Page 32 of Assassin's Heart
“Especially now. I was shot,” she explained as casually as if she were discussing an ice cream sundae.
My gaze jumped to Abby’s, my heart speeding up at the thought of this tiny woman in front of a gun. I’d thought King was dangerous; had he brought a threat into Charlotte’s life? Was he more like Levi than I’d thought?
Seeming to sense my rising anger—and its focus—Abby stepped in quickly to place a pillow behind her friend’s back. “Charlotte’s fiancé works for JCL Securities, the largest security firm in the nation,” she said.
Oddly enough, I’d actually heard of them. A few years ago one of the founding partner’s girlfriends had been stalked by a psycho ex and then kidnapped. They’d later discovered the man was a serial murderer. The whole episode had made headlines.
So King was a legit killer instead of a criminal one?
“This had nothing to do with King’s job, though,” Charlotte was saying.
“So how did it happen?”
Charlotte waved her hand as if thehowdidn’t matter, although the lurking shadows in her eyes said differently. “It’s a really long story. What gets me is that King took the same bullet—I was standing in front of him—and he barely acts like he’s hurt. I think he’s just faking it.”
No doubt his injuries, based on his body weight and the fact that he’d gotten a less severe impact, weren’t as extensive as Charlotte’s. I’d seen plenty of gunshot wounds in my time and knew how much damage they could do to such a petite body.
“A man like him wouldn’t want to admit a weakness.”
“See?” Abby passed Charlotte a teacup. “I told you. Even Leah knows, these badass men want us to believe they are invincible.”
A memory of Angelo the last time I saw him, moments before his death, flashed in my mind. “No one is invincible.”
“That’s what I told him,” Charlotte complained. “It managed to keep him home with me for the first couple of weeks, but now...”
“I doubt it was anything you said,” I told her, a smirk tugging at my lips. I might not know King personally, but I knew his type. “He just didn’t want you out of his sight.”
“Right?” Abby handed my tea across, gesturing to a nearby seat. “All it takes is one gun in your face or your house burning down, and the next thing you know, they go all Neanderthal on your ass.”
Outrage mixed with indulgence on Charlotte’s and Abby’s faces, telling me they didn’t mind as much as they might let on.
“I think the light duty is getting on his nerves,” Charlotte said after a sip of her drink. “He’s ready to get back to his team. He volunteered to help get this new team installed at Hacr, but as much as he doesn’t mind administration, he wants off desk duty and back in action.”
Abby was nodding as if she completely understood. No doubt she did. I couldn’t see Levi being content with “desk duty.” Those few days when Remi had been unconscious, Levi had been like a bear with a sore paw tied to a telephone pole. Any action was better than waiting.
Exactly how I felt right now.
“So how do you know each other?” I asked, sitting back in my seat. This felt good. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d sat around and chatted with other women outside of work. Hospitals were the biggest gossip rings around, but who was sleeping with whom and who was about to get themselves fired didn’t exactly interest me. I’d been too focused on Brooke and—
You should be focused on her now too.
The guilt hit me broadside, followed by a frustration chaser. For a few moments I’d forgotten how helpless I was in this situation.
“We’ve known each other for years,” Abby was saying. “But we really only connected recently.”
The shadows reappeared in Charlotte’s eyes. “The price of being raised in wealthy, influential families. Nothing seems to matter but them.” She flashed a bright smile Abby’s way. “But we made it despite them, didn’t we?”
“We did.”
Abby had been forced to shoot her father shortly after I’d been released. He’d tried to kill her, the official story said, after she discovered evidence that he’d had her birth mother murdered. With family like that, maybe being with Levi didn’t seem all that foreign to her. The man might be a killer, but no one could deny the authenticity of his feelings for Abby.
Knowing Abby’s history made me all the more curious about Charlotte’s story.
“So, Leah, what about you?” Charlotte asked.
I shook away my thoughts. “What about me?”
Abby smirked, a knowing look in her eyes. “That was a very interesting goodbye Remi gave you earlier.”
