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“Thank you, sir. I love Charlotte with all my heart.”
“I can see that. I have zero doubts you’ll love, honor, and protect her, exactly the way she deserves.”
Did he emphasize the word protect or did I imagine that?“Yes, sir. I will.”
Shit. I can’t live like this—in a constant state of fear. What I need to do for my own sanity and Charlotte’s safety is make sure this powerful, scary man knows if there’s everanyshit that’s going to hitanyfan in relation to Charlotte McDougal,Iwant to be the one who gets splattered with it, instead of Charlotte.Every last drop of it.
I swallow hard. “I’m glad you’ve mentioned me protecting Charlotte, sir. I hope you know, as her fiancé and future husband, I’ll doanythingto protect her. Literally, anything.”
“As you should. You love the woman. She’s gonna be the mother to your babies. It’s your job to protect her.”
“And I take that job, seriously.”
He nods. “If ever Charlotte was in harm’s way, for any reason—for instance, if ever she did a stupid thing and brought a shit storm upon herself, let’s say—you wouldn’t hesitate to step in to protect her from whatever consequences might come her way because of what she did.”
I nod slowly.He knows.
Mr. DiMarco lays his clasped knuckles onto the table. “For instance, if Charlotte did something stupid, like, I don’t know, steal sixty grand fromme, I bet you’d want to protect her from whatever consequences might naturally flow from her doing such a stupid thing like that, right?”
Every drop of blood has drained from my brain. I’m incapable of speech. I glance at the nearby bodyguard. Is that guy going to wrap his thick hands around my throat and end me, any second now?
“Eyes here, Auggie.”
I shift my eyes to Mr. DiMarco, and he chuckles at whatever he’s seeing on my face. “You got something to tell me, son?”
“Itook the money,” I blurt. “It was all me and only me. Charlotte had nothing to do with it. I’m very, very sorry for taking it, sir. It was a huge mistake.I tried to pay it back, but things got fucked up.”
He smiles. “That was quite the trick,youtaking the money, since a) Carlo saw Charlotte pick up that duffel bag off the tarmac, which he then told me about, immediately, right then and there; and b) in corroboration of what Carlo told me, you’re nowhere to be found on the CCTV footage I asked Carlo to get for me, which he did. On the contrary, the one picking up that bag was Charlotte, and Charlotte alone.”
I feel like I’m going to puke. My mind is scrambling. Useless. Hurtling through space. “Charlotte wasn’t in her right mind, sir. Please, have mercy on her. During the flight, she found out she was getting laid off the next morning, and she freaked out. The bag was on the ground. You saw that, right? And yes while it was very wrong for her to pick it up and walk away, it wasn’t a heist or a planned theft. She did something stupid, spur of the moment, when she was in the midst of a panic attack about her imminent layoff, and . . . Please, sir. Please, hurt me, not her.” Breathing hard, I wait for the man’s reply, and when one doesn’t come, I add, “We tried very, very hard to pay you back. We had the full amount—sixty grand—for you yesterday, but then, we got duped and gave it all to—”
“Paolo. Yes, I know.” He leans back and smirks. “If you think there’s a goddamned thing that happens in my organization that I don’t know about, think again.”
My chest heaves. “Paolo told us he was working with Carlo.”
Mr. DiMarco shakes his head. “Because that’s what we let him think. And now, the dumbfuck thinks he got away with double-crossing Carlo.”
I process that for a beat. “Wait. So, you and Carlo set atrapfor Paolo?”
He nods. “And letting him know Charlotte took that money was the bait. I told Carlo to let Paolo overhear some of his supposed phone calls—times when he supposedly confirmed plans with you two. I wanted to see what he’d do with that information. Well, now we know. He went to Carlo with that information first, in order to blackmail him.Not to me.He said to Carlo, ‘What’s in it for me to keep quiet about what you did?’ And after making that supposed side deal, he then flew to Seattle and got himself an easy chunk of change for himself.” His dark eyes flash with rage. “In the CCTV footage, Paolo was watching Charlotte like a hawk the whole time she picked up that bag.The whole fucking time.But was itPaolowho came to me to report what he’d seen, so I could decide how to deal with it? No. It was Carlo, who by all rights shouldn’t have even seen her do it, because he was busy talking to me at the time. But that’s Carlo for you. Best in the biz. I swear, the man’s got eyes in the back of his head. Thankfully, he's also as loyal as the day is long. He told me, without hesitation, even though, under any other circumstance, he’d take a bullet for Charlotte. And because he did that, when he asked me, as a personal favor to him, to go easy on Charlotte, I granted his request. ‘Let her stew and shit her pants and lose some sleep,’ I said. And then, after you entered the picture, Auggie, we let Charlotte worry aboutyoubeing made to pay for her sins, on top of everything else.” He chuckles. “That was Carlo’s genius idea. He knew Charlotte is a caregiver type—which means worrying aboutyougetting hurt would be even worse for her than worrying about herself. So, Carlo added that little bonus element into her punishment when he paid Charlotte a visit and happened to meet you.” He leans back. “Have you been shitting a brick, son?”
“Very much, sir. Night and day, basically. And so has Charlotte.”
“Good. I think the punishment fit the crime, then. Don’t you? I mean, the money itself isn’t the issue. I blow more than sixty grand on shopping sprees for my girlfriend or on a night at the strip club. And like you said, the money fell into Charlotte’s lap when she was out of her head about losing her job.” He shrugs. “The kid seized an opportunity. Can’t say I blame her for that. She’s a single girl, making her way in the world. Honestly, I kind of admire her moxie for going through with it. It was a ballsy thing to do. Stupid, but ballsy.”
I take a deep breath. “Do I have your solemn word you’re not going to hurt her?” He’s wearing a gold chain with a cross around his neck, so I add, “Do you swear to God?”
He chuckles. “I just told you we’re all good, Auggie. I never say anything I don’t mean.” He winks. “Okay, yes. I’ll swear to God, just for you.” He pats my arm. “Don’t worry, okay? I like Charlotte. She’s a good kid. So fucking funny. That girl made me laugh harder than anyone on every flight she worked for me. Plus, I’ve got Bella to consider. That kid’s got enough to worry about without also worrying about her Auntie Charlotte.” He leans back. “You can tell your fiancée all is forgiven. We’ll consider it my engagement present to you both.”
I exhale with relief. Maybe I’m naïve, but I actually believe this man. “Thank you, sir. Thank you so, so much.”
He frowns. “Speaking of your engagement, though, we need to talk about that embarrassing excuse for an engagement ring you’ve put on Charlotte’s finger. For fuck’s sake, Auggie, please tell me that’s a placeholder and you’re gonna get the girl a big, fat diamond, as soon as humanly possible.”
I can’t believe he noticed my grandmother’s ring. Charlotte’s wearing it today, because we knew we neededsomething, and it’s pretty and better than nothing. We figured nobody wouldeven notice it, but if they did, we figured, they wouldn’t think twice about the smallness of the diamond because I’m a student and therefore understandably on a limited budget. Apparently, we figured dead-wrong, though, because the look on this man’s face tells me he’s deeply displeased with me.
“Yes, it’s a placeholder. It’s a family heirloom with lots of sentimental value, so that’s what I gave her for now, while I’m a student and money is tight; but, yes, I’ll get Charlotte something much better as soon as I can afford it.”
Mr. DiMarco furrows his brow. “Now see, I’d accept that load of horseshit explanation, considering your student situation, if I didn’t happen to know you’ve got a surefire way to make some big money, so you can afford a much bigger diamond for Charlotte right fucking now.”
