Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries #5)(20)

Eve, Jake, and Serena raised their hands.

“Well, I was just pissed to find out she’d lied about her name.” Jesse Murdoch was sitting beside Simon, a sour look on his face.

“I was undercover.” She didn’t really like Jesse. He’d totally shot her.

“So was I but I used my real name. It’s confusing to keep changing names,” Jesse shot back.

He was a little behind the curve, but she’d sworn to be kinder to all of God’s creatures, even the slow ones. “Sorry, Jesse. It’s Charlotte. I’ll try to be more clear in the future so you know the full name of the woman you’re shooting and leaving horrific scars on.”

She was perfectly satisfied with the way he blanched.

Simon chuckled under his breath. “She’s got you there. Don’t be such a f*cking idiot. I’m your damn sponsor. Don’t make me look bad.”

“I’m only here to find out what you know about Eli Nelson.” Liam O’Donnell wasn’t playing around.

God, she felt like shit when she looked at him. The only way to deal with Liam was honesty. “I know I’m the reason he had the chance to blow up the apartment you were in and send your brother running with the bearer bonds. You might not believe it, but I didn’t know what he was planning. He didn’t let me in on it.”

Liam hadn’t brought his wife with him. Charlie knew this wasn’t entertainment for him. This was serious. She’d betrayed more than just Ian. “Would it have changed a damn thing knowing what would happen?”

She hated the answer but had to be truthful. “No. Eli Nelson had my sister by then.”

“Your sister, Chelsea Dennis. She was taken from her elementary school in North Carolina by her father, Vladimir Denisovitch, and brought to Moscow. He kidnapped her right off the playground. You were older. Did he use your sister to get you to go with him? Or were you afraid because he’d murdered your mother by then?” Adam asked, proving just how smart he was.

Charlie felt her jaw drop. She thought Chelsea had buried that information. “How do you know that?”

“Is your sister the hacker?” Adam’s eyes flared as though he’d found a challenge.

Charlie nodded. “She’s the best in the world.”

Adam sat back. “Second best. Tell her she didn’t go far enough. No information is ever really lost. You just have to know which threads to follow and which lead to nowhere. I have amazing instincts. It’s not just about talent. I’d met you. I didn’t know if it was you or someone else who had covered the tracks. I made an educated guess. Can she walk? Her medical records were inconclusive.”

Charlie took a deep breath. God, he’d found out far more than she’d expected. “She has a pronounced limp.”

Adam’s voice had a gravely tone, as though he was deeply sympathetic. “From the compound fractures of both the tibia and the fibula in each leg. I can’t imagine the pain of that. She was left like that for a long period of time? I found the X-rays online. They showed a healing process. The doctors had to refracture the legs to set them. She was ten?”

The truth could only help her here. She needed these people on her side. But it was so hard to talk about. Especially with Ian’s accusations running through her head. “She was ten years old. The only reason my father took her to the hospital is that I agreed to comply with his training. My father was the head of the Denisovitch syndicate. My mother ran when she was pregnant with Chelsea. She realized she didn’t want her daughters being raised by a monster. She paid a man to smuggle the two of us out of the country. We lived in North Carolina for ten years. She thought he’d forgotten about us. He hadn’t. He killed my mother and took my sister and me back to Russia. I was a bit rebellious, to say the least. He realized that Chelsea was his best method of controlling me so he broke her legs one day. I did what he asked after that.”

“How terrible,” Serena said, her eyes tearing up.

Terrible didn’t begin to cover it. One day she’d been a happy junior high kid whose mom adored her. She’d had a future. She’d wanted to go to college. The next her mother was dead and her only future was with the Thieves-in-Law. “My father ran drugs and women, and Eli Nelson tried to make him out to be an arms dealer. Nelson used my love for my sister to get me to run an operation for him. He told me he would off my father if I would just spend a couple of weeks distracting a CIA operative for him.”

“Ian.” Eve sat forward, an encouraging look on her face. “You were trying to save your sister.”

Well, at least they were giving her more room than Ian had. “Yes. I didn’t know Ian then. My mission was to spend a little time with him. I didn’t expect to marry him. I didn’t expect to love him. He would have done the same for Sean.”

“Yes,” Jake said. “He would have. So why are you back?”

Grace brought in a tray of coffee and donuts. “The donut shop delivered. Why did you order ten lemon filled?”

“It’s Ian’s favorite.”

Jake sat back. “So you love the big guy. Damn, good luck to you.”

Grace looked down at the four dozen donuts Charlie had ordered. “Ian doesn’t eat donuts.”

Charlie waved her off. “He thinks he can’t handle carbs. He loves them, trust me. Now can we get to the point of this meeting? Is anyone interested in Eli Nelson, aka Mr. Black?”