Legal Action (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles)

by Kimball Lee

  Bly was shocked beyond what he thought was possible. He was livid that West had failed to discover that Finn had been the man from Charlotte’s past. He felt it was his own fault that he’d kept her away from her friends so that Finn didn’t know she had come in contact with Jamey Huang. He’d felt powerless in the face of his love for Charlotte and now he felt powerless to do anything to save her, other than to hand over a man who would be tortured and murdered.

  How would Charlotte be able to live with that? Bly knew she loved him as he loved her but he also knew she cared for her former lover, was still his best friend. The thought of her, drugged and on her way to China made him want to cry for the first time since he was a little boy. Imagining Jamey Huang’s young thugs gathered around her, seeing her naked… he couldn’t stand to think about it.

  West used all his connections to locate JP and give him the news. JP, it turned out, was in charge of organizing the details of an operation once a target was located, but Finn was unparalleled at stealthily and cleanly eliminating, ‘the bad guys.’

  JP arrived at Bly’s mansion in the middle of the night and he looked badly shaken. He sat down with Bly and West and told them what he knew.

  “I talked to Finn on a secure line and he’s gone out of his mind that they have her. I’ve never known him to come undone over anything before. I’m in shock, to be honest; I never suspected there was anything more than friendship between them. I did know Finn loved someone but it had been over for a while and talking about was strictly off limits. What matters is getting Charlotte back and the fact that Finn is not thinking rationally. He’s not going to fight them and put her in harm’s way. We all know they’re not going to let him live once they have him. He’s been ruthless at taking out Huang’s connections and let me tell you they are some bad mother-fuckers. Huang isn’t just dealing in rifles. He got his hands on long range missiles and nuclear warheads. He’s supplying terrorists. Finn’s valuable to the government but they’re not going to get involved and risk blowing the covers of an entire group of their operatives. Of course, he knows that, and he intends to go it alone, I can’t figure out anything we can do other than let him give himself over to them.”

  ***

  Charlotte opened her eyes and everything was blurry. Her vision began to clear but she couldn’t figure out where she was. She heard the roar of jet engines and remembered bits and pieces. Someone had jabbed a needle in her neck and she’d awakened to see Jamey Huang’s sadistic face above her. He’d moved his face close to hers and she’d scratched the hell out of him. He’d slapped her so hard her face was still throbbing.

  She heard men’s voices talking and laughing and she sat up. She was on a bed in only her bra and panties; one wrist was handcuffed to a metal bedpost. She yelled at the top of her lungs, “Jamey, you worthless coward get in here and unlock me!”

  He came in and sat next to her on the bed, he ran his hand over her lacy bra, then up to her swollen lips. She grabbed his hand and bit it and he backhanded her again.

  “Bly will kill you for touching me.” She said, her voice shaking.

  He laughed and produced the key to the handcuff, “Charlotte, my beauty, you’re not really my type. Wrong equipment, if you get my drift. Although that succulent mouth of yours is probably incredible to fuck. My men are extremely needy however, and rather bored, so you’ll want to stay quiet and out of sight. I’ll unlock your wrist and you can use the restroom, but if I were you, I would stay in the relative safety of this room. By tomorrow your beloved assassin will trade himself for you and you can go home with your billionaire and forget this ever happened.”

  An old Chinese man came in and with a tray of medical instruments and as she watched he filled a syringe.

  “What assassin, what are you talking about?” she tried to back away and Jamey wrapped her tightly in a blanket and held her as she struggled against the needle.

  “Sweet dreams, princess. Be sure to dream well about your old lover, this is Finnegan Hale’s last night on earth.”

  The drug was dragging her down, down, faraway, and she remembered.

