CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Charley pulled her car into the foundation’s parking lot and shifted into park, but she didn’t reach for the door right away. Pierce’s deep voice came through the Bluetooth.
“I’m telling you, Ray absolutely burned the steaks,” Pierce was saying. “He claims it was ‘intentional char.’ I call that creative denial.”
Charley laughed, resting her forehead against the steering wheel for a second. “You guys are so dramatic.”
The last few weeks with Pierce had been wonderful.
Between work, they found time to spend together—dinners out, nights when he came over to her apartment for dinner, long conversations over the phone, and quiet evenings that somehow never felt long enough.
Still, the walks on the beach had become her favorite.
There was something about being beside him with the ocean at their backs and the fading light around them that made everything else fall away.
In those moments, and in all the ones in between, Charley had found herself learning Pierce piece by piece, and with every new part of him he let her see, she fell a little harder.
Fast enough that it should have unnerved her. Instead, it felt right.
As for the foundation, things have been non-stop since the grand opening, which is a great thing. They’ve already helped so many individuals and families.
“How’s your day?” he asked, and his tone shifted just enough that she could hear the sincerity underneath the humor.
“Busy,” she said, glancing toward the foundation building. “But productive. I secured two very large grants today.”
“That’s awesome.”
“It is.”
“Are we still on for dinner tonight at my place?” he asked.
This will be the first time she’s been to his place. And she was excited.
“Yep. Is six-thirty still good for you?” she asked.
“Yup.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you at your place at six-thirty then.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
“Me too.”
“Call me if you need anything.”
“I will.”
She ended the call and let the silence settle around her. Then she opened the door and stepped out into the warm afternoon.
The lot was quiet except for the hum of distant traffic and the rustle of trees lining the edge of the property. She locked her car and adjusted her bag on her shoulder — and that was when she saw him.
The stranger. He was walking along the far edge of the lot, hands shoved into the pockets of a worn jacket despite the heat. His movements were cautious, and he constantly looked around. Even from a distance, she could see the tension in him.
Her pulse quickened.
She hadn’t heard a peep from him since that last note, but had been hoping she would see him again.
Ray’s contact still hadn’t been able to get into those files, so they were still at a dead end.
“Hi,” she called gently as she walked toward him.
He stiffened immediately, his gaze snapping up and locking onto hers before flicking to the building, then the street, then back to her.
“I was hoping I’d see you again,” she said, slowing her pace so she wouldn’t spook him.
He didn’t smile. Didn’t relax. But he didn’t leave either. Still, she didn’t feel threatened. And even if she did, she knew that Seth, Pierce, and Ray’s friend was sitting just inside the front door.
He hesitated, and she could see his jaw tightening. The guy looked ready to bolt. But she couldn’t let that happen.
“Do you need help?” she asked.
“The truth needs to come out,” he said.
“What truth?” Charley asked.
The guy started to shake his head, like maybe he had already said too much. But she couldn’t let the conversation end there.
She glanced toward the entrance. “We can go inside and talk.”
The reaction was immediate. He took a half-step back, eyes flashing with panic.
“No.”
The refusal was absolute.
She shifted quickly. “Okay. We don’t have to go inside.”
She scanned the street and spotted the bus stop bench across from the lot. “We can sit over there. Open space. No walls. Just me and you.”
He considered it, then nodded once.
As they crossed the street, Charley pulled her phone from her pocket and shot Alyvia a quick text.
Charley: With the stranger. Talking across the street at the bus stop.
Alyvia’s reply came almost immediately.
Alyvia: I’ll let Seth know.
Charley: Tell him to stay out of sight. I don’t want to scare this guy.
After getting a “thumbs up” emoji from Alyvia, she slipped her phone back into her pocket.
When they reached the bus stop, he didn’t sit. He stayed on his feet, pacing once before stopping short. His shoulders were tight, like he was arguing with himself over whether he should say anything at all.
Charley studied him for a second, then decided that if this conversation was going anywhere, she was going to have to push it along herself.
“Have you been hanging around here?” she asked.
He gave a short nod.
“Were you the one who left those notes for me?”
He nodded again.
“Why?” she asked.
