying to find her, Kadienne was planted with a tracker and released. John made sure to do it discreetly; Oliver didn't want her knowing she was being traced and followed by them. Pushing away from the computer, Oliver stood up to pull a buttoned up light blue silk dress shirt on and decided to upstairs to talk to her. It was the only way to get past the awkward silence between them. Oliver had to explain his actions; Kadienne deserved that much from him considering he could never reveal his other secret to her about being The Hood. He stood up and headed upstairs through the passageway nobody except Diggle and Felicity knew about, standing in the doorway of Thea's office moments later.

"Hi."

Kadienne tensed upon hearing his voice, shutting her eyes momentarily. Then she went back to going through the paperwork. "Thea's not here yet." She informed him in a clipped tone, keeping her back facing him.

"I'm not looking for Thea…" Oliver stepped inside and closed the door behind him, keeping his head on the door handle. "I came here to talk to you."

"About?" Kadienne played dumb, making a check mark on the page by one of the many items on the list for the club.

She wasn't making this easy on him and Oliver didn't blame her. "You should have a pretty good idea already." Something told him Kadienne didn't want to have this conversation at all.

"Mr. Queen, let me stop you right there." Kadienne decided to treat him the same way he had her, slapping the paperwork down on the table loudly. "If this doesn't have to do with Verdant or Vertigo, we have nothing to talk about. You're my boss, so act like it and be professional for a change."

At first, Oliver's eyes widened and then narrowed to near slits, clenching his fists at his sides tightly. She called him Mr. Queen, not by his first name and that unnerved Oliver to say the least. It was clear she was hurt by what he did and this was her reaction. Yelling and berating her wouldn't do any good; Oliver had to handle this delicately or else he would shatter whatever they had developed between them.

"Kadienne…" Oliver moved to stand in front of her, his ocean blues intense and filled with barely suppressed emotion. "I need to explain…"

She cut him off instantly. "No you don't and you're being very unprofessional to your employee. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get the club ready for tonight." Kadienne walked past him, or started to, and froze as Oliver's hand wrapped tightly around her upper arm.

"This isn't over." He promised in a low tone, making it clear they would have a conversation in the near future.

"Don't touch me again, Mr. Queen." Kadienne ordered, ripping her arm out of his grasp and stormed out of Thea's office to go downstairs to the bar.

Oliver gritted his teeth, slamming his fists down on the desk and cracked it down the middle before heading back down to the Foundry.

Verdant was an interesting name to call a club.

Brandy would've chosen something more exotic herself, but then again this was Oliver Queen's business. It didn't surprise her. Such unoriginality could only come from a Queen, after all. Brandy snorted, stepping out of the long black stretch limousine and ordered the driver to stay put. She didn't want an audience for the conversation she was about to have with her annoying stepdaughter. It was a miracle she convinced Patrick to stand down after the kidnapper failed to do his job in bringing Kadienne to the mansion. Then she went off the grid for a couple days; Brandy reasoned with her husband to let her have a talk with Kadienne instead of sending another man to fail. Granted, Kadienne couldn't stand her and the feeling was mutual, but Brandy had to keep Patrick's trust until the time to strike him down was right. She spotted Kadienne behind the bar stocking it with different types of alcohol, shaking her head.

"Kadienne."

It wasn't Oliver or Thea's voice. Kadienne turned around, shock filling her eyes and expression at the sight of her stepmother sitting before her on one of the bar stools. What the hell was she doing here? How did she know where Kadienne worked? That was a dumb question she asked herself due to her father sending a kidnapper after her all to bring her home. So what, her father decided to send his whore of a wife to come talk to her? He was out of his mind if he thought this would actually work.

"Brandy."

"It's been a long time." Brandy didn't know what else to say, clearing her throat and set her purse on the bar counter. "Is it too early to request a drink?"

Kadienne pursed her lips tightly. "Sure, pick your poison."

"Vodka on the rocks."

Kadienne whipped it up in a flash, sending it toward her none too gently and raised a brow at Brandy's quick reflexes to catch it before it spilled in her lap. "What are you doing here, Brandy?" She demanded, done with the games and idle chatter.

