Page 73 of Unleash You

“Yes.” The shower sounded nice, but he’d have to shoot me first in his own home before I turned Rebecca in. She didn’t deserve this. Charlie had lost his mind. The way his features twisted every time he said her name scared the crap out of me.

When we reached Fox’s Bank, he waited in the car until his pilot and now driver confirmed the house was empty. What did he have in mind that he didn’t want anyone to know he was home? He walked me upstairs and curled his lip in disgust when I kept going down the hallway to the master suite.

“How dare you take their room?”

“They’re gone, Charlie. This is my home now.” I shouldered the door open and headed straight for the bathroom.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I stripped out of my dirty clothes. I hopped in the shower and didn’t allow myself to dwell in self-pity. The watermelon shampoo washed away the bits of the jungle I’d brought with me. Under the soot, I found several cuts and bruises from when I fell in the animal trap. The bouncing around in the plane bathroom didn’t help either.

“Time’s up, Anabelle.” Charlie pounded on the door.

My heart jolted into my throat with a loud thump. I grabbed the towel off the rack and wrapped it around my body before I shut off the water. When he didn’t make an effort to barge in, I quickly dried myself, then slipped into my bathrobe.

“Get dressed. I don’t have all night.” Charlie paced the balcony overlooking the Cole’s estate. He was like a predator after his prey.

I rushed to my walk-in closet and donned the first pair of jeans and T-shirt I could find. How could I warn Rebecca that Charlie wasn’t a friend to her, that he was here to take her back to Marcel and her old home? “Rebecca is smart. She’ll know something’s up if I invite her over. We’re not exactly buddies.” I lied. He couldn’t know if Rebecca was a friend or not.

He snorted a laugh. “I bet you’re jealous of her.”

I rolled my eyes at that. If that was the worst insult he had for me, I was okay with it. Below the balcony, the security guards patrolling the grounds next door strode from one end to the other. No doubt Wesley asked Derek to leave his team in place after he left with Valentina. “All those men are there to make sure Rebecca doesn’t leave. Wesley promised he would protect her. Just like he promised to go back for you.”

Charlie gripped my upper arm. “I have eyes. You don’t need to tell me the obvious. What is her arrangement with him?”

“Arrangement?”

He glared at the view below us, his chest rising and falling. “Why would Wesley help her unless she offered him something? What did she offer him? Information, sex?” His dark gaze made me shuffle away from him.

“Sometimes people help each other because they’re not shitty human beings.” I stepped around the sofa just to have a piece of furniture between us. “Wesley is helping her because he feels bad for her. She lost her family, her brother.”

“Her brother got what he deserved.” He pursed his lips, raking a hand through his hair. “Now’s her turn.”

Getting to Rebeca wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought, even if he had me as bait. I wasn’t going to play the part for him. He continued to pace the length of the balcony. I could only guess what he was planning. Whatever it was, it had to be something along the lines of him breaking into the Cole house and taking Rebecca with him. Did he realize how impossible that was?

“Call her and invite her over. Tell her you need help.” His voice boomed all around me.

“She can’t leave the house.”

“She’ll figure it out.” When I didn’t move, he shouted. “Do it.”

I trudged to my nightstand and took my phone out. Relief washed over me when I held a way to communicate in my hands again. I glanced at Charlie while sending a message to Wesley. In the car ride while on the phone, he’d mentioned he planned to be in New York tomorrow. That was barely a clue.

Anabelle: NYC.

And then I hit the home button. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, he darted inside and slapped me across the face. “I’m losing patience with you.” He picked up the phone and scrolled through my contacts until he found Rebecca’s face and number. Letting out a breath, he quickly typed a short message.

Anabelle:I’m in trouble. Come over?

“We’ll wait for her downstairs.”

I didn’t mention that it could be hours before she saw my message. Or that she might suspect something and not show up. Either way, we had time and I was starving. “I need something to eat.”

He nodded and ushered me down the hallway and into the kitchen. This was his childhood home. He had to be so far gone not to feel anything about being here. Wesley, Zack, and Charlie used to come in here with muddy shoes and raid the fridge after playing ball outside for hours. I heated the chicken noodle soup I found in the refrigerator and made two bagel sandwiches.

Charlie rubbed his forehead, glaring at the simple meal I set in front of him as if he didn’t recognize it. “Eat fast,” he mumbled before he devoured his food. When he finished, he gave me another minute before he came to stand behind me, looming over until I conceded and followed him back to the great hall.

“I could play the piano while we wait.” Maybe a familiar tune could bring him back. Something inside me refused to give up on him.

“Don’t.”

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