Chapter 8
Tommy’s driver, a guy he knew from outside of Sanibel, was silent the entire way. He looked a little sketchy himself. Willow wondered where Tommy knew him from and thought to ask, but she kept her mouth shut when she saw him glaring at her through the rearview mirror.
When they were about a mile away from their destination, the driver pulled over to the side of the road. She was scared at first, thinking he was going to kill her and take the money for himself, or leave her stranded. But he got out instead.
“Take the car and go,” he said. “It’s a good idea to keep this guy in the dark. He shouldn’t know there’s anyone with you. I’ll walk up a few minutes later so he doesn’t suspect anything.”
Willow thought the idea was perfect. She felt bad for judging him to be a bad guy, but the sharp turn her life took after everything with Charlie, she couldn”t be too careful.
“What happens if this is a set-up?” Willow asked. “What if he’s already got Mark somewhere waiting for me?”
“I don’t think he’s that stupid. But if he is, don’t worry. I won’t be too far behind you.”
She was still nervous and worried sick about Charlie flipping the coin on her. In the beginning, Willow gave him the benefit of the doubt. But when the time came to put her money where her mouth was, she was afraid.
“You should go, before he gets suspicious.”
He was right. Before Charlie started to call wondering where she was, Willow quickly switched seats and pulled back onto the road. She was alone and going in as blind as a bat, but she trusted that Tommy’s guy would be right behind her. Like he said.
Ok, Willow.She let out a hefty gust of air and tried to pump herself up before calling Charlie. You got this. Just breathe. Act natural. Don’t look nervous.
Before she could call, Charlie was already outside. His face was stone cold and he looked like nothing she’d ever seen before—sinister, a lone caveman who was waiting for the day someone came along for him to kill.
“Come on in.” He called out to Willow while waving a hand for her to exit the car.
She was hesitant, but exited anyway before he rushed over and removed her from the car himself.
“Whose house is this?” she asked as she slowly walked up the pebbled driveway.
“This is one of my grandad’s old properties. We come out here sometimes when we need a break from the mainland.”
Charlie followed behind her as he escorted her inside. Willow had the backpack with the money in it, and a small pocket knife in the pocket of her jeans—just in case Charlie decided to change course before Tommy and his crew arrived.
“That the money?” he asked, as he locked the front door behind them.
“Y-yeah,” Willow gulped. “This is what we found at the resort.”
He gave her an odd look when she said “We”. It was almost as if everything he said about Tommy the night before suddenly disgusted him and he never wanted to think about them being together at all.
“Hand it over,” he said.
Again, Willow was hesitant. Nothing seemed right at that moment. She felt like the plan they had fell apart and Charlie had conjured up a plan of his own. Little did everyone know, Willow too had a plan of her own.
“No,” she frowned. “Not until you get Richy here. That was the plan.”
Charlie started to chuckle and slowly stepped toward her. Willow backed away with every step he took until she ran smack into a wall. She was cornered—feeling helpless and even more scared for her life. Though Charlie hadn’t made a move to lay a hand on her, Willow shoved her hand into her pocket and revealed her knife before he could.
“Stay back!” She ordered. “You can have the money! Just give me Richy. That’s all I ask, Charlie. You’ve done enough damage.”
“What are you going to do with that, Darling?” he laughed. “You can’t possibly think you’re going to use that to defend yourself. And from who? I’m not here to hurt you. I just want what’s mine.”
She held her knife out in front of her, silently daring him to charge at her. Willow’s aim wasn’t nearly perfect, but she swore to herself that if Charlie tried to overpower her, she would give him the fight of his life.
“Drop the money, Willow. Don’t make this any tougher than it already is,” he said. “I really don’t want to hurt you, but I need that money.”
“Why?” she shivered. “You’re supposed to turn yourself in once we have Richy.”
“You really believed that?” he scoffed. “Come on, Darling! I’m a criminal. Do you really think I want to rot in some prison cell when I can just take my money and go on and start a new life? I’m not new to this. I’ve been here plenty of times before.”
Willow felt duped. Betrayed again. She felt stupid. Tommy was right all along. Charlie had no real intentions of helping her get Richy back. He played on her emotions to get her to get the money for him and set it as his feet. It was the same way he manipulated a lot of things in their relationship.
“You’re a monster!” she shouted. “This isn’t right and you’re going to get what you deserve one way or the other.”
Before Willow could move a muscle, Charlie rushed toward her and grabbed the backpack from the shoulder before she had a chance to get her knife into him. She nicked him, but it wasn’t nearly enough to phase him. He was already going for the door and on his way out, not knowing Willow had a surprise for him.
