Chapter Nine
Charlie
The drive back to DC feels like a funeral procession.
Not because it’s slow—Jack drives like the world’s on fire—but because with every mile, I feel myself shrinking back into the person I swore I’d never be again.
I know why it’s necessary now, know that the threats against me were real.
But I can’t stand knowing that the walls I worked so hard to escape are waiting for me.
The polished floors. The suffocating rules. The constant watchful eyes.
And sure enough, when we finally pass the iron gates of my father’s estate, the air gets heavier in my lungs. I feel like I can’t breathe.
The car rolls to a stop in front of the house. Jack doesn’t say a word as he helps me out, just rests a steadying hand against my back as he guides me inside. His touch is firm, impersonal, but God, it still anchors me in ways I can’t explain.
We’re ushered into my father’s private study.
The air smells of leather and old books, heavy with power.
The fire in the hearth crackles faintly, but it doesn’t warm me.
I drop into one of the wingback chairs, trying not to fidget, while Jack stays standing, hands clasped behind his back, looking every bit the soldier he once was.
“Relax, Steele,” I mutter, forcing a smile. “You’re not in uniform anymore.”
His blue eyes flick to me briefly, unreadable, before returning to the door.
The ice in his expression stings. After everything we’ve shared, after all the time we spent tangled up together, I thought…well, I don’t know what I thought.
I bite my lip. “Was I really just a job to you?”
That does it. His expression breaks down, the soldier is gone, and my Jack is back. But he looks like he’s being tortured. “Of course not,” he snaps. “You were never just a job to me. Charlie, you’re everything. And I failed you. You were almost taken, on my watch, and I can’t—”
“But that’s my own fault for running. Jack—”
“No. I’ve lost too many, buried too many people, for you to be one of them. Your safety comes above everything else to me, do you understand, princess?”
The words are like a knife, and for once the endearment does nothing to soften the blow.
The guilt in his voice is killing me, and I’m about to attempt to comfort him in some way when the door creaks open and my father walks in. Senator George Freeman. Tall. Imposing. His presence fills the room like a storm cloud, his jaw tight, eyes hard as granite.
For a moment, no one speaks. My throat feels dry, my palms sweaty. It’s been less than a week since I last saw him, and I don’t know how to bridge the canyon between us.
“Hi, Dad,” I say softly, breaking the silence.
He studies me, his eyes flicking over my face, my hair, like he’s making sure I’m still whole. His expression softens for half a second then shutters closed again. “Charlotte.”
The tension wraps tighter around us, squeezing.
“So…” I start awkwardly. “How’ve you been? Still bossing around the entire Senate?”
“Don’t joke, Charlotte,” he snaps, his voice sharp. “You nearly got yourself killed.”
My jaw tightens. “I didn’t nearly get myself killed. I was just—”
“Being irresponsible. Again.” His voice cuts like steel. “Do you understand what could’ve happened if Steele hadn’t been there? Do you understand the risk you put yourself in?”
“I understand perfectly,” I fire back, heat flooding my cheeks. “I understand that I’ve been living in a glass cage my entire life, and the one time I try to live, you send a bodyguard to drag me back!”
His eyes narrow, flinty. “You think this is about control? About punishing you? Charlotte, I’m trying to keep you alive. You don’t know the kind of men I deal with. They would use you to break me.”
“And maybe I don’t care!” My voice cracks, sharp with emotion. “Maybe I don’t want to be your pawn anymore. Maybe I just want to be me!”
The words hang in the air like broken glass, and for a moment, neither of us breathes.
His jaw flexes once, then he straightens his shoulders. “That’s exactly why I’ve taken measures. A new team has been assembled—men I trust implicitly. From now on, you’ll be guarded around the clock.”
I blink, stunned. “What?”
He looks past me, toward Jack, and for the first time, his voice softens. “Thank you, Steele. For keeping her safe. You’ve done your duty well. I’ll see to it that you’re compensated.”
The words feel like bullets in my chest. His duty. That’s all I am.
I turn sharply toward Jack, waiting for him to argue, to say something, anything that means what happened between us mattered. But he doesn’t move. Doesn’t speak, his expression set in stone.
“Charlotte.” My father’s voice is firm, brooking no argument. “It’s over. You’ll remain here where it’s safe.” He leaves the room with the click of polished shoes and the weight of inevitability.
And suddenly, it’s just the two of us again.
The silence is deafening.
I stare at Jack, at the man who kissed me, touched me, claimed me like I was his. My throat tightens, and before I can stop myself, the words come spilling out. “Run away with me.”
His head jerks toward me, blue eyes sharp, stunned.
I take a shaky step closer, my heart pounding so hard it hurts. “Please, Jack. Don’t leave me here. I can’t…” My voice cracks. “I can’t go back to that life. It’s a prison. You’re the only person who’s ever made me feel free. You’re the only thing that feels real.”
An unreadable emotion flickers in his eyes. His lips part like he wants to say something, but then he clenches his jaw again, the muscle ticking hard.
“Charlie…” His voice is low, rough. “Don’t ask me for that.”
“I’m begging you!” My hands ball into fists at my sides. “I don’t care where we go. We’ll disappear. You and me. I don’t need the mansion, the money, or the stupid name. I just need—” My voice drops to a whisper. “I just need you.”
“You don’t understand,” he says, firm now, controlled. “Right now, you need to be safe.”
My chest burns. “Safe? You think being locked in here, watched twenty-four seven, suffocated by my father, is safe? I’ll lose my mind, Jack. I’ll disappear into nothing. But if I was with you, I know you would always keep me safe.”
He shakes his head slowly. “And that’s exactly why I need to let you go.
These threats won’t last forever—one day you’ll have the freedom you crave.
But I will always keep you safe. If you’re mine, then I’m keeping you.
Forever. Never letting you go. And I can’t let myself become just another cage to hold you down. ”
For a moment, I’m speechless. He’s right—after all my protests, do I really want a bodyguard for the rest of my life?
It only takes me a second to realize the truth—if Jack’s the one protecting me, then yes, I choose the cage. I thought I wanted freedom, but now I know that what I really want is his arms around me, holding me tight.
Tears spill hot down my cheeks. “You said I was yours. Did none of it matter to you?”
His throat bobs, his eyes locking onto mine for the briefest, devastating moment. And in that single heartbeat, I see it. The truth. It did matter. It matters too much.
He straightens, cold steel once again. “Goodbye, princess.”
My heart caves in.
He brushes past me, his shoulder grazing mine, and every step he takes toward the door feels like a nail hammered into my chest. I want to scream. To throw myself at him. To drag him back.
But my feet stay rooted, heavy with heartbreak, as I watch him walk away.
The door shuts with a final, echoing click, and I crumble, feeling like he just tore my heart out and carried it with him.