26. Charli
26
CHARLI
As I fidget with my hands in my lap, Callum reaches over from the other side of the truck and covers my fingers with his.
“Hey,” he murmurs. “You sure you’re going to be okay?”
I manage to plaster a smile on my face, and I nod. “Yeah, yeah, I’m going to be fine,” I promise him. “Just…just ready to get this over with, that’s all.”
“Right,” he agrees, and he lifts my hand to his lips and plants a kiss against the back of it. I steady my breath as best I can, staring out of the window as we arrive in Harrietsville. I can’t believe we’re here. I can’t believe this is finally happening.
Because this is, at last, really it—we’ve found a journalist who’s willing to talk to us about the situation with James, a woman who’s been working on a story about him and his father for a few months now, but has been lacking the final sting she really needs to bring it all together. Having heard a few snippets of the audio we got of him abusing me, she’s agreed to come and meet us in the nearby town of Harrietsville to get the inside scoop, and if everything goes to plan, bring him down once and for all.
But that doesn’t mean that I’m entirely convinced it’s going to go that way. Of course, I hope it does—and there’s no reason to think that everything we have on him isn’t going to be enough. God knows that there should be more than enough evidence to end his career for good, and his father along with him.
But it’s been so long since someone has actually believed me when it comes to all of this, it’s impossible not to second-guess myself and wonder if things will really have changed that much. I’ve spent so many years covering up for the kind of person he is, and it’s hard to trust that people will believe me when I tell them I was lying all that time. After all, if I could mislead them about our relationship being good, right up until the point that we were supposed to be married, why in the name of holy hell would they suddenly trust me now when I turn around and say something entirely different…?
Callum insisted on coming with me today—I guess he could sense how nervous I was. Dax and Chuck offered too, but I told them I would prefer it was just us. Not because I don’t want them there, but because I know if I turn up with three triplet brothers who are all fussing over me, that’s going to be more of a story than the one I’m really trying to tell.
Callum pulls the truck to a halt outside the diner where we’re due to meet this woman. Inside, I’m pretty sure I can already see her sitting in one of the booths, tapping her long nails on the table, looking around as she waits for us to get here.
“You okay?” Callum murmurs, and I nod, trying to keep a smile on my face.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I reply. “Just, uh…just ready to get this over with.”
“Me too,” he agrees. “Come on, let’s go in.”
He gets out of the truck and offers me a hand to help me to the ground. My legs feel like jelly as I follow him into the diner, my heart pounding against my ribs like it wants to get out.
Inside, the journalist rises to her feet as soon as she sees us come through the door. I texted her a picture of myself to confirm my identity, and even though I shouldn’t be surprised that she knows who I am, it still throws me off for a moment.
“Great to meet you, Charli,” she greets me. “I’m Kennedy. How are you doing?”
“I—I’m a little nervous,” I admit. “Can we sit down…?”
“Of course,” Callum murmurs, and he quickly puts an arm around my waist and steers me toward a booth. I notice Kennedy’s gaze flicking down to his hand against my back, and I pray she’s not judging me too harshly for moving on as quickly as I have. I feel like any wrong move will be enough reason for her to paint me in a bad light, and I’m not sure I can handle the weight of it, knowing that she might see me as someone untrustworthy.
But as she moves in before me, her brow furrows sympathetically, and she reaches across the table to give my hand a squeeze.
“I know I’m here under a professional capacity,” she tells me gently. “But I just wanted to say—I think what you’re doing is incredibly brave, Charli. I’ve been following James and his father for a long time, and while I knew there was corruption in that campaign, I didn’t realize just how deep it went, just how much hurt they caused over the years. I know this can’t be easy for you, but you’re doing the right thing. You’re helping to protect other women from the same fate in the future, and stopping that father of his from abusing his power any more than he already has.”
I manage a small smile. It’s not exactly enough to make my doubts fall away entirely, but I appreciate her kindness—God knows I need it right now.
“Thank you,” I reply. “I—we brought the rest of the recording from when he kidnapped me. You want to listen to that now? I can fill you in on everything that he’s referencing as we go…”
“If you think you can handle that, sure,” she replies. I glance over at Callum, who reaches beneath the table to give my leg a squeeze. I nod.
“Yeah, I can handle it,” I reply. And to my surprise, I actually mean it.
So, I hand over the recording to her, and she starts to listen to it. I can see a dark cloud of shock crossing her face as she takes in what she’s hearing—I almost hate having to put anyone else through the shit that he said or did to me, but it’s only by facing it that I have any chance of moving on.
Every now and then, she pulls out the headphones to ask for context about what he’s saying—it’s hard, but I fill her in on it. The way he hurt me, the way he pushed me away from my friends, the way he forced me out of work, insisting that he would take care of me, only to turn around and use that as leverage against me. Even now, saying it all out loud feels almost surreal, like I must be making it up, but I know it happened. Every moment of it.
And I know, most importantly of all, that I survived it.
Finally, she finishes up, and she pauses for a moment, staring down at the table as she takes in everything that she just heard.
“This—this is more than I could have imagined,” she confesses. Her face looks pale, but her eyes are steady and certain. When she looks back up at me again, I can see in her expression that she’s even more convinced than she was before of what she needs to do, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.
“But I promise you that I’m going to use this story for good,” she swears to me. “Everything you’ve been through, it won’t go to waste, Charli. This fills in so many blanks, so many gaps in the story I’ve been trying to piece together. By the end of this month, James and his father will be done in this city. I promise you that.”
I can feel tears prick my eyes, the relief almost more than I can take.
“I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting to hear that,” I tell her. “I—if there’s anything else you need, just tell me. I’ll do my best to help.”
“You’ve already gone beyond what anyone could have asked of you,” she assures me. “Whatever life you want to live now, I promise—that’s where you should be putting your focus.”
I let my eyes drift shut. She’s right. Whatever life I choose to have now, I can do it. I’m not trapped by everything he wanted from me, everything he demanded, no—I’m free. I’m finally, actually, free.
And as I look over at Callum, a weight eases from my shoulders. I can be with him now, if I want—I can be with them, if that’s what I choose, which is a crazy thought.
“Come on,” he murmurs to me. “Let’s get out of here.”
We say our goodbyes to Kennedy, and she squeezes me in a tight hug before she leaves, promising me once again that she’s going to bring this man and his father down. And as Callum helps me back into the car, the world sprawls out before me—bigger than it ever has been before, so overwhelming I hardly know where to start.
“So,” Callum wonders aloud, as he sits there opposite me for a moment. “What now?”
“I—I don’t know,” I admit. “I guess we should go back to the cabin…?”
“I guess we should,” he agrees, and he starts up the engine. But all at once, as we pull out of town and start back on the road toward the forest, something strikes me—it’s over. James is done for. Which means—which means that these brothers have no reason to help me anymore.
They’ve done what they promised me they would. And now…now that it’s done, where does that leave us? I’m not sure. I came crashing into their lives because of James, but now that he’s gone, will they expect me to go too?
I stare out of the window as the trees begin to whip past outside. I’m not sure where this leaves me. But I know I don’t want whatever we have to be over, not quite yet.
Not when it feels like my new life is only just beginning.