Chapter 51
Fifty-One
Charlie
Jo stood beside me, her arm wrapped tightly around me as we stared at her uncle.
“I can’t believe he’s dead,” she whispered. “I can’t believe you killed him.”
My lip trembled as the realization hit me.
I had killed him.
I took a life.
I committed murder and enjoyed every second of it as I tortured the man who threatened to take everything away from me.
“Jo, I’m so sor—” I started, but stopped when she pulled me into a full hug and wouldn’t let go.
“Don’t you dare apologize,” she said. “Charlie, you don’t ever apologize for what you did. You did the world a favor by getting rid of that evil sack of shit. I will forever be grateful for what you did.”
I nodded, and when we finally pulled away, I brushed the tears from my face.
Ashley and Lainy came and joined us, both putting their guns away as a calm silence washed over us. It felt like things were finally okay, and I didn’t have to worry about anyone hurting Molly or me.
“We should get going,” Jo said, finally breaking the silence. “It won’t be long until others from the organization get here. We don’t want to be here when they do.”
As we were headed outside, this time through the front doors instead of a side door, a man entered, forcing all of us to stop. I reached for the gun I had taken from Axel at the same time everyone except Jo pulled theirs.
“Easy,” she said, lowering her hands as she glanced at us before walking over to where he stood. “It took you long enough to get here, you asshole.”
She shoved him, but he just pulled her into his arms and hugged her.
“I was busy,” he said, neither of them bothering to fill any of us in on what was happening.
I looked at Axel, but he just shrugged and shook his head.
“Busy with what? What could have been more important than dealing with this?”
“We’ve been here, dealing with all of this. You just didn’t know that we were already here or that we had eyes on the inside,” he replied, folding his arms over his chest. “My team intercepted the rest of your uncle's men on the way up here. Nice work, Agent Callaway.”
I blinked a few times, hoping to clear the fog because none of this was making any sense.
Jo whipped around to look at Lainy, who was now blushing.
“Thank you, Agent Montes,” Lainy replied.
“Whoa. Are you fucking kidding me?” Jo demanded as she turned to face Lainy. “You were in on this?”
Lainy nodded and looked at Jo with a softness I rarely saw from her.
“I’ve been working undercover for two years now.
Agent Montes brought me in to gather information on Randy Fernandez.
I knew you were his niece, but I never expected to get so close to you.
I’m sorry if I betrayed your trust, Jo. My only intention was to help bring the organization down, and as I got to know you, it only made me want to bring it down more. ”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Jo said, turning and stabbing her finger into his chest. “I thought we were friends.”
“We are friends, but I had a job to do. I couldn’t sacrifice it by telling you about Agent Callaway.”
“So many secrets,” Jo murmured, giving him the side eye. “Is your name even Keith, or is that another secret you’re keeping from me?”
“I guess you’ll never know,” he teased.
I let my shoulders relax as we all put our weapons away and followed them outside. It had been a long, draining day, and all I wanted was to go home and cuddle my baby and the man who walked through danger to save us.