by DL Gallie
No sooner do I hit send, my phone rings in my hand. Swiping, I answer but before I can say anything, she screams, “It’s a girl!”
“Yep,” I confirm, grinning that I will have a little girl in a few months’ time. “We found out this morning.”
“And why am I only finding out now?”
“Because I have work and the world does not revolve around you, Abs.”
“A text would have sufficed.” Then she adds, “Mom is gonna flip her shit when she finds out she’s getting a granddaughter.”
“Umm, how about Dad? He’s more gaga for this baby than Mom is.”
“This is true,” she agrees. “This lil’ princess is going to be spoiled rotten but she will love her Aunty Abs the most.”
“Don’t let Elena hear you say that.”
“Pffft, like she stands a chance against me.” Shaking my head, I just laugh. “Anyway, Aunty Abs has to go. Give Charli’s belly a kiss for me and punch yourself in the face.”
Before I can reply, she hangs up. Throwing my phone onto my desk, I bring up the website Abi sent me on my desktop. I start looking at the site and when I see a pink onesie with “Daddy’s Little FBI Agent” on it, I order one straightaway.
After completing the transaction, I call Charli again, but again it goes to voicemail. Worry seeps in but if I know her, she will be curled up on the couch with a cheeseburger, or three, and will be engrossed in reruns of One Tree Hill.
A knock at my door garners my attention, and when I look up I see Amanda and Lana standing there. “Hey,” I say to them both, as I stand up and round my desk. “Should we talk in here or in the conference room?”
“Conference room,” Amanda says, she turns, and walks away. Silently Lana and I follow her. Closing the door behind me, I walk to the other side of the table and take a seat across from Lana and Amanda.
“Okay, Lana,” Amanda says, “Dominic tells me you have information that may help Charli.”
She nods her head, “Earlier today, I got a call from Dean—”
“What’s your relationship with him?” Amanda asks her.
“He and I have been seeing each other for just over twelve months now. We met when he and his brother came into Manhattan Vaults.”
“And why did they need your services?” Amanda asks her. This is the first time I’ve seen Boss Lady in agent action and she’s a no-holds-barred agent. She’s totally badass and I can see why she’s the boss around here.
“At the beginning, I had no idea of what they were up to, but as Dean and I got closer, my role changed. I started to accept the deliveries. Darren wasn’t too impressed that I was assisting them. Darren likes to think he’s the boss but he’s dumb as dogshit.”
“Okay, how does Charli and Vlahos fit into this?”
“Dean wanted protection and he thought Vlahos was the answer. During the setup with Vlahos taking over the security, he was arrested and all assets that Dean had fronted were seized. As fate would have it, Dean was assigned to watch the witness girlfriend chick and the agent. Vlahos went off track and wanted revenge, he wasn’t impressed with being screwed over by his supposed queen. Dean managed to locate the frozen assets and retrieved them from evidence, using Charli as his scapegoat. All evidence against her is fabricated by Darren, Dean, and me. The IA guy investigating Charli is in Dean’s pocket too.”
“That fucking asshole,” I growl, slamming my fist on the table. “I knew Patrick was a cocksucker.”
“Cruz,” Amanda warns me. She turns her attention back to Lana. “You’re telling me that Patrick Fitzpatrick is working with Dean?”
She nods her head. “You’d be surprised how money can sway people.”
“So why are you telling us this now?”
“Dean is worried that Darren is losing control and now that Charli is pregnant, he doesn’t want her to stress over this and cause harm to the baby.”
“So if she wasn’t pregnant, he’d still be letting her take the fall?” I question her.
She shrugs at me. “How do we know that this isn’t just another ploy? For all we know, you could be throwing Patrick under the bus too?”
“Why would I incriminate myself with more lies?” She has a point but I’m still not convinced.
“Will you be willing to testify to this?” Amanda asks her.
She nods. “Yes, I’m willing but I would like to make a deal for myself and Dean.”
“For you, that’s possible. For him? Not a chance in hell.”
