Page 122 of Point of No Return

His eyes narrow at the fact that I’m not ready to head home for dinner with Aleks like I usually am. “He canceled on me an hour ago.” I don’t give him the chance to question why as I tug on my blazer and comb back my hair with a hand. “I’m fine. I just need to get out of this office.”

The look on his face tells me he doesn’t buy it, but he doesn’t push. He merely nods. It’s only mildly irritating. “Then it might be a good time to tell you that she left Westos.”

My chest tightens, and my throat constricts painfully. I filed a missing person’s report the night Charlie left, but I knew it would be useless. There’s nothing. No trail. No leads.

After months of endless searching, half-assed police reports, and no answers, I know better than to get my hopes up now.

It’s not Charlotte.

But my curiosity still piques. “Eva?” Crew nods again. “Did Charles go with her?”

“She went alone. Left the private jet in the hangar, but she was just spotted leaving a public terminal.”

Things have been quiet for weeks, and while I know that Eva is the entire reason any of this happened, killing her isn’t the answer. Crew spent the last few months trying to talk sense into me. Despite what she’d done, there was no use in killing her. If anyone can find Charlie, it’s her. But it doesn’t make the pill any easier to swallow.

Charlie chose to leave.Who knew what choice she’d make if we ever found her again?

“Do we know where she’s headed? Or why?”

Crew’s smile is small, but he steps aside as I head for the door. “Mournstead. From what my guys can gather, there was talk of a Prevyain sighting there.”

What are we waiting for then?

I notice he hasn’t moved or said anything else, and I’m too tired to hide my irritation. “What?” I snap.

I can practically feel the lecture coming. “Skar-”

“Spare me the don’t-get-your-hopes-up bullshit.”

He shakes his head. “I wasn’t going to give it to you.” A brief flash of guilt hits me in a wave, and when he continues, it’s only worsened. “It was her.”

Her. Hope is like a blade to the gut, yet somehow, it’s so much worse.

“She was in Mournstead. Someone will take you to the shop where she was last seen if you want. But I have a feeling she’s already gone. Eva is probably headed to wherever she is now… and if you decide it’s what you want to do, I think you should follow her there.”

The door handle squeals under the weight of my grip. It takes everything in me not to tear the room apart- to finally release the anger, the fear, the worry. But it’s the finality I need to know just how much the last few months have consumed me.

She came into my life. And I don’t know how she went from being the bane of my existence to being the very essence of it. Then she was gone. There’s not a damn thing that can ever make it right again.

“I won’t stop,” I shake my head as that feeling fills me again. “I can’t.”

Crew nods in understanding. “I can come with you.”

“I think I should handle this alone.” He looks ready to object, but I continue as I pry the door open, “I know you’re going to come anyway. And I’ll probably feel better about it.”

Chapter Fifty-Five

Charlotte

It’s been too long since I’ve heard from my mother. We set up a meeting a little over a week ago, and despite the fact that I don’t expect to live past it, I can’t allow myself to just give up. Giving up means this has all been for nothing. And I can’t allow myself to live with that.

I took a job as soon as the boat docked. The work is tough, but it’s the last thing I have. The only thing I’m good at.

I’ve spent most of my time walking city blocks and scrounging through leads for the case. The labor has been hell on my body. My side, still bruised and bleeding despite my crappy patchwork, is killing me. There’s nothing I look forward to more than opening a TV dinner and laying out on the carpet of my temporary room.

Just a few more flights, I remind myself as I take the stairs back up. I don’t want to risk the cameras in the elevators even though every step is a chore. My muscles ache, feet screaming with each step.

When the door finally comes into view, I nearly weep, picking up my pace. My room is at the end of the hall- the largest with only one nearby neighbor on the floor. I come to a stop when I find the door to my room ajar, the lock still intact. Paranoia has my skin prickling.

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