His face twisted from a smile to a sneer so quickly that she stepped back despite the desk between them. “If you breathe a word about this to anyone, I’ll make sure you take the fall. Be very clear on that. You keep your damn mouth shut or this will all be on your head.”
“You can’t pin anything on me. All I’ve done is install a few cameras and train some security personnel. Unless you’re prepared to prove I’m a magician, you’re shit out of luck.”
“Wrong. You’ve already embezzled thirty thousand dollars. In just a few weeks’ time. That’s pretty impressive for a young woman like yourself, but then again, you do have experience.”
“What? That’s absurd.” She actually laughed. But Keith looked so pleased with himself...
And then it hit her. Nicole hadn’t known what Keith and Brad had planned, but Charlie could see it perfectly now. “The expense report. The budget.”
Keith didn’t even bother answering. He just smirked.
“I didn’t prepare those.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But you were the last one logged in to them. And somehow, amid all those new expenses and new hires, a few dozen payments made their way to an online account. Maybe it wasn’t you. Maybe it was. An investigation would take months to sort out. Just like that last one did. The police would be involved. You’d have to hire a lawyer. And of course, it would all end up in the papers for anyone to find with a quick search.”
“You asshole.”
“Hey. I’m not forcing this on you. That isn’t how it needs to go down. Like I said, keep quiet and there won’t be any hard feelings. It’s simple. All right?”
Charlie stuffed the few personal items on her desk into her purse and grabbed her phone. “Tell my brother I never want to speak to him again.”
“No problem. I’m sure he’ll be broken up.”
Her heart raced as she walked past him. It kept racing as she walked to the elevator and glanced fearfully up at the cameras. What else could they make up about her? What else would they claim? It wasn’t as if it was difficult to set people up. She’d heard of that happening in Vegas. A few grams of coke in someone’s bathroom, and suddenly the police were there and it was all being documented.
Jesus. There was nothing she could do about them. She just needed to get out of here and leave this behind.
Charlie wiped the sweat off her temple as she stepped off the elevator and rushed to her car. She glanced in the rearview mirror as she pulled away from the resort for the last time, half certain someone would be following her. But no. She drove away unmolested. If she’d left anything there, it could stay. It wasn’t as if she’d be welcomed back.
She’d expected to feel relieved at escaping, but she was scared. Really scared. This man was holding an axe over her head, and there was no telling if he’d drop it or not. Even if she kept quiet, he could still use that information. After all, he might not like the feeling of waiting for her axe to drop, either.
Charlie wanted to call someone. She wanted someone to meet her somewhere and hug her and tell her it would be fine. A friend. A lover. Anyone.
But she had no one. Everyone had left her, or she’d left them. Her brother, her mom, every boyfriend she’d ever had. Even every party-hopping friend. She wasn’t good at love. She never had been. She’d never wanted anything to do with it.
Her life was superficial. She’d set it up that way. And now her years of being young and successful and carefree were over, and she was alone. After all, if you didn’t believe in love, it wasn’t going to be waiting for you when you needed it.
She started to drive to her apartment, but what would she do there? Sit on her couch and worry? It had been a refuge from anxiety just a few days ago, but it couldn’t protect her from anything now.
For a moment, she considered finding her brother to confront him, but she’d meant what she said. She never wanted to speak to him again. What could he possibly say that could make it better? Maybe he’d expected nothing bad to happen to her, but there was no denying that the emergency parachute in this little plan had been blaming everything on Charlie. Because she was already vulnerable.
Her own brother had seen her down on her knees and instead of helping her up, he’d pulled his foot back to kick her. Hard.
What kind of person was he? Their childhood had taught Charlie not to believe in love, but it had apparently taught Brad not to give a damn about anyone except himself. A reasonable reaction, she supposed, but that didn’t mean she could ever forgive him.
Her last desperate thought was to turn to Walker. In fact, she actually took the turn that would lead her back to the Stud Farm and Walker’s apartment. She could knock on his door and throw herself into his arms so he’d have no choice but to hold her. And then explain that, yes, everything Nicole had told him was true, but Charlie really hadn’t known anything about it. Really. Again.
But how much would that matter? Even if she proved the truth to him, he was still right about her. That she’d treated him like a project. That she’d lied to him about herself. She couldn’t deny any of that.
Charlie pulled up to the curb and looked at his window. His arms would feel so good around her, and she knew she could get him to give in. He was too kind not to. But as good as it would feel in that one short moment, she’d rather die than know he was touching her out of coerced pity.
She sat there for a long time, thinking it through. Thinking of going to bed tonight, and every night, having to worry that she might wake up the next day to the police knocking on her door.
That had been the most terrifying experience of her life. Being brought in to the police station. Facing the hostile questions of a very blunt district attorney. Having no idea what was going on or even what they thought she’d done.
She’d cried there. In front of those people. She’d cried and apologized and begged them to tell her if she was going to jail. For weeks, she’d lived with that fear. It had paralyzed her. Defeated her. She hadn’t even had time to process the hurt and betrayal she’d felt about her lover. That had been so far secondary, she had barely cared at first.
And now she was here with those same fears. Keith wanted her to live like that again. Not just now, but forever. That was the whole point of his threat, after all. To make her afraid. To make her obey.