Excusing myself, I step out of the room and dial Charli’s number but this time it goes straight to voicemail. I can’t wait to tell her the good news, but I will be here with Amanda for the next few hours getting this all documented. It's too late to visit Dean tonight to get him to corroborate Lana’s story, but my gut is telling me it’s the truth.
Walking back into the interrogation room, I feel lighter. I can’t believe that this time tomorrow it will all be over. Charli is going to be so relieved to be free of these accusations.
34
Charli
Opening my eyes, everything around me is fuzzy. The last thing I remember is eating a cheeseburger on the way to my car and then nothing. Blinking a few times, the room comes into focus and my heart rate increases as I glance around. I’m in a basement, the walls are cement and covered in grime. In the center of the room is a set of rickety-looking stairs that head upstairs. From the dim light coming from a single bulb above me, I continue to look around and apart from the chair I’m tied to, the room is pretty bare. There’s a busted water heater in a corner and a few boxes scattered throughout. There’s a musty smell in the air from there being no windows and it’s a little on the chilly side down here.
I’ve never seen this place before and I have no idea where I am. Panic begins to fester but I know for the sake of munchkin, and me, I need to remain calm. Closing my eyes, I take a few deep breaths but it has the opposite effect on me and I vomit. Turning my head to the side, I empty my stomach on myself and the floor—now the rooms smells musty and vomity.
The door at the top of the stairs slams open and I hear feet stomp down the stairs, looking up my mouth drops open when I see Darren Chikatilo walking toward me.
“You’re finally awake,” he teases, but the playful look on his face drops when he sees the vomit on the floor and all over me. “Ugh, you dirty fucking bitch,” he snarls, the playful look is gone and it’s replaced with disgust. “Why’d you vomit?” He stands there staring at me, waiting for me to answer him. “I asked you a fucking question, why did you fucking vomit?”
“The smell down here didn’t agree with me.”
“Tough fucking shit. Do not vomit again.”
We stare at one another, the air thickening with disdain for one another. My stomach rumbles, breaking the silence and then I remember I was at McDonald’s when he took me, “Where are my cheeseburgers?”
“What?” he snaps
“My cheeseburgers and Sprite, where are they?” From the look on his face, my burgers and drink are not here and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about them. “Think you can get me some more?” I ask, hoping that if I keep him occupied, I can find a way out of here, but unless I become Houdini, I’ll be stuck to this chair for the foreseeable future.
“Fuck you and fuck your cheeseburgers. Gimme what’s mine and then you can have all the fucking cheeseburgers you like.”
“I can’t think on an empty stomach,” I sass back. His face morphs from nothing to anger in the blink of an eye. This guy is seriously unhinged and I need to stop taunting him. My burgers will have to wait but as soon as I get out of here, I will be eating my weight in the cheesy greasy burgers.
He storms over to me and rests his palms on my thighs, digging his fingers in painfully. For a scrawny guy, he sure has some strength. I wince in pain as his nails dig farther in, thankful to be wearing linen pants to prevent him from breaking the skin but I will surely be bruised. “Give me my fucking money!” he yells in my face, spittle and his foul heated br
eath hits my skin, causing my stomach to roll again. I can feel the lump building in the back of my throat, I’m going to vomit any second. If he was pissed before at me hurling, he’ll really be pissed if I vomit on him.
Lady Luck is on my side because he pushes himself back, letting me breathe. The dank basement smell isn’t much better but at least the need to vomit has disappeared, ish.
“This will be home until I get what’s mine.” He stares at me. “Give me what I’m owed and then you can breathe some fresh fucking air.”
“I really don’t know what it is you want, Darren.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me. You, Dean, and his lil’ bitch are conspiring to cut me out. I just know it.”
“Cut you out of what?”
“Shut up,” he growls, stepping toward me he slaps my cheek. My head snaps to the side from the force. Copper fills my mouth. The taste of the blood causes the need to vomit to reappear and before I can stop myself, I vomit all over myself. It comes up so quickly that I don’t have time to turn my head and I vomit down the front of me.
