“Who is it?”
“I don’t know. Some guy…Max something.”
I swing the bedroom door open. “What did you say his name was?”
But Hayes isn’t there.
“Hi, Charlotte.”
My heart launches at that deep voice. Max is here. Standing right outside my door. I close my eyes and open them again.
He’s still here.
He looks tired, the scruff of his beard several days old, but still devastatingly handsome. I’m so happy to see him that I wonder if my mind is playing tricks on me. Maybe this whole day has been a long, strange dream. That seems easier to believe.
Then I remember Francesca. As I connect the dots, my heart sinks.
His sister.
That’s why he’s in town. He must’ve found out she’s here.
“Can we talk?” he asks, his voice so low I struggle to hear it. “In private?”
Behind him, I glimpse Hayes walking toward his bedroom. I don’t think about what I’m doing. I run out of my room and grab Hayes by the hand to stop him from leaving. “Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of Hayes.” I swallow, feeling less mighty than I sound.
Hayes tries to pull his hand away, but I keep a tight hold of it. He’s told me a dozen times he doesn’t like to be touched—part of his weird OCD thing—so this is probably making him super uncomfortable. I don’t care though.
I don’t want to be left alone with Max.
If Hayes leaves, I might break down. I might cry. And the last thing I want is for Max to see just how much he hurt me.
Max’s gaze drifts over me, tightening. “Charlotte…please.”
I flinch. My body is already reacting to him. I want to throw my arms around him, kiss him, ask him how everything went so wrong, and more importantly, ask him why I haven’t heard from him until now.
I refuse to do any of those things.
Instead I draw Hayes closer to me. “My new boyfriend doesn’t feel like going anywhere. Whatever you have to say, you can say to both of us.”
“New what?” Hayes sputters.
I squeeze his hand tightly, muttering under my breath, “Just go with it.”
“Did Doll put you up to this? Are the two of you trying to torture me?”
Max’s intense eyes never leave mine. “Charlotte, this isn’t your boyfriend,” he says, frowning.
“Tell him, sweetie,” I say to Hayes, forcing a smile. “We fell in love. We’re both ridiculously happy.”
“I refuse to do this again,” Hayes yells, yanking his hand out of mine. “Do you see that guy, Charlotte? He’s twice my size!”
I roll my eyes, giving up the charade. “Thanks for nothing, Hayes.”
“There is seriously something wrong with you and Doll. Work out your guy problems on your own and leave me out of it!” He takes off to his bedroom, mumbles something about hand sanitizer, and slams the door shut behind him.
“Now can we talk?” Max tries again.
All of the fight goes out of me. There’s a lump already forming in my throat. I don’t know how I’m supposed to talk to him when I can’t even speak.
He takes a step closer to me. “Charlotte…”
“There’s no time,” I say, pushing the words out. “She’s waiting at the library…I found her.”
I turn around to grab my keys and my phone, desperately needing to look away. I can’t do this. I can’t look at him.
“Found who? Charlotte what are you talking about?” He reaches for my hands, stopping me. The two of us stare at each other in confusion.
“Didn’t you come here to…”
“To what?” he prompts me. “To apologize? To get down on my fucking knees and grovel? Because if that’s what it takes, I’ll do it.”
“You came here for me?” I whisper, paralyzed.
“Why else would I be here? By the way, most people put in a notice before they quit their job. Very unprofessional, kid.”
“Oh my God.” Tears blur my vision. “Please tell me this isn’t about the job.”
“No, it’s not about the job.” He gently wipes the corner of my eyes with his thumbs, and draws me into his arms. Sighing, he rests his chin against the top of my head. “I’m sorry about what I said, Charlotte. I never wanted you to leave.”
“I never wanted to leave.”
“You didn’t even say goodbye,” he says bitterly. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
I shrug, unable to think of a good enough answer. “I don’t know. It was too difficult to face you. Why did it take you so long to change your mind about me leaving?”
“Because I convinced myself that letting you go was the right thing to do.”
“So hurting me was the right thing to do? That makes no sense.” I shake my head, feeling a wave of anger hit me all over again. Every night since I’ve been here, I’ve lied awake in bed trying to wrap my mind around what happened. Now he’s telling me he thought it was the right thing to do? It’s not good enough.
Max tilts my chin up, forcing me to look at him. “I’m going to try to explain, kid, but you have to realize this isn’t easy. I’m not used to relationships, remember? I’m still trying to figure out how it all works.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. He’s here, trying. He deserves credit for that at least. “Just say how you feel, Max.”
He steps back and takes a deep breath as he looks around the room, thinking. “Everything I thought was important suddenly wasn’t anymore,” he says quietly. “You make me want a life that’s easy and light and carefree. I thought if I had those things, I’d give up on my past; it’d be like saying what happened was okay, and I’d stop trying to get justice.”
“You deserved those things, Max. I realize that Garcia took the life you were supposed to have, but you’re letting him steal this one too. He doesn’t deserve to have that much power over you.”
“I know.” He reaches for me again, taking my face in his hands. “He took away everyone I cared about. I can’t let him take you away too.”
