35. Pride
Chapter thirty-five
Pride
Owen
Stepping off the plane, into our waiting cars, I realise I’m going to have to pay for the damage I caused to the plane after I read her note.
They want her dead.
I hate that she has been missing all this time. There’s so much space between us, we are at almost fifty hours now. It’s too much. I’m on the verge of ripping everything apart. It’s only my friends keeping me together.
The guys tracked the plane she took to a small airport not far from here. They are trying to get the camera footage to see what direction she ran. Fucking ran. I need to see with my own eyes she landed safely. I need to be assured that no one traced her there apart from us.
It’s all my fucking fault. I’m angry, really fucking angry with myself for this.
If I had stayed, this would never have happened. I know that she would still be by my side.
I fucked it all up.
I want nothing more than to wrap my arms around her, feel her safe in them. I just have no idea where the fuck she is. It’s killing me.
Refocus, come on.
The lodge we’re heading to won’t be a secret for much longer. I want it that way. I want them to know everything. All that I have been up to in the last year, the therapy, everything that has been said between me, Dom, and the others in the special ops team while I’ve been with them.
But especially how I feel about Charlie.
Cole told me not to watch the videos on Charlie’s phone, but I need to see with my own eyes. To hear her voice, to calm the madness I feel right now. There's so much guilt cursing through me, I can’t bear it. I’m trying my best to use it to fuel what I need to do, use the anger to my advantage, to find her and bring her back to me. To make her mine, once and for all.
I hate this feeling of uncertainty, waiting. It’s fucking useless.
I will use my fists, I will reign down hell-fire to anyone that has laid a finger on what’s mine, my angel. They will pay for this.
“ETA five minutes,” I announce tightly to the guys as I drive down the dirt road that leads to the lodge. “We’ll need to walk for another ten after we park the van,” I add, my knuckles white on the steering wheel with stress.
After securing the van, next to Leon’s truck and Cole's SUV in the shelter, we grab our packs, extra food, and equipment we picked up when we landed and head off towards the lodge.
“Holy fucking shit balls. What is this place? And how have you managed to keep this a secret from everyone? It’s huge.” Grey’s mouth hangs open.
“We all need a place to unwind, right? Well, this is mine” I’m playing it down. I called it the lodge for a reason. I wanted it to sound insignificant if anyone found out about it. When in reality it’s anything but.
With the people we have to deal with in our line of work, I wanted a place where we could all lie low if things ever went south. Set on twenty-five acres, it’s built over three floors with a basement that’s just as big as the main house.
“Well, shit, Owen…” I’ve never seen Grey lost for words. “I…” He gives up and just walks ahead of me, obviously eager to see it up close.
When we approach, Leon, Cole and Ethan are already here, standing in front of me on the deck. They look the same, slightly more stressed from the creases around their eyes, the worry lines on their foreheads; a reminder of why we’re all here. I knew this was coming—time to face the music.
Their bags hit the floor, feet move, and I find myself receiving a curt nod from Ethan with a slap on the shoulder before vanishing inside. Cole stands right in front of me and actually hugs me, whispering, “Ever disappear again with no word and I’ll kill you myself,” then he’s gone too.
Leon moves beside me. “You look like shit, my friend. Let’s find our girl, then we’ll talk.” I couldn’t be more grateful.
Over the next few minutes, we all slip into our roles and get organised. Cole’s tracking Charlie from where she landed and getting all the information he can on the Summers’ organisation. Sitting next to him, I hand him Charlie’s phone. “Give me a minute,” he says, attaching it to the system.
Bringing up the new software I’ve been working on while I’ve been away on my computer screen. “This is for you,” I tell him, gaining his attention
“What is it?”
He knows before I tell him anything. Moving out of the way so Cole can sit in my place, he gets to work.
