“Charlotte is her own hero,” he thundered as Jay stood over him. His gun pointed at his head. The monster’s eyes trailed over to Charlotte's limp body once more, her new lover now crouched down beside her.
“Put it down!” Jay shouted, as a number of police cars surrounded them. Jay held his gun up once an officer was trained on Parker, but as soon as it was up Charlotte's monster raised his gun and shot himself in the head.
“Placez vos mains au-dessus de votre tête,” the officers shouted at Jay. He turned to look at Charlotte, his hands behind his head. He couldn't hear their shouts anymore as his gaze landed on her body and the blood surrounding her. Josh knelt beside her, crying her name as she laid completely still on the street. Jay looked back over at the officers.
“I'm a detective from America. You can grab my badge from my pocket,” he told them as they walked toward him. Satisfied, they allowed him to lower his hands.
“That's my witness, I have to go see her,” he said, his voice hoarse, his eyes watering. The leading officer nodded. Jay ran to her as the ambulance attendants lifted her onto the stretcher. Josh, looking pale and lost beside her appeared shocked as Jay reached for Charlotte’s hand. Her cold skin made him shiver.
“Nous devons aller monsieur, elle a encore une impulsion,” the ambulance attendant said as they lifted her in and shut the door.
“She still has a pulse,” Josh said aloud, as though trying to convince himself she’ll make it.
“I'll drive you to the hospital.” Jay said to Josh who nodded, knowing he was too shaky to drive himself. He waited as Jay gave the officer in charge his card with his cell number on it.
“I'll be in touch to go over what happened. That man is a wanted murderer in the United States. He followed his target here. I have to go to her first,” Jay stumbled, his words catching in his throat.
“Once we’re done here, we’ll call you,” he said, dismissing Jay.
“You must be Jay right, her agent?” Josh asked as Jay drove quickly through the city, following the ambulance. Jay just nodded his response. He couldn't talk to him right now. He was too close to breaking into tears. He felt guilty for not catching Parker sooner. He believed this was all his fault.
“She talked about you a lot. I can see she means alot to you too. She told me she doesn’t have family, no one to call. I’m sure you won’t believe me, but she means the world to me, she’s everything to me. I won’t step back, I won’t walk away from her,” he said, turning away from Jay.
Jay was called shortly after arriving at the hospital. Pacing in the waiting room, he answered his cell.
“Agent Carter, can you come to the Hotel Bastille, 67 Rue de Lyon. Your man has been there for two weeks,” the officer told him.
“I'm on my way,” he sighed as he walked out. He didn't look back at Josh. He couldn't. It killed him that Charlotte was dying and he couldn't turn back the clock to change anything. He couldn't save her now.
He pulled up out front the hotel. A few police cars were parked by the entrance. Jay walked to the front doors, showing his badge to the officer waiting for him. He nodded as he brought him up to Parker’s room. A few detectives were already inside. A forensic team had been called in once his hotel room had been identified. A man in a brown suit and a bald head looked up at Jay as he walked in.
“Hi, you must be Agent Carter. I'm Detective Payeur. This guy was pretty sick,” he said gruffly, with a thick French accent. Jay nodded as he regained his composure. He had to put Charlie out of his mind while he helped them close the file on her monster.
“He followed her here from New York I gather. There are pictures of young women in a book by his bedside table. Most of them are bruised, rapped and lying dead in disgusting positions. He also has files on his laptop, one of them is labeled Charlotte Bellamy,” the detective told him. He pointed at the laptop, allowing Jay to go through them if he needed too.
“Have you looked inside it yet?” Jay asked nervously.
“Not yet, since you're involved in her case it's all yours,” he replied. Jay nodded as he glanced at the photo album the detective had mentioned. Jay had no idea Colin Parker was a serial killer.
“Since all of his victims appear to be American we are happy to step aside. You can call in whoever you need from the embassy to assist,” he told him. Jay appreciated them stepping aside. He really wanted to get back to the hospital but he knew he had to confiscate what he needed as evidence. He needed to know, without a doubt that the man that shot her then killed himself really was the same man that killed her parents.
He put on gloves and began going through his things. He opened his wallet. Going through it, he came across a folded picture. After opening it up, he dropped it on the desk. He gripped his hands into fists. He knew now that he had let her down from the beginning. He should have protected her more. He should have stayed with her more. His feelings for her frightened him from the beginning but that should not have affected his job. They should have locked him up a long time ago.
Charlotte's eyes seemed to be looking right into the camera as she held onto the horse's reins. He knows that she had ridden off for hours possibly alone, while on that ranch. If he had found her all those times why didn't he kill her then? Jay didn’t understand the game he played with her.
He opened the laptop slowly. He knew that whatever was in that file would be disturbing. Before he could bring himself to look in it he picked up his cell and called the hospital, hoping for good news but expecting the worst.
“She is still in surgery Officer Carter. All we can do is wait sir,” she told him in broken English.
“Merci,” he said before setting his phone down. Jay knew she was tough. She has always been a fighter and no one would break her again. He clicked on the folder named Charlotte. More than a hundred photos appeared, including some taken of her parents.
