Deception (Infidelity #3)(48)
“Severus, to answer your question, trust is a two-way street. First, why don’t you fill me in on your thoughts about the uninformative meeting with my father?”
“WHO IN THE hell is Catalina? Is she from Infidelity? What happened to Chelsea?” My questions came fast and furious.
“Mr. Demetri, I’ll try to explain.”
I gripped my phone tighter as I paced back and forth in front of the windows. In my current state I didn’t notice that the lights of Washington DC shimmered stories below. “Mrs. Witt…” If we were going to play this professional tone, I was ready. “…this was your plan. This was your idea, and now it seems to have been blown to hell. I’m not accustomed to incompetence coming from you. What happened to Chelsea?”
“She interviewed with Infidelity while in California. She was accepted as an employee. Her profile was being assimilated just the other day. I’d kept Severus Davis’s request on the back burner, hidden to the Infidelity staff. That was where it all stood the last time I looked, not more than a few days ago. Something must have happened.”
“You think?” I felt the vein in my neck throbbing. This fucking day needed to end and the next two along with it, so I could be back with Charli.
“Mr. Demetri, for the last thirty hours I’ve concentrated on you and Miss Collins. You’re both alive and safe. That was my prime objective.”
“Tell me that Charli is still in Westchester and dear old Dad hasn’t made any more calls.”
“She is and he hasn’t. As she told you, she’s demanding to go to class tomorrow.”
I ran my free hand through my hair as I collapsed on the sofa. “I’d rather have her safe where she is. That house is a fortress.” My chest seized as I started to say that it was the safest place for her to be, but I knew that even in that haven, tragedy could happen.
As I collected my thoughts, Deloris spoke. “It is. Obviously, what happened before won’t happen again. Silvia is there. She’s making sure.”
Silvia had been gone that horrible night. She was never gone—or at least rarely. I hadn’t known Jo would be alone for the night. It wasn’t like there would have been others in our apartment. I was working. But at least if she’d been in the city there would have been people nearby instead of iron gates and impenetrable perimeters.
“What’s the new guy’s name?” I asked, changing the subject to Charli’s new bodyguard.
“Clayton. He’s not new.”
“Jerrod wasn’t new either.” The day had been too long. My filter was gone.
“Jerrod swears he didn’t intend any harm. It was simply a family request or so he was told.”
I was immediately on my feet. “And he fucking thinks that’s okay, to deliver secret letters to my girlfriend who’s living in my home? The man is fired.”
“Yes, sir. That wasn’t a question.”
“Make sure Clayton is with her. I don’t care if he has to sit in her damn class.”
“She told you about the GPS on her phone?”
“Yes,” I answered with a little less determination.
Earlier today when I’d called Charli, she didn’t answer and her GPS was off. Well, when she called back, I was on the verge of blowing a gasket.
My head was about to explode.
My voice alone should have fucking scared the shit out of her. If she’d been next to me, instead of states away, I would have tanned her fine ass and asked questions later. The thought made my lips quirk to a grin. She wasn’t the least bit intimidated. Hell, even the threat of a spanking didn’t unsettle her.
I had a sudden flashback of how she’d even asked for it.
Before I left she fucking told me to do it.
Instead of backing down or apologizing like anyone else with any sense would have done, when I answered her call with my tirade, my Charli laughed, a sweet harmony rippling through the phone and effectively silencing my slew of accusations.
For a moment, her reaction silenced everything I’d planned to say. The rage and helplessness at not knowing her exact location, of not being sure of her safety, dissipated into the ring of her laughter.
She had no way of knowing how deeply she affected me. In my dark world of secrets and deals, she was the light—a breath of fresh air in a smoke-filled room. She filled me with a promise of something that I’d forgotten existed—a promise of more, of love, laughter, and life.
I shook my head, concentrating on Deloris rather than the images I created in my head by combining memories with desires. After I got off this call, I’d see if I could interest Charli in phone sex. It wouldn’t be as good as the real thing, but right now, it would have to do. God knew, I certainly wasn’t interested in the waitress downstairs.
“…will have it tomorrow.”
“What? Sorry, I was distracted. You’ll have what tomorrow?”
“The GPS chip.”
“Shit,” I replied. “I wasn’t serious when I told Charli I’d have one implanted.”
“That’s possible,” Deloris said matter-of-factly. “But that wasn’t what I just described. The chip I’m talking about is small, charged by solar power. As long as she wears it in the sun or even under most artificial light, it will stay charged.”