“This is the shit, O. Fucking facial recognition.” It’s what we have been missing for a while, but I wanted it to be right. Now we have it, it’ll give us the edge when we need to find someone. He doesn’t hesitate to put Charlie’s image in first. It’s a photo I’ve not seen before and takes my breath away. I’m lost in the way she looks so carefree, sitting crossed legged on top of a table at The Brasserie, glass of wine in hand. “It was her birthday. We took her out, all of us. Millie and Jack joined us. It was a great night. Took this while she wasn’t looking,” Leon informs me from across the room. “We’ll find her, O. She’s one of us now.” I just nod and carry on with what I need to do, determined to bring her home.
“Ready?” Cole’s tense voice fills the room and everyone gathers around the huge screens attached to the walls.
The video of Charlie starts to play. She sounds off, chatting about her day, sad almost. Then the camera suddenly swings down. You can hear them, the guys from the hallway, but I can’t see much other than the floor.
“I think it’s time we had a little talk, don’t you, Miss Hudson?” She turns the camera discreetly towards the voice and we get a flash of his face. Cole captures the image and runs it. We already know who it is though. The soon to be dead guy’s hand is around her upper arm. You hear her take in a sharp breath like she’s surprised.
I don’t want to watch, but I know I have to, despite the anxiety crawling into my chest. The camera tilts, giving us a glimpse as he reaches for her.
“I have nothing to say to you,” she curses, trying to pull away. In the background you can just make out another man, standing back watching . Cole grabs that image too. “I don’t need your words, Miss Hudson. ” He yanks her forward and the tension in the room rises. Me, Cole, Ethan, and Leon all stand, ready to jump through the screen and help . “My boss wants you dead. We just need the loose ends gone.” Jutting his chin towards Charlie, he continues, “You’re the last one.”
Fuck.
I want to kill him, tighten my hands around his neck for even laying a finger on what’s mine. If she’ll have me back after I left her without a word.
Fisting my hands so tight at my side, to stop the anger from boiling over, my fingers dig into the palms.
When the camera swings back up, the man that was holding her staggers back. She hit him? The other guy moves in. Charlie ducks when his fist comes at her face, then she takes him out. I’m not sure how. I can’t see what she did, but he’s on the floor.
There’s a lot of movement from the camera she still has in her hand. Charlie takes a hit to her face, but doesn’t say a word. Us, on the other hand, there are audible fucks and shits flying around the room.
The bigger guy backs her up against something. I think she kicks him and he lets her go. She doesn’t even seem phased by what’s happening. Is that what she meant when she told me that I had no idea what she was capable of ? A swell of pride forces some of my anxiety away. She’s in control, I fucking love it.
She kicks him again as her elbow makes contact with his face. He loses his balance and crashes into the table. I can’t quite tell you what I see next. It’s a bit of a blur and then she takes off.
We all sit there silent while Cole brings up the footage from the hotel that Charlie managed to get before it was deleted. A full blow by blow view of what happened. Charlie kicking ass, taking two men down on her own, and coming away with barely a scratch.
It confirms exactly how little I know about my girl. She’s badass. And way more capable than I ever even could have imagined.
I don’t know if I love it or hate it or both, but fuck, she’s… Mine. A strong sense of pride washes over me, making me feel better for a fleeting moment.
Who knew an ex-prosecution solicitor turned florist could fight like that? Not me, that’s for sure. From the smiles on the faces around me, I’m the only one.
“What the fuck?” I cry, swinging around to face the guys I’ve known almost my whole life.
“You have no idea, mate. That woman of yours is skilled as fuck,” Ethan tells me. The bastard’s smiling. Fucking smiling.
“How?”
Leon gestures for me to take a seat next to him.
“The men she grew up with—two brothers currently in a special unit in the Army—decided she needed to be able to look after herself.”
“I had no idea” I feel so fucking proud of her right now. The way she handled the whole situation, fighting, the ability to keep calm, the way she got everything she needed, and managed to leave on a fucking private jet . “She’s incredible.”
“She sure is, O. Don’t fuck this up or I’ll have to fuck you up myself.” He means every word.
“Once she’s back by my side, I’m never fucking letting go, Leon.”