"Oh you know, just thought it was past due for us girls to have a chat." Brandy crossed one leg over the other and took a sip of her drink. "To see where you work…"

"And to convince me to come home to dear old Daddy." Kadienne finished for her, not stupid by any stretch of the imagination and folded her arms in front of her chest. "Which I'm not going to do."

Brandy smiled coolly, expecting this type of reaction from her stepdaughter. "Look, I know you don't like me very much…"

"That's an understatement. I hate you." Kadienne clarified, once again cutting her stepmother off. "You betrayed my mother who you claimed was your best friend."

"No I didn't. You can believe what you want, but I never once made a pass at your father while Emma was alive and kicking. Your father was on the verge of killing himself with booze until I came along and brought him back to life. And when he proposed to me, I couldn't say no because I fell in love with him BECAUSE of my best friend's death. So before you stand there spewing your poison at me, get your facts straight. We didn't do anything to dishonor Emma's memory. You're just pissed off because you're not the only woman in your father's life anymore." Brandy laid all the truth out for her stepdaughter, being blunt and brutally honest about her and Patrick's relationship, which was none of Kadienne's business, but she decided to humor the girl. "The reason I tracked you down is because your father wants you to come home to keep you safe. We heard about your break-in a few weeks ago and how the Vigilante came to your rescue. Living in the Glades is beneath you and, whether you like it or not, you are a Young and always will be. I'm here to tell you my husband, your father, is hurting because his daughter refuses to speak to him simply because he moved on with his life and got remarried again. Let me ask you something: Do you want your father to be miserable for the rest of his life and mourn over your mother to the point where it kills him?"

So many different emotions splayed across Kadienne's face with every word that came out of Brandy's mouth. Anger, pain, confusion, sadness and guilt were the top ones. Of course she didn't want her father to die because of her mother's death! Her mother was the one who overdosed on Vertigo; nobody forced her to do it. Kadienne loved her father and missed him as much as he did her, but she couldn't get over the fact he married her mother's best friend. It was a low-blow and Kadienne was convinced Brandy only married her father for the family fortune, not for love.

"So why didn't he come to talk to me? Why send you?" Kadienne had to think of some kind of comeback, struggling to find the words after that long lecture from her stepmother.

Brandy snorted, finishing her Vodka on the rocks and pushed the glass back toward Kadienne, rolling her eyes. "Would you give him the time of day if he did? I mean, he did show up at the Queen mansion to talk to you, with the help of Moira Queen, and you ran off on him." She pointed out, keeping her voice even. "He didn't want to waste his time and effort, so I offered to come and talk to you in his place."

"And he thought I would actually listen to anything you have to say?" Kadienne shot back, taking the glass and tossed it in the bin below the bar after dumping the excess ice out in the sink.

"You are, though." Brandy retorted, folding her arms in front of his chest and rested her elbows on the bar counter. "So stop making things difficult for your father and talk to him. I promise he won't send anyone else after you to force you to come home. It has to be your decision; you are an adult now and he needs to realize that. But you know I'm right, the Glades is no place for a woman of royalty."

Admitting her father actually sent that lunatic after her sent surges of anger throughout Kadienne, her fists tightening at her sides. "He pointed a gun at me." She lowered her voice, not wanting anyone else to overhear their conversation. "He shot at me to scare me and then was going to kill me when I fought back. Does my father know that?"

Brandy nodded sympathetically. "You have no idea how terrible he feels about it too. I'm not condoning what he did either. I yelled at him for it." That was a lie. "He felt he was out of options because you won't even talk to him. I persuaded him to give you some more time and offered to come here to try convincing you to at least have a conversation with him. And trust me, the man he sent after you is paying the price for trying to kill you."

Would it really kill her to call her father and talk to him? It was obvious sending Brandy to talk to her was her father's last resort. For some reason, Kadienne began to feel guilty for cutting her father off and actually found herself listening to what her stepmother had to say. They didn't have to like each other, but the last thing Kadienne wanted to do was hurt her father worse than she already had.

"Think about it." Brandy slid from the barstool, tossing a few bills on the counter and fluffed her hair out over her shoulders. "I'm out of time and I've said all I needed to. I'll leave you to think about what I've said and I hope you make the right decision, Kadi."

All Kadienne could do was watch Brandy walk out of Verdant and indeed had a lot of thinking to do regarding contacting her father.

Oliver Queen was suddenly in the far recesses of her mind.