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Now, just to lay the bait.
We all collectively hold our breath as Charles calls his father from the plane. We have a plan if he answers, but his phone should already be off. We sigh in relief when he gives us a small nod.
“Sir,” he starts, “call me back when you get this. I found,” he stutters, letting his voice shake. “I have something you need to see. I think I may have found Charlotte.” He bites his lips, letting emotion bleed into his voice. He’s actually pretty damn believable. “Devereaux,” he adds. “Charlotte Devereaux, I think I found her. I’m sending photos to your private email and am heading to the estate now to show you everything I found.” He just needs to add the final touch to put the nail in this coffin. “I know what happened back then, Father. She’s too much of a liability to leave her where she is. I’ll see you soon.”
He hangs up the phone and hangs his head. “That was fucking awful.” He sits back down in his seat as Noah uses a burner email to send the photos to Donahue’s private email. “That will get him to his home office. I can guarantee that much, but he won’t call the others.”
“No need for him to,” Noah interjects. “I’ve already hacked into his private email to forward the photos you sent to both of them with a message to meet him at your estate. I haven’t sent it quite yet. We’ll wait until we’re already there so we can eliminate the chance of them getting there before we do.”
We settle into our seats and wait for the long but familiar flight to pass. We’re so close to the end I can almost taste the ash on my tongue.
Chapter Thirty Charles
I fidgetwith the earpiece Scar gave me. It’s foreign and uncomfortable, nothing like a headphone as she claimed. It feels far more invasive.
“Stop messing with it, Charles” she snaps and I startle at her voice. “We can all hear every time you fucking tap it.”
I wince as I sit in my father’s office. “Sorry.” This whole thing is just setting my nerves on edge. My father should be finishing his meeting any moment now and it will only be about fifteen minutes before he walks through the front door. I don’t know what to expect. From him or from the others.
“Bernard is on the move,” a male voice says. Ian, I’m pretty sure.
A female voice adds, “He just came flying to his car, white as a ghost.” Jade; I do remember her. She sounds amused by her observation.
“No movement from Schroder yet,” another female voice says. That’s Rachel; she’s the one who was talking to me at the party. It still baffles me how many people Scar has in her corner now. Not just employees, but friends. Family. Making all of this run a lot smoother with less anxiety than if we had to pay people to be our eyes and ears. We don’t have to stress about any of them turning their backs on us or switching to the other side for a paycheck.
“Sending the text now,” responds Noah. He scares me a little bit. Not in the same way as the others, but I’m fairly positive it would be impossible to keep a secret from him. He probably knew I was gay even before we told them all. I wouldn’t put it past him to have a list of my exes. Hell, even my browser history. Nothing is safe with him around.
I sit behind my father’s desk and pull up the cameras from around the property. I click through each view to make sure I know where each and every security guard is. “All security except for my own has been cleared out.”
“Taking control of the feeds now,” Noah says and I sit back. He’s already walked me through how to download everything off of this computer and I slip the USB into my pocket for safekeeping. Who knows what other criminals they’ll be able to find with this? “Okay, cameras are disabled,” he adds a few moments later. “Deleting the last four months of footage. As far as anyone is concerned they stopped working and your father just never bothered to have them fixed.”
“Got it,” I agree.
“Here Schroder comes,” Rachel confirms.
“Also white as a ghost,” the other male voice laughs. I’m fairly sure his name is Holden, but I’ve hardly had any conversations with him.
As if on cue, my phone begins ringing. “Hello, Father,” I answer.
There’s an unfamiliar lilt in his voice as all his words rush together. “You really found her? I saw the photos and the resemblance is uncanny.” He laughs, an unhinged sound. “You really found her. Don’t touch her. Come home now and bring me everything you have on the girl.”
My teeth sink into my bottom lip in disgust. It’s hard to not respond the way I really want to. But I know this way is better. It’s the right thing to do. String him along. Just a little longer.
“I’m already at the estate, Sir. I have a file for you.”
He hangs up without another word. I fall back into the seat and wait. Any minute now.
My phone beeps with security letting me know Dean Bernard just pulled in through the gates. They already know to have him pull through to the back to keep his car out of sight when my father arrives.
“Bernard is here,” I say even though they should all already know. They are just outside the gates, ready and waiting to come in at my signal.
“Keep calm, Charles,” Scar soothes. She must hear the nerves in my voice. “We’re right here and we have your back.”
“I know,” I answer, a small smile spreading across my face at the determination in her voice. She has more strength in her pinky finger than most people have in their whole bodies. Me included. Her reassurance lets me borrow just a little bit of hers though. Enough to feel confident I’ll be able to get through this. One way or another.
The Dean doesn’t seem to have any trouble finding his way to the office. I instructed security to just let him in and point him in the right direction. Has he ever been here before? His eyes are shifty and nervous as he enters the room. Surprise and apprehension cross his face as soon as he sees me sitting here.
“Hello, Dean. My father is on his way.” I use my best calming voice to lower his guard. “Can I get you a drink while you wait?”
