14
I hang up on Robert and lower onto the outdoor rattan couch, bested by defeat. I watch the cool, autumn sun touch the tree branches that surround Charlie’s house, thinking about James and all he’s been through.
In my mind’s eye, I see the scars on his back that mirror my own. I hear his cries of agony echoing around my head. I feel his desperation for Maksim to stop. Now, he’s probably begging Robert and his men to stop. He’s probably begging for me to save him before it’s too late.
I don’t want to reflect on this, but I must. If I don’t focus on James, I’m not sure I will commit to doing Robert’s bidding anymore. I really, really don’t want to leave Charlie. The need to stay is so strong. Almost stronger than the need to save my brother.
How can I put an end to this? How the fuck can I ensure my brother’s safety and my life with Charlie without returning to Robert?
I fling the mobile on the couch and knead my temples just as the balcony doors open. The purpose of my life walks across the creaking decking, holding a steaming cup. “All done?” he says, sitting next to me.
I nod, even though I am not nearly done. I have to go. We have to say goodbye—again.
“I made you a coffee, baby.” He gestures with it. “Breakfast is nearly ready, too, so I hope you’re hungry. Eliza is cooking up a feast.”
The fresh morning breeze carries the bitter scent of coffee, reigniting the memory I had of us a moment ago, out here arm in arm on a frosty morning. I look up at Charlie, devastation in my eyes. I feel like all our moments are stolen, nothing long-lasting. It hurts.
He puts the cup down on the table in front of us. “What is it?”
“I have to go back.” My voice comes out choked and obviously frightened, but I am frightened of being without him. While I’m one of the strongest people even I know, the idea of being without Charlie terrifies me. I grip my throat to rub away the growing ache, whispering, “He-he said I have to go back today by four o’clock this afternoon.”
Charlie’s arm slips around my shoulders as he leans in to kiss the side of my head, to comfort me. I sink into him with one hand on his chest, practically hiding in his large body.
I don’t want to go. It’s the most crushing feeling of dread, just like when he sent me home before.
“You’re not going back.” He kisses me again, on my temple this time. “So, stop worrying.”
Inclining my head, I look up at him. “I have to, Charlie. Trying to buy time didn’t work.”
He shakes his head, but I insist his plan failed. We go back and forth for a while, lightly countering each other before my hackles come up, and I snap that I am leaving. I don’t want to do this; I don’t want to argue, and I certainly don’t want to spend my last morning with Charlie bickering over that fat motherfucker, Robert. So I try to shut him down, but fail miserably.
“You’re not leaving,” he says. “Not today and not in five days’ time.” He pauses for a second, raising his eyebrows before adding in a measured capacity, “You’re. Not. Going. Anywhere.”
“Don’t speak to me like I’m a moron.” I whack his chest to shove him back and stand from the couch in defense. “I wouldn’t speak to you like that, so how fucking dare you?!”
“I’m sorry you feel I’m mocking you.” He meets me on my feet as if to dominate my anger, folding the hem of his red sweater over the waist of his jeans. “I don’t mean to offend you. I’m just making it clear.” He reaches out for a length of my hair, but I smack his hand away. “Blaire, c’mon, don’t do this. Tis’ my job to look after you, not the other way around—and I certainly won’t have you fighting other people’s battles.”
“Other people’s battles?” I ask, enraged. “He’s not just other people. He’s. My. Brother!” My lips twist in offence as I growl, “I’m not one of your incapable harlots, you know? I don’t need you to wrap me up in cotton wool. Maksim taught me to—”
“Enough!” he yells, and I step back in shock. “¡Dios! I won’t have this! You’re already unwell and suffering with serious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder...”
Post Traumatic, what?
“I won’t have you thinking about trouble when you’re ill, Blaire, let alone handling it.” He points at me, his hand steady. “The only thing you should be stressed about right now is getting well.”
“You can’t stop this,” I say, squaring up to him. “I will never leave James to suffer. Never!”
He lifts a finger to shush me, whispering that he will find my brother.
“No, Charlie, you can’t—”
“Shhh,” he hushes, blinking at me, and the mood between us changes. His eyes darken like they do when he’s touching me in all the right places, and it makes me feel...strange. Weak and vulnerable. I cuddle myself, shrinking away, wondering what he’s doing. He curves both hands around my cheeks, half covering my face, and I can’t stop myself from thawing under his touch. Everything in me—the anger and the frustration—it all fades away.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he says softly, knowing I’m under his spell. “You can either stay of your own free will, or I’ll tag you so I know where you are at all times. Those are your options.”
“Tag me?” I lean back out of his touch.
“Yeah, tag you.” He walks past me for the doors but stops on the threshold to say, “Andres will be here in three days, gracias a Dios. We’ll meet him at the airport, and if you keep resisting my orders, I’ll put you on the plane for Mexico.”
“What the...I am not going to Mexico!” My hands fist at my sides. “And I’m not staying here for three fucking days! I have to go back!”
Charlie wanders off into the bedroom. I chase after him, yelling at him to stop. “I’m not kidding! We can part on good terms, or like this, but I don’t fucking want to leave things like this—Charlie! Listen to me!”
He pivots to me, cocking his head, and gestures to outside. “You can’t leave. There are no cars on the estate, and I’ve doubled security with an order to shoot you on sight should you try to escape.”
“Shoot me?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“With a tranquilizer.”
Steam simmers out of my ears, and I’m all but ready to punch his lights out.
“You know”—he crosses his arms—“you could speed up the process of finding James by telling me who had you.”
“Your brother said that wasn’t a safe idea!” I tense from head to toe, squeezing out every word. Nic was right. If Charlie knows Robert is pulling my strings, he will go after him all guns blazing, regardless of any consequences to James. He doesn’t really care about my brother. He’s just pacifying me.
