Page 45 of Claiming Charlotte

“You should be,” I snapped. “He’s extremely angry right now and trying to figure things out. And the last thing I need is to clean your guts off the floor because you challenged him.”

“He wouldn’t do–”

“I assure you, he would. Why do you think I let him go? He does his thing and comes home. No questions asked,” I interrupted.

“He is acting like an animal.”

“He was treated like one!” I fumed.

We heard the door handle jiggle signaling another was entering.

Arthur turned in his seat to see who it was—his brother, Thomas. And behind him came a large cart filled with framed artwork. I beamed, excited for what he had, and the distraction from the heated conversation..

“Holy shit, Thomas, that’s a lot,” I said excitedly, as he held up each one for me to see.

“This is about three million dollars’ worth of art,” he said, and he sounded as though he were just as unbelieving of it as I was.

“How did you get all of this?” I asked, admiring one of the paintings that I already decided would hang in the hall outside my room.

“My wife and my bank account, a rather dangerous combination” he laughed, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Does she still hate you?” I asked.

“Only when she’s under me.”

We all laughed. Thomas’ wife was a beautiful woman, and her son was the spitting image. But she always made Thomas regret his decision every chance she got. Some days I had confided in her and have been seeing her once a week at her office in the city; but no one knew; aside from Rowan.

“Tell her that I hope she spends every last penny for her troubles.” I teased.

20

ROWAN

Ipulled my mask over my eyes as I entered the room and stared at the man tied to the chair in the center of the room. His head was covered, and he was unable to see the smirk on my face as I skimmed through his file. Charlotte had given me the all-clear to take action against the men who put hands on her, and I intended to do more than that. I’m going to enjoy this… I thought as the man whimpered.

“Adrian Cramer,” I said, reading his name from the top page of his file. “Husband and father of three.”

I laughed when I read that. How could a man who was presumably settled down perform such heinous acts? It left me wondering how his relationship fared with his wife and even with his kids. Was he abusive at home or did he save the abuse for work?

“You’re an accountant,” I continued, roughly yanking the hood off his head, intentionally pulling his hair with it.

“Pretty fucking boring if you ask me, Adrian.”?I mocked.

That bit was surprising. He led a boring life, at least from the outside. No wonder he got his kicks from taking advantage of women who had no choice but to succumb to their circumstances. I shook my head in disgust. He pulled against his restraints and struggled to break free, to no avail.

“Who are you?” he asked, keeping his voice low and menacing as though that alone would scare me off.

“Don’t worry about who I am,” I responded, tossing the file on the floor at his feet and rejoicing in the way he flinched.

I pulled up the video footage of his home from my phone and we watched as his wife moved about the living room.

“Does your wife know you’re a rapist?”?I asked.

Fear was spreading throughout his body as it shook and I decided to let him wonder how I got into his house to plant those cameras in the first place. “Well, that’s alright Adrian.”

I scrolled to the video of Charlotte I needed and connected to his home network before pressing play, allowing every television in the house to broadcast his atrocious crimes against her.

“She knows now,” I chuckled before scanning through various networks, his parents, friends, and even his ‘boss.’

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