“Good, I’d hate for us to lose our friendship over this.” I’m taken aback a little by that. He really does care for her. I think I underestimated just how close two people can get in twelve months. “Grown close, have you, Leon?”
He stands. “She’s the sister I never had. Don’t fuck with her. She’s something special.”
“I won’t,” I promise him. There’s no way I’m letting her slip through my fingers. I’m finding her, and finding the fucker that is after her, the fucker that wants her dead. They’ll have to get through me first.
Fuck, Charlie, I can’t wait to get my hands on you.
Ethan got back from Holland and Brooke just before we arrived back at the lodge, filling us in on what he found out from his visit. Apparently, Josh is a shifty fucker. Cole’s on it. Digging deeper into him, already searching his work and personal computer. “Anne Threser and Miss Holland were visibly upset by everything that had happened, but something is still off with the whole situation. I knew Josh was keeping a secret. He was careful with what he said, guarded. I knew I was being monitored, even with the jammer in place. I’m sure of it. I planned to grab him after he finished, haul him back, and have some fun with him, but just before I left, Josh handed me this.” He places a pen drive on the desk.
“We’ve watched it and it’s Josh telling us everything he knows. He says he called Charlie to warn her. That they knew she was working for Simon before he was attacked.”
“There is no way a case like this one should not have gone to court already, not with all the information they have been compiling against them. The leak is the only thing holding the case back. He also goes on to say he knows he’s being framed for the leaks and he can prove it. There have to be at least two people passing information out to Summers, some of the dates don’t match up, and his logins were used when he was involved in meetings with no access to the system. Josh doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to be involved in something like this. He’s too soft, kept asking about Charlie, his body language and face concerned and shocked, but I still don’t trust him. He seems more… focused on Charlie for other reasons. I think he’s been obsessed for a while, even has a photo of her and him together at a work party,” Ethan finishes. Grunting in response, a cold shiver runs down my spine at the thought of him ever touching Charlie. He can only hope that we never meet, otherwise, he’ll feel the full force of my fist in his face.
“I’ve got something on Josh’s laptop.” Cole shares the files to the large screen. “It looks like little Josh has been doing some research of his own. These are the images that were sent to Charlie, images of her husband…”
“Ex-fucking-husband,” I mutter through gritted teeth.
“Ex-fucking-husband,” Cole mimics, “having a number of affairs behind her back. This is what eventually led her to divorce her hus… him and leave the firm.” I scowl, even though it was nicely corrected.
“Finding that sort of information on someone doesn’t come cheap.” Ethan’s been looking at the connections. “If they wanted her out back then, she must have been close to finding something.” Fuck, Charlie, what have you got yourself into?
“Josh took the photos himself. These are the original files. From what I can see, he’s never sent them anywhere other than to his printer. Looks like he followed the ex, then delivered the information to Charlie’s desk.”
“Men are arseholes,” Harley mutters under her breath. “Present company excluded,” she adds when we all turn to look at her.
“His loss, my gain.” I don’t like what he did to her, but it led her to me. For that, I’m grateful.
“She left the firm a short while after when her divorce was finalised. This has to be something, at least to get her out of the law firm.”
“It has to be linked. It’s too coincidental for it not to be.” Dom’s been sitting, silent for the most part, I know he’s taking it all in before he gives his thoughts. Leaning forward from his seat, he stands, Harley by his side. As always.
“Okay, we need to know what Charlie and Mr Brooke saw to understand the level of shit she’s in.”
“Fuck.” It’s almost inaudible as Cole whips his head from the screen to face us all. “The facial recognition picked something up. It’s small, but it gives us her last location. It’s time-stamped at nine am yesterday morning…”
Before we even knew she was missing.
Before anyone moves or even breathes a word, I’ve got my keys in hand and I’m running for the door.
Slipping into the driver's side of the van, the door in the back slides open and Leon and Ethan climb in.
Their silent support is all I need.
I’m getting you back, Angel, and I’m never letting you fucking out of my sight again.