I wrap my hands around his wrists as he holds my face. I can hear the pain in his words, and it makes me want to kill Garcia for him. If I ever had the chance, I probably would.
“Come back, Charlotte.” He presses his lips against mine, dizzying me with an intoxicating kiss.
I’m not sure if it’s a request or a command. Either way, it doesn’t matter. “You could ask for anything you wanted, and I’d probably say yes.”
“Really?” His dark eyes light up.
“Hayes is going to be disappointed,” I say with a sigh.
“He’ll get over it.”
“Poor kid. He’ll never find a better roomie than me. It’s going to be hard to leave him.” When Max starts to scowl, it makes me want to laugh. Provoking him probably makes me a horrible person, but I keep going with it. “Just saying. I got a lot of things going for me here. Hayes is quiet, he stays out of my way, he’s extremely clean—”
“You’re making me want to punch that guy, Charlotte.”
“Seriously. You’re going to have to do something drastic,” I look around the room innocently. “Tell me you love me, that you can’t imagine life without me, I don’t know. Something along those lines.”
“I do love you.” He says the words so seriously it takes me by surprise.
I push away, feeling dizzy. “All right, I can see that was a bad joke. There’s no reason to keep going with it.”
Max grabs me so quickly I lose my balance. He catches me and holds me upright. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love you, Charlotte. Imagine life without you? I don’t have to. I know what it’s like. It’s fucking hell.”
I stare at him hard. “You’re being serious?”
“I love you, Charlotte. Try and tell me I’m lying.”
His words are painfully honest. It takes a few moments for them to sink in. “You’re telling the truth.”
He shakes his head. “Yep.”
I blink back hap
py tears. “I love you too.”
He smiles. “I know.”
I both hate and love that he needs no convincing on my part.
“I’m not going after Garcia anymore either,” he tells me. “I’ve made my peace with it.”
“You have no idea how happy that makes me…oh my God.” Francesca. I grab Max’s hand. “I almost forgot! Come with me.”
As soon as I can think straight, I realize that I’m about to give him the news he’s been waiting for almost his entire life, and it’s both thrilling and scary. I’m not sure how he’ll react.
“Where are we going?” he asks, confused, and laughing at the way I’m rushing him out the door.
“It’s a surprise. Get in the car.”
Max doesn’t ask any questions. Ten minutes later, we’re on campus heading toward the library. I feel my phone vibrate and check my texts.
Go to the conference room behind the reference section
“The surprise is a library?” Max asks, confused as we approach the building.
“It’s what’s in the library,” I tell him, pulling him alongside me.
He reaches for my hand, entwining his fingers through mine. “No surprise could beat knowing you’re coming back home with me.”
His words warm my insides. I squeeze his hand in response. “As much as I love that you said that, I have a feeling you’re wrong. This is the kind of surprise that beats all surprises.”
“Whatever you say, kid.”
Finding the conference room isn’t hard. Francesca is sitting at a table inside. She stands up when I open the door.
“Where’ve you been?” She holds up her hands impatiently. “I don’t have long.”
Max steps inside, the color draining from his face. I don’t have to explain; he knows her without either of us saying a word.
“This is Max Archer,” I tell Francesca. “He’s your brother.”
THIRTY-THREE
Max
My sister.
Her face was the last one I expected to see, and I can tell she’s just as confused as I am.
I found her, Charlotte said earlier. I had no clue what she was talking about, but now it all makes sense.
Dean told me she wouldn’t be touring universities for another few weeks, but his information must’ve been wrong. Because here she is. Standing in front of me.
The conversation starts with a lot of whys and hows. By the time I’m done explaining what happened on the day she disappeared, she’s crying.
“I always knew,” she says over and over again. “Several years ago I overheard my father talking to his business associate about the day he took me. He referred to me as his little trophy. Later on I asked Christian, one of my bodyguards, about that conversation. He admitted my father wasn’t my biological one, but he made it sound like he’d saved me from some horrible fate. Like I was lucky he’d taken me.”
“Do you have any idea why? I’ve been trying to figure out his motive my whole life.”
“I think it had to do with my mother…our mother. He was in love with her, but she left him for…oh God. She must’ve left him for my real father.” Francesca covers her face with her hands, weeping. “I can’t believe he’s capable of something like that. I can’t believe he murdered all those people. He murdered my…my family.”
Unsure of what to do, I wrap my arms around her. She sobs against my chest for a long time, soaking my shirt. For the first time since it happened, my own eyes sting with tears. When I look around the room for Charlotte, I see her sitting in a chair in the corner. Her eyes are red and glassy too.
It doesn’t escape my notice that if I had waited to come here, I would’ve missed my chance at finding my sister. The only reason I’m here is because of Charlotte. I’ve never believed in fate before. I believe in it now. Both times she’s come into my life, she’s ended up saving it.
“Do you know what today is?” Her voice is barely a whisper.
It takes me a second to think about the question. I try so hard to hold it in, I’ve been trying for sixteen years to hold it in, but I think this finally breaks me.