“Ugh, really?” He turns his back on me and storms back upstairs, slamming the door shut behind him.
My eyes well with tears. Closing my eyes, I take a few deep breaths, the feeling to vomit is still there and increasing with each breath. The smell down here really isn’t agreeing with me. Taking a few more deep breaths, I calm my racing heart but it doesn’t do much to ease the ill feeling building in my stomach. Opening my eyes, I stare at a spot on the wall and try to calm myself down, I cannot let fear take over right now. I need to remain strong, for me and munchkin. That determination is the only thing keeping me going right now, I will not let this asshole win.
The door above flies open, slamming into the wall again. Turning my head, I watch as dust and dirt particles flutter in the air. Darren marches back down the stairs with my handbag, my phone is in his hand. He walks over and stops in front of me. “Passcode” he growls. Waving my phone in my face, I stare at him blankly. “Passcode,” he snarls through clenched teeth. “Your phone is going off so we need to text lover boy so he doesn’t come looking for you.”
“Where is here?” I ask, hoping he’ll give me something to work with, but I don’t think he’s that dumb.
He ignores my question. “Passcode!”
“465702,” I tell him, he punches the code in, and smirks. “Seems lover boy misses you, there’s a few voicemails and texts.”
He begins to type a message and reads as he types.
CHARLI: Need space. Today has been hell. I’ll be in touch when I’m ready.
“That should keep the asshole at bay.” He presses send and stares at my phone in his hand, his eyes widen. Nic must be typing back. “Ohh look, a reply.” He reads it to me.
NIC: Please don’t push me away, Angel. We will fix this, I have something that may clear you. Just remember I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow XoXoX
“Aww, he thinks he can clear you and that he’ll see you tomorrow. How sweet...and naïve.” He looks at me with a sinister grin. “He might be able to clear your name but see you tomorrow, well that’s entirely up to you.” Without saying another word, he walks back upstairs and turns the lone light off, leaving me in darkness.
The basement is eerie and scarier in the dark.
I can hear him stomping around upstairs and then it’s silent. As the saying goes, ‘silence is deafening.’ I can’t handle the silence anymore so I start to sing to myself. First I start with my mantra song, “Stronger” by Britney, which morphs into “Fighter’ by Christina Aguilera. I’m belting out “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd when the door above flies opens.
“Shut the fuck up!” Darren shouts down the stairs, slamming the door shut once again.
Not wanting to anger him further, I close my eyes, hoping to get some sleep. Exhaustion takes over and I drift off to sleep, but I’m rudely woken the next morning when Darren throws freezing cold water on me. “Shit,” I mutter as the cool water trickles down my arms and front.
“You going to tell me what I want to know?” he asks, leaning against the wall, he crosses his arms over his chest and he stares at me.
I shrug. “I don’t know what you want.”
“You know what I want,” he growls.
Shaking my head side to side, I stare up at him. “I don’t, Darren. I really have no clue what it is you think I have. I wish I knew because I would give it to you in a heartbeat if I did.”
Clearly my answer isn’t what he wants because he storms toward me, pulls his hand back, and slaps me hard across the face, repeatedly. My head flopping side to side from the slaps. His motion become wilder and faster. The chair begins to rock from the force, I feel like I’m going to topple over but at the last minute, he viciously grips me by shoulders and steadies me. Digging his fingers roughly into my arms.
“You will tell me,” he snarls before walking away. He spins on his heel, lifts his hands, and laces his fingers, bringing them to the back of his head. Flexing his arms, he glares at me. “Where’s my fucking money?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him, again.
