Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
I feel leaden and exhausted, all my old wounds acting up again. The keycard is a weight in my palm. I carry it into the bathroom and find Charlie already out and getting dressed. She looks at me, then down at the card in my hand, and the look on my face tells me everything.
The color drains away. Her eyes go wide. Her mouth opens and she looks at me like she’s going to cry.
“What’s this?” I ask her, holding it out.
“I can explain.”
“Where did it come from?” I’m dizzy and shaking my head. This doesn’t make any sense. “Charlie, tell me that dead fuck in my office brought this in here.”
Tears streak down her face. “Stefano…”
“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—”
“Easy, easy, it wasn’t Stefano.” I pull her inside before the neighbors hear her cursing up a storm. I’m honestly impressed at her level of rage. I didn’t think she had it in her. “Aren’t you normally pretty quiet?”
“Not when someone hurts my friend, I’m fucking not. My god, what happened? Stefano just said you were injured in a fight but it looks like someone tried to kill you.”
“Well, that’s because they did.” I fill her in on everything. She listens, horrified, and makes more coffee when I’m done.
“What’s he going to do? I mean, someone broke into your house. He could’ve walked right into your room while you two were asleep and—”