Because today is January 20th.
THIRTY-FOUR
Max
One Year Later
Fee sits on the grass in front of their headstone, lightly tracing her fingers over our parents’ names. Being here makes me think about how much has changed since she’s come back into my life. For her, and for me. She doesn’t go by Francesca or Fiona anymore. She simply goes by Fee. It suits her.
I silently ask my parents for forgiveness. For so long I blamed them for what happened, thinking they were mixed up in Garcia’s drug cartel. When I think about how much I hated them for something they had no control over, I feel sick to my stomach. They didn’t deserve to lose their lives.
Wherever you are, I’m glad you have each other. Thank you for bringing Fee back to me.
I rub the back of my neck, squeezing the muscles there. This conversation is long overdue, but I’m not sure where to begin.
She asked me not to kill him. Even though she hates him, and even though she refuses to speak to him again, she doesn’t want me to kill the man that raised her. I hate that she asked me that. So I never gave her an answer. What do you guys think?
More than anything in the world, I wish they could give me an answer.
Would you tell me to leave it alone? To just be grateful for the life I have? Or would you tell me to kill the son of a bitch? Sometimes I think leaving him alive is too dangerous. What if he tries to come after me? What if he tries to kidnap Fee again?
Fee places the flowers we bought in the vase mounted to their headstone, then wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. “You almost ready?” she asks, sniffling.
I nod.
I promised Charlotte I’d stop looking for him. I’m going to keep that promise. It’s the best I can do. But if Garcia ever comes looking for me…I’m taking him out. Fee might hate me for it, but I don’t think I could stop myself.
As we walk back to the car, I drape my arm around my sister’s shoulders. She’s still crying. “Thanks for bringing me here,” she says softly.
“Thanks for coming with me.”
“I wish I remembered them better.”
“Do you have any memories?”
She shakes her head. “Not really. They’re all kind of fuzzy. I have one of you though.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I remember being locked in that closet. I was so scared, but you held my hand and told me it would be all right.”
“I guess I was wrong about that, wasn’t I?”
“I don’t think that’s why it stands out in my mind. What I remember is the way you fought when they came. You tried to protect me. I think they were going to take you too, but you fought so wildly that someone had to hit you over the head with the barrel of a gun.”
I let out an unsteady breath. “I’d always wondered how it happened. When the police asked me about you, I couldn’t remember anything. They figured it was because of my head injury, but I still hated myself for not remembering.”
She smiles weakly. “It wasn’t your fault, Max.”
“I’m glad we came here,” I say, strangely feeling lighter.
“Me too.”
***
Everyone’s eyes are on me. Trevor and Steph are watching me from the sofa. I’m pretty sure their jaws have dropped. Fee is sitting next to Batman on the rug by the TV, frozen. Charlotte’s brother Lucas is holding his hand up in midair, the potato chip stopped just short of his mouth. Charlotte’s bright blue eyes have grown three times larger, and she’s staring at me as if I’ve lost my mind.
I probably shouldn’t have invited everyone over, but it’s Superbowl Sunday. Watching the game together has been a tradition for me, Steph, and Trevor for years. After I kicked Trevor out last year, the two of them take it hard whenever I break tradition. In a way, I guess it’s a good thing they’re all here to see this. Everyone in this room i
s family. These are the people I care about the most. But even though they’re all watching me, I keep my eyes glued on the person who matters most. The only person I need an answer from.
Charlotte’s eyes fill with tears. “You don’t have to do this.”
“But I want to,” I say simply.
“You’re doing it wrong, bro,” Trevor says disapprovingly. “You’re supposed to be on one knee.”
“He’s right,” Fee adds. “It’s more romantic that way.”
Lowering to one knee, I try again. Someone mutes the TV. “Charlotte Hart, will you spend the rest of your life with me?”
My heart is beating uncontrollably. I never considered she might not give me the answer I want to hear. Usually couples talk about marriage before someone proposes, but it’s never come up with us. I know why Charlotte avoids the subject, and I appreciate her so fucking much for that. But deep down, I know she craves this. This means more to her than the giant blue diamond sitting in the box I’m holding, and it means more than the fairytale wedding I’m prepared to give her.
She drops to her knees in front of me, throwing her arms around my neck. “We don’t need a piece of paper to tell us we can spend the rest of our lives together, Max.”
I let out a small sigh of disappointment. Gathering up the courage to ask her was hard enough. I never counted on having to convince her that this is a good idea. “Look at me, kid.”
She lets go and our eyes meet. “Don’t you see how much you’re breaking my heart? This was supposed to be an exciting moment.”
She lowers her voice to a whisper. “I’m supposed to believe this is exciting for you?”
“Someone once told me that when we let our demons rule us, that’s when we forget how to live. This is what it’s about, remember? Absorbing every last messy piece of life. You’re not supposed to give me the answer you think is best for me. The answer I want is the one that comes from here.” I gently lay my palm against her chest, over her heart. Then I take another deep breath. “So I’m going to ask again. Will you marry me, Charlotte?”
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