Page 50 of Charity's Redemption

I tilted my head and glared at him through my lashes. “You misunderstand me, Owen. I don’t have to torture anyone either… I choose to.” I laughed as his eyes widened.

My first unfettered confession, and it felt great. It didn’t matter what I told him here. He’d never make it out alive to retell it—they’d see to that.

Kandy walked back in with a towel in one hand and her phone in the other.

“You got the time?”

She tossed the towel at Owen’s chest, then swallowed, her throat bobbing as she did. “Just after midnight.”

I sucked in a long, slow breath through my nose as I calculated the hours that had passed since I’d left Luca.

Oh my God.

When I arrived at Zoe’s place, it was three in the afternoon, which meant I hadn’t spoken to Luca for over twelve hours, and with him hard on my ass about John’s death, there was no way he’d let my absence slip by him. The clock ticked on. Now, it was just a matter of waiting out whatever they had in store for me.

“Tick-Tock, Owen. I suggest you say whatever you need to say, then let me go. No hard feelings.”

“The only way you’re leaving this room is in handcuffs as I hand you over to the Chief.”

I snorted. “And what exactly am I supposed to confess to?”

“Confess your involvement in the Allie Gill case.”

“I’ll be honest with you, Owen—”

“It’s Agent Harding.”

“You keep clutching to that title like it’s going to save you in the end, but I assure you it won’t.” Sickness bottomed my stomach, forcing me to take a few deep meditative breaths until it ebbed. “I had nothing to do with Allie Gill’s disappearance. Wherever you came up with this notion, it’s led you astray. Besides, didn’t we discuss this in my cell when you had your hands around my throat, strangling me?” I cocked my head to the side. “You’re so desperate to see me go to prison, you keep grasping at straws and coming up short.”

Owen scowled as he slapped the towel on my skull, causing me to hiss through my teeth and jerk away from him.

“We all know you work for the Moreno family,” Kandy said, speaking up from behind him as she leaned with her foot against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. “He paid me off to keep quiet about you.”

“Hmm.” My involvement with the Morenos wasn’t a secret anymore. I let the world know the day I laid my brother in the ground. “Do you know how many people the Morenos employ? You were one of them, Kandy. Should we go around telling people you’re up to no good?”

She shook her head vehemently. “I was a waitress. You’re a killer.”

“Prove it.”

“I don’t need to. Everyone knows.”

Now, who was lying?

I was the Moreno family’s best-kept secret. No one knew about me unless they were on my table or hanging from the rafters like I did last night. No one heard about me and thought I was their killer, their chosen enforcer, to do their dirty work. Everyone thought I was just another floozy hanging around.

Being a female enforcer in the Mafia was unheard of. So for rumors to spread about me being anything other than a Moreno whore just didn’t seem likely.

Owen removed the cloth from my head, now stained with my blood. “Now that I have your blood, we can compare it to the evidence we found in your brother’s car.”

“What evidence?” I smiled.

The evidence my father retrieved for me.

The evidence I burned in my kitchen sink.

The evidence that no longer existed.

“Your hair and blood. I won’t even need a confession for that crime. This will put you away for life.” He held the bloody towel in front of my face, the metallic scent stinging my nose the closer he brought it.

---