“Ayy, Charlie Boy.”
Mark was at the other side of the door the minute Charlie opened it to leave. Charlene was there too. They both had these wicked smirks on their faces, while Charlie stood there in awe. He was completely clueless to the plan Willow had conjured up. Everyone was.
“What the hell?” he looked back at her with pure shock on his face. “You already called them? I thought we had a deal!”
“Yeah,” Willow scoffed. “So did I.”
She didn’t make any sudden moves. Not until everyone was back inside and the door slammed and locked. Richy came inside behind Charlene and Willow let out a sigh of relief to know that he was still alive.
“Richy!” She tried to step toward him but Charlene grabbed him back.
“Not so fast,” she said. “There’s still a lot to be discussed. You know, unfinished business.”
“Let him go!” Willow shouted. “You have the money, just let him go.”
Mark walked over to Willow and got real close to her face. He was wearing the same evil smirk he walked in with, but up close and personal, it looked a lot more scary.
“You gave me a run for my money, Willow.” He chuckled. “I have to give you credit. I thought I would never see a dime of it. I really thought you and your husband here were the same kind of people. You know… the kind who only looks out for themselves.”
“Charlie is scum,” Willow spat. “I’m nothing like him.”
Mark gave Willow a long hard glare before turning his attention to Charlie, who was slowly inching his way toward the back exit. Mark got wind of him on the move and quickly drew his gun in Charlie”s direction.
“You’re not thinking of skipping town again, are ya Charlie?” His arm raised with the gun pointed directly at Charlie’s head. “It’d be tragic if your plans got canceled.”
“Mark, you don’t have to do this. We can split the money three ways, like we were supposed to in the beginning. I just needed someone else to bring it to me. There was too much heat on me to go in myself.”
Mark laughed as the weight of his boots clanked against the wooden floor when he walked over to Charlie. The duffle bag full of money was draped over Charlie”s shoulder, but not for long. As soon as Mark got close enough to rip it from his grips, it landed on the floor at their feet.
“Three ways,” Mark repeated. “You really think that deal is still on the table? After all the time I spent trying to track you down? You went completely ghost. No one’s heard a word from you. I think it’s safe to say you breached the contract. And now, everything goes to me.”
“And me!” Charlene added. “I’ve worked just as hard for that money as anybody else. I want my cut.”
Mark didn’t pay her any mind. Instead, his glare intensified on Charlie. Willow had never seen Charlie so afraid in her life. Normally, he was this tough guy who called the shots. But in front of Mark, he was nothing more than a scumbag coward. He didn’t even breathe too hard while Mark was in front of him.
“You know Charlie,” Mark said. “We could’ve kept this show on the road for years to come. Hit Spain again. Sicily. Paris, where the big bucks are. But no, you had to go on and fall in love, get married, try to clean it up and change who you are.”
Willow listened intently to every word Mark said to Charlie—about his character and what he wanted in the end. It sounded like Charlie had some kind of breakthrough; maybe he wanted to start doing the right thing. Either way, he would’ve ended up in prison, but he really did want to change. He just couldn”t get away from Mark.
“When you met Willow, I knew right away things would be different with her. I knew there would come a time when you wanted out… that’s why I doubled up the job. Just in case it was our last one and now look! It was our last one. You’re probably thinking I hated the fact that you finally met someone you really cared for, but that’s not it. I just wanted what was owed to me.”
“Well there it is,” Charlie said. “Just take it and let us go. The kid too!”
Mark let out a howling laugh again. He had no intention of letting anyone go. Not when Charlie demanded him too, at least. He was having fun torturing them and calling out all of Charlie”s flaws.
“The kid?” Mark scoffed. “Since when do you care about kids? I hear Willow’s been asking for kids for a while now and you never budged. You never even wanted kids, and now, all of a sudden, you care about the kid?”
“Just let him go, Mark.” Charlie sounded exhausted with the back and forth. “You got the money. Let them go and do whatever you want with me. My life is over anyway.”
Willow felt bad for him when he said that. She knew he deserved to get whatever it was he had coming to him, but it made her sad to hear because Charlie was a man she had loved once. She knew she could never grow to love him the same way again, but Willow felt compassion for him knowing he’d rot in a prison cell, or worse.
“Your life is over too, quiet as it’s kept.” Charlie had a wild smirk on his face. “You think you’re going to get away with this? After you took that kid, the entire force of Sanibel has been on the lookout for you. No way you’ll make it off the island with the money. Not if Tommy has anything to do with it and you better believe that Willow’s been working with him.”