The first picture he saw of her, she was with him, leaving one of her first placements. There was more of her alone through the years. He clicked through them quickly, one of her at a bus stop leaning against a brick wall, another picture of her walking hand in hand with Tyler on the ranch. He wondered if they had sex, he always assumed she was a virgin. The thought of him using her angered him again. He knew Charlie wasn't his, never was and never would be, but he didn't know it would hurt him so much to have to let her go.
He came to some more recent pictures of her kissing Josh at a cafe and another of her out front their hotel here in Paris. He could tell Charlotte only had eyes for Josh. She had forgotten everything he had taught her about self preservation. She wasn't wearing a wig or even sunglasses. For all he knew this guy was calling her by her real name.
The photo of Josh sitting so close to her in a cafe on a busy street seemed innocent enough until the one that followed was a close up of Josh's hand up her mini skirt. Her eyes were locked on Josh as her lips revealed the pleasure he was giving her. Another photo was of the two of them on a balcony. This one surprised him even more. He swallowed hard feeling relieved the other officers in the room had left him alone to go through these. He stared back at the photo, his anger surfacing again. This stupid guy had exposed her to the world, putting her in more danger but he couldn’t take his eyes off the photo.
Charlotte wore a black dress and Josh was holding her against him. Her legs wrapped around his hips as he pushed her against the railing. Her head had fallen back, her hair hanging down. It was obvious even though they weren't exactly naked that he was fucking her. He envied Josh, feeling his own arousal, which he knew was sick. Sitting in a hotel room that was inhabited by a killer, wanting to stroke himself to a photo. He realized that Josh had unleashed all Charlotte’s inhibitions, years of shutting people out and repressing her emotions ended with him.
Jay had always thought that her release would be gut wrenching pain. He never thought her release would come through passion. She has grown into a very sensual woman, her warm touch and seductive stare would melt any man's resolve. There h
ad been times when she touched him that he felt his control falter. He loved her but knew he could never touch her. He shouldn't have expected to keep her in hiding forever, what kind of a life was that for anyone. It had been so long and she had been so obedient, holding on to no one, always running when he told her to. It made sense that her only rebellion would be exhibitionism. It was freeing for her not to be hiding.
He closed the computer after deleting a number of photos of her that he didn't want anyone else to see. He knew he was tampering with evidence but he didn't care. It didn't matter anymore anyway. Parker was dead and Charlotte was free. He eventually left the disgusting room and headed back to the hospital.
CHAPTER TWELVE
~
Pulse
Josh had rolled over in bed, reaching beside him, craving her warmth, but instead found her side of the bed cold. He quickly jumped up, throwing his track pants and a tee shirt on just as a gunshot rang through the room, then another. His heart stopped, he knew it was her. He ran out the door barefoot and flew down the stairs toward the hotel entrance. A few people had gathered near the hotel doors but no one was beside her motionless body. Josh heard someone say the police and an ambulance were on the way but a man with a gun was still out there. He looked around for her assailant, catching sight of a man lying just ten feet away from her, blood pooling around him too.
As he pushed his way out of the hotel a black car drove between them and he watched as Jay stepped out quickly. Jay’s gun immediately pointed at the man lying on the road. Josh looked back towards Charlotte, a gun lay gripped in her hand. He ran towards her, crouching down beside her, brushing her hair back from her pretty face, needing to see her eyes. She was still breathing.
“Come on baby, stay with me, it's all over now. He's dead Charlotte,” Josh told her as he held her cold hand in his. He was afraid to move her, feeling relieved when he heard the ambulance getting closer.
“Charlotte,” he called her name as tears streamed down his face. He can't hear what's going on around him. All he can see is her and all he can hear is his own heart wrenching sobs, only to be jolted back by the sound of another gun shot. He looks over at Jay, thinking he shot the man lying in the street but Jay's hands are in the air. The man on the ground shot himself.
As he looks back at the angle of Charlotte’s gun and the now dead man he realized that she had fatally shot her monster several times before he had finished the task. She killed her monster. He had no idea she possessed a gun or was even capable of shooting someone, but he knew her monster wasn’t just anyone. He stole her life from her and everyone she loved.
“I can't lose you. I can't live without you Charlotte,” he sobbed as the ambulance arrived and the attendants took her from him. He watched as a man looking just as distraught as him takes Charlotte's hand as she's lifted onto the stretcher. He notices his eyes water and his mouth quiver. Josh realized in that moment that his suspicions were right. Jay was more than just her agent, at least he was.
“She still has a pulse,” he told him as he staggered back.
“I'll drive you to the hospital,” Jay offered, regaining his composure. Josh nodded as he stood back overhearing Jay tell the officer that Charlotte had been followed from New York. He felt guilty, he thought he did everything right.
“You must be Jay right?” Josh asked as Jay drove fast through the city, keeping up with the ambulance. He just nodded his response. Josh decided it was probably good that they didn’t talk right now. They were both too emotional.
After Jay left, he paced back and forth in the waiting room, his stomach tied in knots and his head throbbed. Images of her and their past two weeks together flooded through his mind. Images of her in the cafe in New York, before they even officially met made him smile through his tears. She's the love of his life, ripped from him in seconds.
