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“I need to know who's got Arjana,” Robert snaps, the veins in his neck contracting. “I can't just let this go. I had her for barely two hours before someone came into my house and stole her. Someone invaded my personal space! I can’t just let that go, Charlie.”
“That's irrelevant to me,” Charlie says, and he warns, “If you start a conflict with Maksim, I'll be on his side.”
“What!?!” Robert's face lights up with shock. “Why would you side with that scumbag? He's the reason you did a stretch in a Russian jail!”
My mouth drops open. Charlie went to jail because of Maksim?What the fuck...Why?
Charlie cocks his head. “Let's just say, I've got other interests when it comes to Maksim now.”
Robert pulls his eyebrows together and looks down at me, then back at Charlie.
Charlie nods, and I sense he's grinning.
It all ends pretty quickly from there, which baffles me completely. Charlie says that Maksim will pay within the month. “Any longer, and I'll call you.”
Robert lets out a steely breath, obviously pissed off with the outcome. “Looks like I have no other choice but to accept that offer then, does it?”
I hide my gun away before anyone sees it, wondering how the hell I'm going to tell Maksim about what's happened here today. He needs to know.
“Trust that I'll find out what happened to your girl,” Charlie says, shoving his gun in the back of his jeans before fixing his t-shirt to cover it. “And anyone who was involved will suffer my wrath, as a favor to you for trusting I'll deal with the situation.” Reaching back, he grabs one of my hands and entwines our fingers together. My stomach flips, mostly with anxiety for touching him, but also with a dollop of embarrassment that he's holding my hand like this in front of Robert. His grip is firm yet gentle, his hand completely covering mine.
“We'll be off now, Robert. Take care and I'll speak to you very soon.” Forcing me down the porch steps, Charlie leads me back to his car.
Robert says a curt goodbye from a distance and then I hear the front doors close with a loud thud.
I cannot believe how easily people back down from Charlie. I don't know why. He isn't any different from all the other underworld elites—or is he? Maybe Maksim didn't tell me the full story about him. Charlie does refuse to address Maksim in the proper manner and gets no reprove from anyone.
Charlie puts his lips on my ear and whispers, “You did well, Blaire.”
“Huh?” I say, screwing up my face.
Opening the car door for me, he puts me in the passenger seat and plugs in my seatbelt. I briefly wonder why he isn't letting me drive us back to his house, but I don't really care.
“What do you mean, ‘I did well’?”
He smiles sneakily at me and my eyes enlarge.
Did he just use my loyalty to Maksim to his advantage?
He clicks my door shut, jogs around the car, and jumps into the driver's seat, firing up the engine. I vaguely see all his men piling into their cars but I'm not really paying attention.
I turn to face Charlie, gripping the edge of my chair. “Did you just use me?” I say louder than necessary, but I can't help myself. I'm fuming.
“Not exactly,” Charlie says, a stupid, naive expression on his face. “I knew you wouldn't say anything about Maksim without his consent—actually, I was banking on it.”
I'm stunned, and I know I look it. Yes I'm glad he's taken care of Maksim's problem with the Albanians but I can't say I'm happy about the way he's used me. He could have told me what the plan was. I'm not an idiot. I would have followed suit.
Putting the car in gear, Charlie pulls off the driveway, between the arsenal of SUV's that follow us out.
“Why did you just pretend you've never seen that girl Arjana before?” I ask, striving to keep my cool so I can get the answers I need.
“Because I've got her,” he steers down a country lane, “and I won't be able to keep her if Robert knows that now, will I?”
“What the... You can't be... Are you kidding me!?!” I yell, feeling sick. “Who the fuck are you, a female kleptomaniac?”
He bursts out laughing. “I can't believe you know what that means.”
“This isn't funny, Charlie. Why the hell do you have her?” My eyes are blazing, and my guts are turning over with guilt because I can't help thinking he's mistreating her, too. “You're abusing her, aren't you?” I have to ask, then I add in anger, “You're all the fucking same!”
