Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 74655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
He’s the first person I’ve believed in for such a long time.
He might just get me the freedom I’m so desperately seeking.
“Have you gotten any more information on the deal that’s going down?” he asks me, sipping the coffee I brought in.
“Yes, I have a date and a time. I heard my father talking last night.”
Oliver’s eyes widen. “Well done, Charlie.”
He’s the first person who has ever called me Charlie. He kind of came up with it on his own, and I must admit, it’s nice. It’s like having a whole new identity. When he calls me Charlie, I feel like I’m on a clean slate. Like I can be whoever I want. Like I’m not the girl who has done all those bad things. Like I’m just ... reborn.
“Thank you.” I smile. “So, does that mean you have enough now to take him down?”
Oliver smiles, and my eyes zone in on his dimples. I like his dimples. They’re nice. They light up his face.
“Yes,” he tells me. “If we can work it out perfectly. I have to have a plan that is basically fool proof. If anything goes wrong, he’ll know we’re close, and we’ll lose our chance. But I’ve gone through everything you’ve given, everything you’ve brought in, and if we can take them down during this massive deal, we’ll be able to put him, and anyone close to him, away for a very long time.”
And that’ll mean freedom.
Pure freedom.
My heart flutters at the thought.
What will life be like, if I no longer have to live under his control?
How will it feel, to be able to walk down the street without a care in the world, to live on my own, to have a job, to find a nice man, to do all of those things?
Like a normal girl.
“How are you feeling about it all?” Oliver asks.
“Nervous,” I admit. “I think I’m putting way too much hope into this, and I’m scared of getting disappointed, but I’m so so close to having my life back, to being free, to just live again without him breathing down my neck.”
Oliver stands and walks over, kneeling in front of me. He takes my hands, and my heart does a silly little flutter. “I’ll get that for you, Charlie. I will. I’ll get you the freedom you not only desire but deserve. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“Oliver?” I whisper.
“Yeah?”
“What if something goes wrong out there? What if something happens to you, or to me ... or ...”
He squeezes my hand. “You won’t be anywhere near it. I’ll already have you in a safe location. Nothing will happen to me, Charlie, but if for some horrible reason it did, I have at least five other officers with full instructions on what to do with you, where to send you, and how to keep you safe. I have something else for you.”
“You do?” I smile.
He nods and stands. He walks to his office, and opens his drawer, pulling out a folder. He walks back over and sits beside me, handing it to me.
“All your new identification documents. Of course, you have to leave them here, but when this is over we’ll move you from this city, start you again, get you safe. But I thought you might like to see them.”
I stare at him, and my eyes burn. I glance down and pull out my new passport and giggle when I see the name.
He changed my name to Charlie.
His special name for me.
So really, not only has him giving me this name made me feel like I’m being reborn, but the fact of it is that it’ll actually be who I am when this is over. Charlie, a new person, a new life.
I wonder what it’ll be like, to be Charlie on the outside world, too. And not just in this office.
I wonder if it’ll be everything I ever imagined.
“I love it,” I tell Oliver, “because now, I’ll remember you forever.”
Not that I’d ever forget him.
No, I never could.
“You’re welcome.” He laughs. “I thought you’d like it. You just have to put your trust in me now, Charlie. I’ll get you safe. Do you trust I can do that?”
I look at him, and memorize those eyes, and the calm cool and collected features that make up his handsome face, and I know, I know I can trust him.
I know, that no matter what, he’ll find a way.
Yes, he’ll find a way to free me.
-22-
NOW – KODA
She’s fuckin’ gone.
She’s gone, because of me.
I’m a fuckin’ idiot.
A stupid, fuckin’ idiot.
I check everywhere, through the trees, down the road, but I know that I haven’t been able to catch her in time. I know that she’s gone, probably hitched a ride somewhere, and I don’t know where that fuckin’ is. I’m supposed to be protecting her, and she’s managed to get away, at a time when everything is fuckin’ dangerous. For all of us.