  ***

  After the first year of law school, JP, Finn and Charlotte moved into a tiny house together. They did it partly for financial reasons but mostly because they were a threesome. Not where sex was concerned, Charlotte had avoided men after her divorce and men left her alone when Finn and JP were around. They lived together because they loved being each other’s company, they laughed at the same jokes, they drank but didn’t smoke, and they didn’t do drugs. Both men had gone into the military straight out of high school; they’d finished their bachelor’s degrees online and had become bad-ass Special Forces operatives. The threesome moved into a 1930’s Craftsman cottage not far from campus, it had three small bedrooms and only one bath. That had been difficult for Charlotte at first since the men never thought to close the bathroom door.

  “It’s a military thing!” Finn yelled as she ran back down the hall one morning after she’d walked in on him humming as he sat on the edge of the bathtub jerking off. He laughed and told her he’d heard her battery operated ‘boyfriend’ hum often enough.

  Finn had grown up in Manchester, England and his family moved to California when he was seventeen. He’d gone into the navy, been recruited for SEAL training and had become a US citizen.

  Charlotte knew that no matter how close they’d all become as friends, both men still secretly lusted after her, but they were well oiled military machines. They knew how to resist enemy interrogation and torture so they lived with and resisted her. Then, one night the sound of JP and some girl really going at it had sent her to the bathroom in the dark, and there was Finn.

  He stood in the shower with water pouring over him, his eyes were closed. He was all gorgeous, rippling muscles, tattoos and battle scars, his long, stiff cock in his hand.

  She stood still and watched him, it was so fucking sexy and his hard, sculpted body was so splendid it didn’t look real.

  He wasn’t quite as tall as JP, but he was powerfully built, he trained as a boxer and it kept him incredibly strong and ripped. He’d said his tattoos told secret stories of missions he’d been on as a SEAL and there were knife and bullet wound scars all over him. He had dark, closely cropped hair and lips that made women stop and stare.

  Charlotte, too, was mesmerized by his mouth. Any woman would have paid good money for those lips, the top one was as full as the bottom and they were a luscious red.

  He was deep in to what he was doing and had no idea she was there, for some reason he let go of his cock, covered his face with his hands and murmured, “ah, Charlotte.”

  She stepped back then and a floor board creaked, he looked at her and she hadn’t moved another muscle.

  He stepped out of the shower dripping wet, he didn’t even turn off the water. He held her with his large, grey eyes and walked slowly toward her, she could’ve walked away but she didn’t.

  He took her face in his hands and she had never known such a kiss. His lips were amazingly succulent. The kiss was hot and wet and powerful.

  She’d only ever slept with one man, strange as that seemed for the woman who’d been every man’s sexual obsession thanks to the magazine layout. But she’d worked hard and avoided boys to get through school then she’d married briefly for the wrong reasons. Her divorce had been final for nearly a year and she hadn’t had sex in all that time.

  He picked her up and he was still wet from the shower. His eyes never left hers as he laid her on her bed then locked the door and climbed in with her.

  “Are you sure?” he asked her. “It could change things.”

  He knew how to hold himself in check but he was struggling with his need for her. He wanted her more than he wanted his next breath, but he didn’t want her to know that he was in love with her.

  “Let’s just not let things change,” she said as she wrapped her legs around him and used her own hand to guide him into her.

  Maybe it had be
en so burning hot because it seemed taboo; they were breaking their vow to never let sex ruin their party of three. Now they were both cheating on JP. They decided it would be the only time it would ever happen, so they stayed up all night until they were both so raw they could barely walk or pee. They’d finally fallen asleep sometime the next morning and when they heard JP in the kitchen making coffee she made Finn go out the window naked.

  He didn’t care, he walked back through the front door as JP was handing Charlotte a cup of coffee. He stood there butt naked and said, “Did you realize that if you go out early enough you can steal the neighbors newspaper?” He threw the paper on the kitchen table, said good night and slept the rest of the day.

  JP stuck his head in Finn’s bedroom later in the day and said, “Hey, next time you sneak down the street to fuck Mrs. Kravitz come back with your clothes, numb nuts.”

  Finn gave him a thumbs up and went back to sleep.

  Charlotte was still on the couch in her nightgown and JP turned to look at her and motioned toward Finn’s room.

  He shook his head and said, “Can you believe that pervert? I think he nearly fucked himself to death.”

