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Especially alone.
“He’s been eager to have this meeting with you,” she said to me as we reached the top of the grand staircase. “I’m glad you made it tonight. He was getting rather tired of trying to hunt you down.”
My skin crawled at the way she worded it but I pushed the thoughts away—if Charlie Hughes was the person behind the hit, there was no way I was coming out alive, no matter how much Hannah thought otherwise. “I’m glad we could meet up then.”
I should’ve kissed Hannah one last time.
But there was no going back at this point.
Meredith knocked on the heavy double oak doors. “Mr. Lombardi is here to speak with you, honey.”
“Let him in,” a deep, ragged voice called from the other side of the door. “And leave us alone.”
“Of course.” Meredith gave me a slight smile as she pulled the door open, waving me into the dark wood-themed office and then shutting them behind me.
I squinted toward the desk, seeing Charlie sitting quietly behind it. His dark brown eyes seemed nearly black beneath the orange glow of the lamp on his desk. He didn’t look much different than I remembered, his hair still salt and peppered, his broad shoulders filling the high-backed leather chair he was sitting in.
He took an audible deep breath as I took a step forward. “Well, Ronny. I have to say, you arenotgreat at following directions.”
I bit the inside of my lip, my mind going to the drop. “I’m not sure what I missed, but I do apologize about that—I’ll make sure the next one happens flawlessly.”
His brow furrowed. “I don’t think we’re on the same page here, Ronny. I’ve been trying to track you down forpersonalreasons.”
I shook my head, trying to understand what the hell he was talking about—and then pausing as the light hit the shiny barrel of a pistol on his desk.
Shit.
“I’m just going to be honest with you, Charlie. I don’t think I know what you’re talking about.”
“Well, we can start with your motorcycle,” he chuckled. “It’s sitting out back—and I plan to have it fixed back up for you, but I had to make the lesson known. I needed you to come to that meetingalone.When I want to talk to you, I mean, justyou.”
Sohewas behind the desert thing.
As much as that was a little disturbing Charlie destroyed my motorcycle, itdidconfirm that he wasnotthe guy behind the hit. And as much as that was a relief, it just left more questions.
“I apologize for that. I’ll make sure that I come alone next time.”
“Why don’t you take a seat,” Charlie motioned to the chair across from his desk. “There’s no need to stand there anxious and bent out of shape. I’m not here to kill you, just talk to you. Your dad was afriendof mine—and I mean that. I was also saddened to see that Vinny Lewis wasn’t in your party. You chose some interesting company tonight. It was unexpected, to say the least.”
“Yeah...” my voice trailed off as I sank into the cold leather chair across from him. It smelled heavily of leather conditioner—like someonereallykept up with the furniture.
Cleaning the blood off, probably.
I nearly chuckled as I looked back up at Charlie, who was studying meverycarefully.
“How have you been, Ronny?” His tone was strikingly casual, and I hadnoidea how to take what he was asking—no matter how straightforward he was being. When we had been setting up the gun deal with him, he had been less than pleasant...
Though I never got him alone quite like this.
“Well?” Charlie raised an eyebrow at me. “I hate to break it to you, but I can’t read your mind, son.”
“Sorry,” I cleared my throat, leaning forward a little. “Things have been difficult.”
“And why is that?”
I teetered back and forth with telling him the truth about the hit—but I hadnoidea ifthiswas the guy to have on my side or not. It might make the chapter look too weak to handle the business deal he had offered us.
“There’s just been a lot going on.”
