Killing Me Softly

Chapter 28 Charlie

CHARLIE

“I need to see you,” says Tess breathlessly.

Charlie shuts the door to the kitchen, so that Freya can’t hear him.

“What the hell happened?” he hisses.

There’s a loaded silence and Charlie wants to crawl down the line to choke her into admitting what he fears he already knows.

“Exactly what you expected,” she says, eventually.

Charlie swallows the inference away, tasting the rancid bitterness on his tongue.

“I warned you,” he says, his nostrils flaring. “That if it came to this…”

“You’re not threatening me, are you, Charlie?” she says, cutting him off.

“You have no idea what you’re dealing with,” he seethes.

“Nor do you,” she says, before the phone goes dead.