I climb into the back, rummaging in his duffel bag and removing a Ramones’ tee. “I didn’t know you were into the Ramones?” I say, stripping out of the uniform.
Charlie’s gaze meets mine momentarily through the mirror. “It was a present from Lil.”
“I didn’t know your sister was into punk rock, and isn’t she a little young?”
“She’s fourteen and going through a phase.” He turns right onto the highway. “Or at least I hope it’s a phase.”
I climb back into the front wearing the shirt. It’s long enough to pass as a shirt dress. Charlie’s eyes lower to my thighs for a fleeting second. “Why do you keep looking at me like that?” I ask, eyeballing him.
“Like what?” He feigns innocence.
“This isn’t real.” I point between us. “You know that, right?”
Silence engulfs us for a few beats before he clears his throat. “You know we’ll probably have to get married. It’s the safest way to keep your father off your back.”
“We have six months to figure out a solution. No offense, but I don’t want to marry you.”
A muscle clenches in his jaw, and awkward tension fills the air.
“I thought you had questions,” he says, after a while, and I latch onto the lifeline with both hands.
“What happened to Oscar?” I whisper, my lip wobbling as I force bile back down my throat. I remember hearing the gunshot the night we were fleeing. And now that I know it was Louis who took me, I’m terrified for the bodyguard who is more like my father than my father.
Charlie grips the steering wheel tight. “Maybe we should wait for questions and answers until we’ve stopped someplace.”
A sob bursts free of my chest. “Please don’t say he’s dead!” Tears roll freely down my cheeks. “Please don’t say I got him killed too!”
He reaches out, rubbing my bare thigh, clearly conflicted. He sighs, glancing at a signpost up ahead. “He’s not dead, babe. But he is in a coma.” He watches my reaction carefully.
“Is he going to make it?”
“I don’t know, but he’s got the best of care. He’s in good hands, and all we can do is pray he comes through.”
“What about his family?”
“Drew is taking care of it,” he says, removing his hand from my thigh and returning it to the wheel.
“Why didn’t my brother come to see me?”
Charlie puts the car into cruise control and looks at me. “At first, it was because of his injuries, and we didn’t know where you were, although we suspected he’d sent you to Parkhurst.”
“My father hurt Drew?” I guess.
He bobs his head. “Your father beat the crap out of him after Atticus revealed his involvement in the safe heist. Drew fought back initially so your father had his goons strip him naked and tie him to a chair, and he let them all go at him.” He sighs. “It’s a miracle he didn’t kill him.”
Nausea churns in my gut. I haven’t forgotten the beating I endured at my father’s hands, and it was probably much worse for Drew. That bastard would want to kill him for his so-called betrayal, but he would never let it get that far, because he needs him. “How did Drew wrangle his way back into my father’s good books?”
“Drew convinced him he was double-crossing the new elite, and it was his way of protecting the contents of the safe, until they went rogue.”
My brows climb to my hairline. “And my father believes that?”
“Drew told him he recorded the theft on his cell and he was waiting until he uncovered where they stashed the paperwork before handing it and the video over to the authorities.”
“Does Drew have a recording?” I ask, because it wouldn’t surprise me. It’s the usual M.O. with the elite.
“He did, but his cell got smashed up during the shootout, and he didn’t have a backup.”
“I bet that made Father suspicious.”
Charlie shrugs, keeping one eye on the road. “The jury’s still out, but he’s giving Drew the benefit of the doubt.”
“Because he’s his heir.”
“There’s more to it.” Charlie white-knuckles the steering wheel again. “I know you think your life has been shit, and that your father has treated you like crap, but it’s nothing compared to what Drew’s endured.”
My spine turns rigid with tension. “What exactly does that mean?”
“We’ve seen more violence and depravity than you could ever imagine,” he admits.
“At Parkhurst,” I surmise.
“Partly.”
“And you’re still not going to tell me, are you?”
He slants pleading eyes on me. “Abby. We can’t tell you, and it’s better you don’t know. It would change how you feel about all of us.”
That may well be the case, but I’m sick of all this protective bullshit. “I’m sick of all the lies and secrets, Charlie!” I roar, throwing my hands up. “All it does is blindside me! I can’t defend myself if I don’t know the full truth.”
He glances sideways at me as he takes the next exit. “You don’t need to defend yourself. We’ll keep you safe. Nothing like this is ever going to happen to you again.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I explode, yelling at him. “None of you have kept me safe! The only one looking out for me is me.” I pound my fists on the dash out of sheer frustration and rage.
“That isn’t true.” He stretches his hand across the console, settling it on my thigh.
I slap his hand away. “Don’t placate me, Charlie. Don’t insult my intelligence.”
His jaw locks up tight, and tension filters into the air again.
I’m so sick of this shit.
Of living this life.
And my previous determination to escape has strengthened in recent months.
I need to get away from Rydeville. To start over somewhere else.
“We will keep you safe,” he grits out after a few tense minutes.
Resting my head back, I close my eyes, knowing there’s no point continuing this fight. He will not tell me anything. “You can’t promise me that,” I say, opening my eyes a couple minutes later. “None of you can. Not while that bastard is still in control. Not while he’s still breathing.”
“He won’t be in control for much longer.”
“How?” I sit upright again.
“Drew is doing what he needs to, to win back your father’s trust, and now that Jane’s gone, there are no limitations to what he can do to ensure that happens. And—”
I swivel in my seat. “Back up there! Jane’s gone?” My eyes splay wide. “Gone where? And why?” I splutter.
Charlie slows the car down, taking the turn for a place named Loth’s End. “Drew will tell you more, but he went to her father after the shootout and told him to take the family far away from Rydeville. They left the next day.”
My mouth hangs open. “But we know where she is, right? I can still get in contact with her?”
Charlie shakes his head, drawing to a halt alongside a curb. “That would defeat the purpose. Drew did what he had to do to keep Jane safe.”