Page 116 of Point of No Return

I stand, pushing back from the table and strolling until I stand just over Charles’ shoulder. I tap the table by his drink, relishing in the fact that he stiffens as I lean down.

“I’m not half the man my father was. Offering you anything after what you’ve done to her was a kindness.” My voice is ice-cold malice. “I will find out what you’re after… and you will get nothing.”

With that, I walk from our booth at the back of the restaurant. The car is already waiting at the curb, and my phone rings just as we pull away from the lot. Crew’s number flashes across the screen, and I answer immediately, bringing the phone to my ear.

“Tell me you just transferred money out of the joint account,” he demands across the line.

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you leaving the Belmont right now?”

“Just left. Tell me what’s going on.”

“The money is gone. It’s been drained slowly- over the past few weeks. I should’ve noticed. But I didn’t and-”

Panic latches onto me. “Crew, I didn’t transfer the money. Where are you right now?”

“My apartment in Sutton. I called Josie. Charlotte sent her and the servants home a little over an hour ago.”

I scrub a hand down my face, trying not to let anger get the best of me as I scramble to think straight. “Have you checked the cameras?”

“They’re on a loop,” I hear Crew sigh over the line, and I’ve never heard a sound so defeated. It only worsens the panic. “I’ve got nothing.”

“Fuck.”

I tug the hair at my scalp, squeezing my eyes shut as a million explanations flash through me. But ultimately, I know there’s only one explanation. Everything points back to her: Charlotte.

“I’m headed to the house. I need you to put eyes on Charles and Eva. Don’t let them out of your sight.”

I can hear Crew moving around in the background, and the driver must hear the worry in my voice because he suddenly slams on the gas and the car lurches forward. “What are you thinking?”

“It’s something that Eva said… Something that-”Fuck.I slam my hand against the back of the seat. “Charlotte’s running.”

She has to be. I’ve been spending all my time trying to figure out what my father promised them that I didn’t even consider the fact that it doesn’t matter either way. Money. Power. Safety.

“You’re a fool if you think she’s safe here.”

I was wrong. Eva was never planning on using me to get Prevya back. My marriage was never about money or power or safety after all. My marriage was the beginning of an escape plan, yes. And Charlotte is at the very forefront of it.

But they must’ve known running wouldn’t be enough. Hydran- ruling Prevya with a Benenati and an Orlova at the top- It was never going to work.

Because as long as the Benenatis live, there will never be a place safe enough. Until I’m dead, Charlotte won’t be safe. I just have to hope that she hasn’t planned on killing me yet.

Chapter Fifty-Two

Charlotte

I’m going to throw up. My heart is pounding, my skin is hot, and yet everything inside me feels ice cold. It’s not supposed to be like this. Killing is supposed to be the easy part. Every life I’ve taken before hasn’t left me with this unbridled panic, this nauseating incompetence beforehand. It always came after- after the job, after the exit, when no one else was around to see me fall apart.

My mother taught me well. She taught me well enough that I know what would happen if she ever found out that I was breaking.

She can’t, I tell myself.She just can’t.

Yet the longer I stare at Aleks, the closer I feel to losing it. I’m teetering on the edge of sanity. Because I can’t do this. The longer I try to hide what I’m about to do, the more I realize I can’t do this. I’ll never be able to live with myself.

But I’m going to have to. I can’t live with this lie either.

“Do you believe in redemption?” I ask him suddenly, my voice surprisingly strong.

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