  SEVEN

  Alexander Bly, West and JP stood in a small garden in Hong Kong waiting to see how it was going to go. Jamey Huang and five of his men walked into view, he had Charlotte next to him.

  She was barefoot, in jeans and a man’s blue dress shirt. She looked drowsy and one of her cheeks was bruised and her bottom lip was split and swollen.

  Bly exhaled sharply and started toward her. West held him back telling him to not show anger, to wait if he wanted her back at all.

  Finn appeared out of nowhere and walked toward Huang and his group and everyone got quiet.

  Huang’s men aimed handguns at Finn, except for Jamey who just smiled and pulled Charlotte close.

  “Any last words for her?” Jamey asked, watching Finn.

  “A good bye kiss,” Finn said and leaned forward. He kissed Charlotte lightly on the mouth and knocked Jamey out with one blow of his powerful fist. “Go,” he told her, staring into her eyes, she was crying hard and clinging to him as four of the men attacked him. They pushed her aside and dragged him away.

  A single man stayed behind holding a gun. He pushed Charlotte toward Bly and continued to point the gun at them until Bly collected her and they rushed to a waiting car.

  On the jet Charlotte was curled against Bly, relieved to be safe in his arms. She was still crying as she pictured the way Finn looked at her for the last time, and she wouldn’t be consoled. He’d kissed her then smiled as if there was nothing to worry about before he was attacked and dragged away. Her head was against Bly’s chest and he stroked her hair, his heart thumped rhythmically against her cheek. There was a doctor on board and he deemed her completely sound and gave her a Xanax. Still she couldn’t stop shaking. Her life would go on, she would be happy with Bly; they would have a beautiful life. But, Finn wouldn’t survive and the thought of his eyes, still as alive and defiant as the men beat him, made her weep again and again. He’d been her best friend and she loved him like family.

  JP had his satellite tablet on searching the Hong Kong news stations.

  “Look at this,” he said as he typed swiftly and the picture from his electronic tablet flashed to life on the jets big overhead screen.

  A British news station was saying, “A massive explosion has occurred in the heart of Hong Kong. The building, which was vacant at the time, belongs to the Huang Worldwide Corporation. Huang headquarters reported that Mao Huang’s son and some of his friends were touring the building today and were almost certainly killed…”

  “There,” JP shouted and whooped, “that’s him I know it! I’m recording it, let me back it up and enhance. Look, Char, that’s gotta be him, I think the tough son-of-a-bitch got out! Way to fucking go Finnegan!

  ***

  Charlotte resigned as legal counsel for Bly International. She would continue to draw blood in the courtroom with her arguments but she wanted to be free to legally ravage Alexander Bly’s body as often as she could.

  Bly proposed to her on his boat while the sun sank into the ocean leaving a painters palette of pink and orange behind. He slipped the huge Tiffany diamond on her finger on bended knee as the yacht cruised toward Hawaii.

  Before she could say “yes,” his mouth covered hers with scorching kisses and whispers of his undying love and passion.

  He led her to the bedroom to make it official, to make her realize she was his and only his.

  In the night, after Bly fell asleep, Charlotte tied her bathrobe and walked out on deck to marvel at the moon and the endless ocean. The stars hung like lanterns in the sky and the sound of the water moving aside as the yacht raced along was somehow lonely. She felt the cell phone West had given her vibrate in her pocket. It was a secure line and other than Bly and West, no one knew the number. She smiled to think Bly must have discovered her side of the bed empty and missed her already.

  “Yes?” she answered, coyly.

  “My love, don’t marry him, wait for me. Charlotte, I’m coming for you,”

  “Finn? Are you alright, how did you escape, where are you?”

  She began to cry and he calmed her and told her not to say another word.

  He said he loved her more than life itself, he was sorry it had taken so long to realize what was truly important. He wanted her to know they would have their cottage in the country and they would be happy and have babies and raise sheep in the garden.

  He told her not to worry as she cried, they would be together soon.