Page 69 of Inferno

Silence. I swallow the lump in my throat. My hands trembling.

“How?” he finally asks.

“Knife to the throat.”

He swears under his breath.

“You did this?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck. Fuck. Let me think.”

I keep quiet, like a kid being told off at school. I glance up at Jimmy’s face on the screen.

“The mark. Have you identified him yet? I assume you didn’t make yourself known?”

“Identified. We are in the apartment across the street as directed.”

“You got enough to ID him? We need someone to pin this on, pronto.”

I look at the laptop and hold back the tears.

“Charlotte. Talk to me. You fuck this up, you’re as good as dead.”

“I know him. I know who he is, which room is his, and how to get to him.”

I really don’t want to do this. But it’s me against him. If I fuck this up worse than I have already, I will die, and so will my father. And probably Drago.

“How do you know him?”

I cringe.

“I slept with him. Last night.”

I flinch as he shouts over the phone.

“Jesus. Fuck.”

“There is no other option. We pin this on the mark. We tell Vlad that when you attempted to capture him, he turned, stabbed Misha in the neck, and turned on you. You fled.”

I nod. It makes sense.

It keeps Jimmy alive.

“Will Vlad buy that?”

I can hear him scratch his stubble.

“We get the cops on his tail. I have someone I can call in, it will get us the paperwork we need to back us up. You know what that means?”

I chew on my nails, dread pitting in my stomach.

“I can get into his penthouse. I can have it done in fifteen minutes. I’ll hack into the CCTV, alert you when he’s going to his room so you can get the cops in. I have no idea when he’s leaving the resort. It has to be done now.”

“Leave it somewhere he will pick it up, without thinking. His prints need to be on the knife.”

My heart is almost beating out of my chest. I shouldn’t care this much. I should be thinking about myself. But I can’t help it. He had an effect on me that I can’t shake.

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