“Don’t lie to me!” he shouts, the tone in his voice unnerving. He’s starting to lose control, I need to placate him, who knows what he’ll do next. “Dean said you didn’t know but I know the two of you are conspiring to cut me out. He’s a cunt. You’re a cunt. You’re all cunts who think they can pull the wool over my eyes. I refuse to be cut—”
“Cut you out of what?” I interrupt, “Darren, listen to me, I really,” I place emphasis on the word really, “don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit,” he scoffs, gripping my upper arms again, he stares into my eyes. His pupils are dilated. His face is full of anger and rage. I know no matter what I say, it will fall on deaf ears. “I will get what’s mine and I don’t care if I have to kill you, him, and anyone who gets in my way.” He shoves me away from him and the chair topples backward. I land with a thud. My head bouncing on the cement. Both of my arms are pinned under the chair, I scream out in pain at being trapped. He stares down at me manically laughing, it reminds of a witch’s cackle. He shakes his head and walks away from me, leaving me trapped.
Wriggling around, I eventually manage to get my left arm free but my right is pinned and from the angle I’m currently lying in, I’m pretty sure my shoulder is dislocated. With everything I have I roll, wriggle, and rock. Trying to free my pinned arm but nothing works. I’m halted in my efforts when a searing pain tears through my shoulder, yep, it’s dislocated. I try again but I can’t free myself and each time I move the pain increases.
Not giving up, I try one last time but this time, a pain worse than what I just experienced with my shoulder begins low in my stomach. Breathing through clenched teeth, my eyes widen when a piercing stabbing pain rips through my abdomen from front to back, followed by a warm wetness between my thighs. My eyes widen and I freeze, when I look down, I see my linen pants are stained with blood, the patch getting bigger before my eyes. “Noooo,” I cry. I try and wriggle free but each time I move that pain in my shoulder and belly intensifies. Through my tears, I whimper, “I’m losing my baby.”
35
Dominic
Leaving the precinct, I head to my place but when I arrive home, I find it’s empty. I try calling Charli but once again, it rings out, sending me to voicemail. Jumping onto my bike since it’s faster, I head over to her place but when I let myself in, I find it empty too.
Dropping to her sofa, I lean back and sigh. My phone pings with a text, I smile when I see it’s from her.
CHARLI: Need space. Today has been hell. I’ll be in touch when I’m ready.
Her words hurt, I get wanting to be alone but I want to be there for her. Even if it's just to hold her while she cries, plus I have news that will surely cheer her up. Guessing that she’s at Bay’s, I decide I’ll give her tonight but tomorrow, tomorrow she will talk to me and I will tell her no more blocking me out. We are
in this together and I want to be there to help her when times are tough, not just when they’re good. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before and now that I have her, I’m not letting her go. She can push me away but I will always push back, always.
I send her a text reconfirming all of this.
NIC: Please don’t push me away, Angel. We will fix this, I have something that may clear you. Just remember I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow XoXoX
Standing up from her couch, I lock up and head back to my place. Falling into bed, sleep doesn’t come easy because I’m worried about Charli. Eventually I drift off but I wake with a start just as the sun is rising, a feeling of unease washes over me.
I know it’s early but my need to see Charli is strong, so I grab my things and head into the garage. Normally I’d take my bike but it’s raining so it looks like I’ll be driving and not riding today. I stop at McDonald’s and grab four coffees and four cheeseburgers. Knowing that these will be what my girl wants/needs.
With the coffees and food on the passenger seat, I drive over to Baylor and Corey’s place. My face scrunches when I don't see her car out front. “Maybe she’s on the side street,” I whisper, as I grab the drinks and burgers. Ringing the doorbell I wait, nerves flutter in my stomach the longer I wait. Pressing the doorbell again, the door finally swings open and I’m met with a sleepy scowling Baylor. “Is there any reason you’re on my doorstep at stupid o’clock, Cruz?”
“I need to see Charli.”
“So why are you here?”
“She’s not here?” I question.
“No, why would she be here?” Bay asks. “Did you do something stupid again?” She notices the coffees and helps herself to one.
“What’s going on, Bay?” Corey asks, a towel around his hips. His eyes widen when he sees me in the doorway. “Cruz, what are you doing here?”