We didn’t talk after that. I basically stared at the clock and counted the minutes until finally dragging myself off to shower and get dressed.
When it was time to go, I stared down at the gun that Charming had given me. If he had known what I would end up doing with it, he never would have given it to me. But it was the only way I knew to do this. It would be quick and hopefully relatively painless. I didn’t think I had it in me to do it any other way.
I picked up the gun and shoved it into my bag.
Piper was standing beside the couch when I went to the door. She couldn’t come with me. I had to do this alone.
And then I left. I didn’t look back.
Chapter Fifty-One
“Deal - to do business; trade.”
Charming
Please don’t let me be too late.
It was the mantra that repeated over and over again in my head the entire way to Frankie’s apartment. I knew I didn’t have long, that G.R. would be coming for me yet again, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going back into confinement.
Confinement was stupid.
Besides, I tried it twice, all in the name of keeping Frankie out of this mess, and that worked about as well as using leaves for toilet paper.
There was no way in hell I was going to let her kill someone for me. That kind of thing would ruin her life. The guilt would swallow her whole until she was just a mere shell of herself.
I illegally parked the stolen Roadster and ran as fast as I could up to her apartment and flung open the unlocked door. It hit the wall with a bang.
Piper jumped off the couch and Storm shot across the room to put himself in front of her. “Charming! How did you get out?”
“Where’s Frankie?” I demanded.
“She left,” Piper replied.
“The Target is here?” I’d been hoping she was still out of town.
“She got back last night. Frankie’s going over to her house now.”
“How long ago did she leave?”
“There’s still time,” Storm said.
Relief made my limbs weak. “Good, let’s go.”
The entire drive over, Storm argued with Piper about why she should have stayed behind. It annoyed the hell out of me. “Would you two shut up?!” I demanded, pulling up as close to her gated property as I could.
I was nervous because it took so long to get here. I prayed Frankie was having an attack of the nerves and wasn’t able to do what she came here for.
“It doesn’t matter if she came or not. We’re here and I’m sure as hell not driving her home.”
The pair fell silent.
“Piper, sit in the car,” I ordered. “Storm, you’re coming with me.”
Once we were out of earshot from Piper, I said, “This probably isn’t going to end well for me. Will you watch out for Frankie?”
“Yeah, I’ll watch out for her.”
“Thank you.”