“Nic was being cautious in your company,” Charlie says, disputing my assumption. “He knew as well as I did that if we spoke of forcing information out of you or restraining you, there was a high chance of you trying to escape. Now, there’s no chance you can. So, you might as well tell me who our enemy is, Blaire—or should I work it out for myself, hmm?” He flicks up his eyebrows, maliciously amused. “I’ve had all the time I need to put the pieces together.”
“You have, huh?” I say with sarcasm.
“Course I have, baby. For a start, I know it’s a man pulling your strings.”
How does he know that?
“The cell phone you came with has a French telephone number. The clothes you were wearing were bought from a store in France a week before you returned to me. So, I’m pretty certain our adversary is either French or resides there.” His eyes thin in question. “Now, the only society I know brave enough to traffic girls in France are the Albanians—their entire human trafficking set up is there. But they sell girls. They don’t buy them, unless they have reason.”
“Traffic girls?” I question. “Why would you think he traffics girls?
“You asked me to lift the sanctions.” He stops talking for a split second. Then adds, “Both. Sanctions.”
Fuck.
“Ohhh...” Charlie nods a couple of times, realization hitting him. “Robert knows I’ve got the Albanian girl, doesn’t he?”
My heart is pounding, and my throat is so dry I can’t fucking swallow.
“You can poker face me all you like. Eyes don’t lie, chica.” Lifting a hand out of his crossed arms, he gestures at my face. “I’m kinda insulted by your surprise. Men like myself don’t run multibillion-dollar syndicates for no good reason, Blaire. I was groomed from a child to fight in wars, and I was groomed from a teenager to lead this cause because neither of my brothers were up for the challenge. Tracking enemies is my forte.”
Still, I don’t confirm his suspicion. I gulp past the dry restriction in my throat, feeling like the world around me is decreasing in size.
“It is Robert, isn’t it? Agh, that motherfucker!” Charlie turns to punch the doorframe, every muscle in his arm pumping. “I’m gonna kill him with my bare hands for even daring to touch you!”
“If you don’t let me go now,” I walk up to him, grabbing his arm to make him listen, “and if James gets hurt, you can forget there ever being an us. I’ll never forgive you if he gets hurt. Do you understand that, Charlie?”
He tips his head, staring down on me like I’m tiny and harmless. “Keeping you safe is all that matters to me, so if it means you’ll hate me, then hate me. I’m sure I’ll get over it.”
“Aargh!” I scream, hard enough to make him step back in caution. I wish I measured up to his height instead of his chest, so I could scream in his face. “You’re going to keep me against my will, are you?!”
He shrugs. “I already am, it seems.”
I gasp, astonished by how hypocritical he’s being. “You sent me back to Maksim because you wouldn’t do that.”
He leans into my face, to say with guilt, “And it was the biggest mistake of my life.”
“Liar!” I scream, and he flinches back a second time. “You’re selfish! You’re the reason I almost died, you bastard! No”—I look at my trembling hands like I have blood on them—“I-I didn’t mean to say that.”
“You think I don’t know what I did, hmm? You think I haven’t spent every day since punishing myself for what happened to you?”
“I’m sorry.” I gaze up at him in pity. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“Course you meant to say it. And you’re right to be mad at me, soy un hijo de puta.” I’m a son of a bitch. “I know exactly what I did. I oversaw your operation. I bathed you every day, cleaned every wound on your body...you want to see what I did, huh?”
Before I can answer him, he storms into the walk-in closet. I hear that beeping sound again, electronic button pads. He returns with a thick brown file, throws it at me, and the papers fly everywhere, scattering about the floor.
“Look!” His eyes burn with abrupt rage, the veins in his neck bulging. “A bullet wound to the stomach! Blood poisoning! So many lashes across your back the doctor couldn’t tell the old from the new!” He gestures at my body parts as he lists them. “We’re lucky you can still bear children...do you understand that?!”
I stand here in shock at his sudden outburst, feeling it all: his pain and his guilt.
“I know how he raped you—the surgeon had to stitch you up from within, Blaire. And I questioned the underage girl he was abusing in your absence... She saw Maksim drag you into his room, and when he was done with you, he did the same to her, telling her that if you could take it, she could, too.” I cover my mouth with a hand as he reels off everything that happened like he watched it himself. He knows Maksim beat me with a sjambok whip until I bled. He knows Maksim punched me in the face. He knows Maksim fucked my ass raw. “And, do you know what, Blaire? It. Is. My. Fault.” Stepping up to me, he touches my face, stroking down my cheek with a single finger. My eyes burn with tears, lips quivering to cry. “You, are the only thing I care about,” he says. “You, are the only thing that registers in my heart. So, if keeping you safe means you’ll hate me, then do it with all your passion.”
I crumble, sobbing, “I know you hate James—he set the wheels in motion to all this trouble—but he’s my brother, Charlie. He spent ten years letting Maksim hurt him to spare me of...” I can’t say it. I hold pride for my brother, one thing no man can take away from him. “How can you ensure Robert doesn’t hurt James? How can you ensure—”
“I will personally go capture Robert’s entire family as collateral, but por favor, I can’t do that if I’m worrying that you’re gonna try to escape.” He bends at the knees so we’re eye to eye, catching my tears with his thumbs. “I also need you to tell me what you know, Blaire, where you were and what you heard. Otherwise, we have no chance of finding James.”
I glance down at my feet in a moment of deliberation, knowing my betrayal could cost James his life. I glance back up at Charlie, certain that whether I agree to his demands or not, he’s not going to let me go without a fight. And he’s going to hunt Robert down irrespective of James.
“Do you promise...promise you’ll get James first before you go after Robert?”
He nods, but the power in his silence speaks to me.
“All right,” I say, dashing away my tears. “I’ll tell you what I know.”