His gaze flicked toward her, then over her shoulder, then back again. “I needed to make sure you were trustworthy.”
A chill slid down her spine. “What does that mean?”
His face tightened. “I need to know you’re not like them.”
Charley’s stomach dipped. “Like who?”
He swallowed hard, his voice dropping lower. “The evil ones.”
The words had barely left his mouth when a violent crack split the air.
For one frozen second, her brain refused to make sense of it. Then the stranger jerked backward, his eyes going wide, his hand flying to his chest as blood bloomed across the white shirt beneath his jacket.
He made a strangled sound and collapsed.
Charley dropped to her knees beside him just as another shot cracked through the air.
This one came with pain. A hot, vicious burn tore across her upper arm. She gasped and flinched, but the sight of the man bleeding out in front of her caused her adrenaline to surge through her veins, and she shoved everything else aside, even her own pain.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” she repeated as she placed both of her hands over his chest wound and pressed down.
There was so much blood. She felt the panic rising within her as her heart hammered wildly inside her chest.
“Stay with me. Stay with me, okay?”
His breaths came out wet and ragged, as his eyes struggled to stay open.
“No, no, don’t do that.” Her voice shook. “Look at me. Stay with me,” she shouted.
His lips moved like he was trying to say something.
“Don’t talk.” She bent closer, desperate to keep him with her. “Please don’t talk. I promise I won’t leave you. I’m right here.”
Somewhere nearby, people were shouting. Car brakes squealed. A horn blared.
Charley barely heard any of it over the thunder of her own pulse. Every nerve in her body was screaming at her to move, to run, and get herself to safety. But she couldn’t. He had trusted her enough to come here to talk to her and promised him that she wouldn’t leave him.
“Charley!”
Her head jerked up. Seth was sprinting across the street, phone pressed to his ear, weaving through slowing cars without a care in the world. His face was tight with alarm.
The second he reached her, he dropped beside them. “Fuck! What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice came out shaky. “We were talking and then…then someone shot him.”
Seth’s head snapped up, his gaze sweeping rooftops, windows, parked cars, the street, every possible angle. Then he looked back at her, and his eyes dropped to the blood covering her hands, her clothes, the concrete around them.
“We can’t stay out here in the open.”
“I’m not leaving him.”
His jaw tightened, and for a second she thought he was going to argue.
Instead, he shifted closer, angling his body around her and the wounded man as best he could while barking details into the phone.
“Yes, a gunshot victim. Possible shooter still in the area. We need EMS and officers here immediately.”
Charley kept pressure on the wound, her arms starting to shake with the effort.
“Come on,” she whispered to the guy who had now closed his eyes. “Come on. Stay with me.”
She honestly wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or herself.
The next few minutes blurred into noise and motion.
People started gathering despite shouted warnings to get back.
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second.
Someone nearby was crying. Seth stayed beside her, tense as a coiled wire, one hand occasionally pressing against her back or shoulder like he was making sure she was still upright, still there.
Then police cruisers tore up to the curb and officers spilled out, weapons drawn, scanning rooftops and windows and every dark place someone could hide. The paramedics came seconds later.
Everything moved fast after that. Seth helped ease Charley away as the paramedics took over, working to stabilize the guy as they began cutting his shirt off, checking his airway, getting a line into him, and packing gauze over the wound to his chest.
Charley just stood there staring at the guy on the ground and the blood covering her hands and clothes.
The full weight of what had just happened hit her all at once, and her knees started to buckle. Thankfully, Seth caught her before she hit the pavement. “Easy,” he said, one arm locking around her.
He walked her over to the curb and helped her sit. The moment her body stopped moving, the trembling started. Her heart was still hammering like it was trying to break free of her chest.
Alyvia appeared out of nowhere and dropped into a crouch beside her, pale and wide-eyed. “Oh my God, Charley. What happened?”
Charley opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Her arm throbbed now, a deep, hot ache that made her wince.
Seth saw it immediately. He crouched in front of her, his expression tightening. “Charley, are you hurt?”
She glanced down at her right arm. Her sleeve was covered in blood. “I… I think I hit my arm when I went down.”
Seth didn’t look convinced. “I’m getting a medic.”
Charley just nodded.