The same horrible man that took her family from her now has her fighting for her life. It hit him hard that there was no one for him to call. He should have protected her more, he was all she had. Pain and guilt consumed him as he sat down in the cold waiting room. He knew that once she was gone his life would be empty. He waited for the surgeon to come out and tell him she was gone forever.
Jay returned to the hospital waiting room while Charlotte was still in surgery. He sat motionless on a chair at the back of the room. He glared at Josh when he began pacing again.
“Joshua Martin, right?” he finally asked, holding out his hand to him.
“Yes and you’re her agent right?” he asked, his voice hoarse, ignoring his outstretched hand. He knew who he was but he wanted confirmation.
“I'm Jay Carter, Charlotte's agent from the US,” he replied. Josh stepped back, his eyes squinting as he looked like he wanted to say something. Anger and pain etched on his face.
“How did you let him get so close to her?” he managed to ask. Jay wasn't exactly expecting his anger. He had been too busy trying to hold back his own.
“It's a long story,” he muttered, not wanting to say too much, unsure what Charlotte may have told him already.
“It has been five years, she's been hiding, running, scared and alone all that time. You never caught him and now she's fighting for her life because of your incompetence,” Josh ranted, keeping his voice low but deep. Jay understood his anger. He felt the same way himself. He asked the same question, why hadn’t he been caught years ago?
“There's a lot you don't know Josh. We have been hunting him, but he had an inside advantage. He always knew when we were coming for him. I feel terrible that he got so close to her, you have no idea how much Charlotte means to me. Just so you know it's partly your fault he found her here. You made her forget to be careful. Your little exhibitionism caught his attention too,” Jay fumed, instantly regretting it. Josh stepped back from him, surprised.
“Why did you say that? How do you know?” he asked, sitting down, his hands in his hair as he sighed.
“Don't tell Charlotte, but he kept a file on his laptop of photos of the two of you together. Charlotte knew she was supposed to keep a low profile at all times, wear her wig and sunglasses, use her alias. I'm not saying it always worked but it delayed him from finding her. He's known her every move since New York. He had photos of the two of you in interesting poses right in public view,” Jay told him, his own anger returning. He tried to stop, he knew it was unprofessional but his feelings for Charlotte have been unprofessional for a long time. The case was over, the criminal was dead and the victim lay fighting for her life in an ICU in Paris, so far from where her nightmare began. If she died he had promised her years ago that she would be buried beside her parents. A plot had already been prepared for her there.
“I won't tell her and I appreciate you keeping this from her. It would hurt her even more. It's just that when we are together we get a little carried away. If she knew her monster saw her it might shut her down again. You have no idea how difficult it was to set her free. She was so traumatized I didn't think she would ever let me touch her. Just so you know, I love her. I would go anywhere and do anything for her. Just please don't let her find out about those pictures. Destroy those pictures if you can. Please,” he begged. Jay took in a deep breath, knowing it took a strong man to have witnessed her fears and not given up on her. He must care about her.
“No one will see those pictures and I have no intention of telling Charlotte. I can see you care about her, a lot so I guess threatening you isn't necessary. I've been her only friend, her only family for the past five years, it kills me to see her suffer but I've noticed a change in her since she met you. She does seem free, lightener and for that I am grateful. Just don't ever hurt her, don't break her heart,” Jay said, running a hand through his hair. Josh nodded as he walked towards the window, feeling alone suddenly.
He checked his pocket for his cell phone when his hand landed on a note. He recognized her handwriting immediately.
My dearest Joshua
I have to leave you this morning.
My time with you has been a dream, all I want is to be in your arms, in your bed and by your side
But until my dark past is buried I risk losing you, so as I have said from the beginning
I can’t
If I never find you again know that I loved you
Charlotte
“It’s buried now baby, your dark past is six feet under so please find me again,” he whispered through his tears. He stuffed her note back into his pocket and picked up his cell. He called his mother, telling her almost everything. He told her that he fell in love with a girl and now she may be dying. He heard his mother cry with him and it comforted him. She said she would be on the next flight over. Josh knew that once his deepest fear was confirmed he would need someone he trusted to help him. His future looked bleak without Charlotte. He didn't know what he was doing with his life before he met her. He had to change his thoughts, she was fighting for her life and he had to believe she would pull through. He held his head in his hands as he pictured her back with him in his apartment, snuggled beside him as he fed her chocolate truffles and champagne.
He didn't hear the doctor walk in as he sat alone on the hard, cold chair, covering his face with his hands. He felt so cold without her touch.
“Mr. Martin?” he heard some distant voice ask, echoing in the sterile room. He felt someone's hand rest on his shoulder, shaking him slowly. He jumped up, wiping his eyes, nodding, bracing himself. He wasn't ready, he didn't want to hear those words but he had to know. He looked up at him, waiting.
“She's made it through the surgery son. She's going to pull through,” he said with a proud smile. Josh was stunned, praying he heard his words right.
“I saw all the blood,” he stammered.
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