Page 83 of Ruthless Lord
“Tell me it wasn’t you.”
“Please, just listen, okay? I’ll explain.”
I throw the card at the mirror. It bounces into a sink. She flinches and stares at the floor, her shoulders shaking. I feel sick to my toes.
“You stole it, didn’t you? Were you planning on handing it over to him tonight? It went wrong somehow?”
“No!” She shakes her head. “No, that’s not it. Stefano, it was a mistake?—”
“You betrayed me. You stole Giorgio’s keycard. It’s all been you from the start, hasn’t it? The GPS, the motion sensors?—”
She looks confused, chewing a fingernail, still crying. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But I don’t believe her. The keycard is real. It’s solid and it’s proof. Whoever broke into the depot used that exact card to get through the gate, and suddenly it appears in my home office. Charlie’s not even trying to deny she took it.
None of this makes sense.
I turn my back on her, cold all over.
“The doctor’s coming.” I leave the bathroom and start getting dressed.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I’m going to get rid of the body before he shows up.”
“But, Stefano?—”
“No more.” I stare at her, bleak and unfeeling. “No more bullshit. No more half-truths. I’ve been nothing but honest. I followed the rules. I did right. And now you do this.”
“It’s not what you think.”
But we both know that isn’t true.
“Make sure you open the door when the doctor shows up.”
I leave her alone in the room, unwilling to be around her a second longer, filled with a black dread thick like fresh oil.
Chapter 25
Charlie
Idrink coffee in the kitchen as the sun rises. Each swallow hurts. Everything’s sore. My head aches and my shoulders feel like they’re going to explode. The doctor said I’ll be okay, but it was clear he didn’t want to leave me home alone. I had to swear up and down Stefano would be coming back soon to get him to go when the visit was over.
Just another lie to heap on the pile.
I feel empty and numb. My face aches from getting punched. My neck is a total mess. I’ll need so much coverup to hide the bruises it’ll be like wearing a pound cake.
And all I can think about is the bleak betrayal in Stefano’s gaze.
He’s still not back. Hours after it all happened and the house is empty. The corpse is gone, but the bloodstain is still there, gore in the shape of a man. I wonder how we’ll get that out of the carpet. I’m betting Stefano has some tricks that might work.
I feel sick. Every part of me aches. Is this what it’s like to be him every day? Lord knows how he keeps going.
There’s a knock at the door. Fear lances into me and I’m afraid the man’s back to finish what he started. But it’ll be hard to kill me when he doesn’t have a face anymore. I get up and warily check the security feed on a little screen on the wall in the entry hall.
When I open the door, Emily throws herself at me, hugging me so tight it hurts my bruised ribs.
“Stefano called,” she says, holding me. “Oh my god, Charlie, he told me what happened. He said you needed someone. I got over here the second I saw his message.” She gasps when she pulls back and gets a look at my face. Her hands fly to her mouth in horror. “Who did this to you? Was it him? I’ll fucking cut his dick off and make him choke on it, I swear to fucking Christ?—”
