Page 12 of Endless Love

“And you’re coming home with me,” Nate interrupts, looking at me. “Charlotte, I’ve had enough of all of this. I get that you were pissed about the cheating, but I’ve explained myself already. There’s no reason to throw away five years of a relationship over it. You’ve gotten me back with this trash—” he looks disparagingly at Ivan, then back at me. “It’ll be hard for me to get over the fact that he’s touched you, but I’m sure in time?—”

Before Nate can finish his sentence, Ivan shoves himself forward, putting his body in between me and Nate. “You’lltouch her again over my dead body,” he spits, and this time, Bradley’s smiledoesreach his eyes.

“That can be arranged, Mr. Kariyev,” he says smoothly, and I feel Ivan tense.

“Charlotte, get in the car,” Ivan says, his voice low, and Nate almost immediately interrupts him.

“Charlotte, comehere. What you saw in that piece of trash, anyway, I’ll never understand, but we can talk about your little rebellion later?—”

“I’m not a child!” I snap, lurching around from behind Ivan to glare at Nate. “I’m not going to let you talk to me like that. And I’m not a dog, for you to whistle at?—”

“Enough,” Bradley snaps. “You’re coming withme, Ms. Williams, for questioning. And then?—”

“She’s not going anywhere.” Ivan’s hand comes up, and I feel all the blood drain from my face as I see a gun in his hand, one that I have no idea where it came from. “Except with me.”

6

IVAN

Putting a gun in Agent Bradley’s face is far from the smartest thing I could have done. But I’ve long since established that when it comes to Charlotte, all of my better sense goes out of the window.

This is just another symptom of that.

I knew that Agent Bradley had it out for me. I still knew that this morning, when I called him on the burner phone and told him what had happened, and that I needed his help getting Charlotte out of trouble. And I’d believed him when he’d said that he would help.

I’d believed him because he’d helped Sabrina. I don’t know for sure where she is, or if the promises that the FBI made her panned out, but I know that my father didn’t get to her. If he had, I’d knowthat. Which makes me think that Bradley kept his promise to help her.

It made me think he’d keep his promise about Charlotte.

Right up until I saw Nate get out of the car.

I was still willing to play along, if it meant Charlotte getting to safety. I would have let Bradley throw me into the deepest, darkest hole in the most maximum security of prisons if it meantthat Lev and my father couldn’t get to her. There’s nothing I fear more than prison—not torture or death—but I’ll take it if it means she’s safe. I’ll do anything to make sure she’s safe.

Especially because all of this is my fault.

But I knew when Nate started talking that Charlotte wouldn’t be. That he’d find a way to end up taking her home. That Bradley doesn’t give a shit what happens to her—that maybe he resents me enough to let her be a scapegoat, because it would be one more knife to dig in.

I can’t let that happen. So I slip the gun free, fast enough that Bradley doesn’t see it coming, and level it at his face.

“We’re leaving,” I say flatly, coldly, but the smile never leaves his face.

“You really think I came here alone?” He doesn’t flinch, and just behind him, I can see the other doors to the black car opening. Two more agents. “They’ll bring you down, Kariyev, and take her. Who knows what happens then? She probably doesn’t have enough answers for us. Not enough to make protecting her worthwhile. I wonder if your father will still want her, with you dead or locked away? Probably, even just as?—”

“I’ll drop you before they get to me,” I growl. “Call them off, and let us go.”

Behind me, I can feel Charlotte flinch. I know what this must be doing to her. This is already more than she could have ever imagined dealing with in reality, a gritty level of violence before a shot ever goes off that she should never have had to confront. And now that Bradley has drawn his line in the sand, there will be more.

I should never have gone near her.But I did, and now it’s too late. And I can’t even say I’m sorry.

Not and have it not be a lie.

Bradley drops in the instant before I pull the trigger, with an instinct born of years of training. He’s a piece of shit, but he’sgood enough at his job to know when a bullet is coming. My shot goes wide, just missing one of the other agents, and I react in the split second before they fire, pushing Charlotte down to the asphalt as their bullets hit close to us, spraying bits of it in both our faces.

They’re not going to stop shooting until they’ve killed us, or fucked up my car so badly I can’t drive. Bradley is already starting to push himself up, and I fire again from where I’m lying on the ground, clipping his arm. He grabs it, rolling onto his back with a groan as blood spills out onto the asphalt, and Charlotte lets out a high-pitched scream.

Winging Bradley might have distracted the other agents just long enough. “Get in the fucking car!” I growl at Charlotte, shoving myself up and firing twice more at the other agents’ feet, spraying gravel at them as I bolt for the driver’s door. I want to fling her into the car myself, but I don’t have time. All I can do is hope like fuck that she follows instructions as I yank the door open, jumping inside, and shoving the key into the ignition.

To my relief, she slides in next to me, just as the agents fire again. I slam my foot down on the gas, the car peeling away, and for a second, I wish I’d angled it so I could have run over Nate’s fucking face.

---