Treacherous (10 page)

“
Oh my God!
Rochelle!”

“
As I live and
breathe!” The girl turned away from the balcony and ran into my
arms. “It’s been too long, babe.”

“
Totally. I can’t
believe my mother invited you.”

“
Hey, I was your BFF
in high school. How could she not?”

“
True. And in my
mother’s perspective, you are still ‘respectable.’” We both burst
out into fits of laughter. Rochelle and I had always made jokes
about my mother and her ways.

“
Hey, who’s that?”
Rochelle asked, changing the subject. I followed her gaze and my
stomach flipped.

“
What is he doing
here?”

“
I heard he was your
mother’s ‘special guest.’”

“
Special guest, my
arse.” I angrily pushed my way through the crowd towards
Nathan.

“
What are you doing
here?” I asked him in a hushed voice.

“
Your mother invited
me.”

“
My mother? How…” our
conversation was cut short by the sound of my father’s voice. As I
broke away from Nathan and walked in the direction of the yelling,
which could be heard over the music, someone snagged my
arm.

“
There you are.” It
was Mia and by the scent of the booze wafting off her, I could tell
she was already wasted.

“
You’re drunk,” I
teased, poking her.

“
Yeah, yeah. And so
should you.” Her words blended together as she pulled me towards
the bar.

“
Mia, wait. I need to
go see what my dad’s yelling about.”

“
Some drunken frat boy
probably stole some of his prized gazillion dollar scotch.” She
waved her hands around in the air, carelessly splashing champagne
on helpless bystanders. I shot them an apologetic look and looked
back over my shoulder. “I need to go see what the problem is,
Mia.”

“
Ooh! Look, Charlz.
There’s that hunky good guy of yours.”

“
He’s not
my
guy, okay? Where’s
Frankie?”

“
I don’t know. What
drink do you want? They have these delicious melon cocktails called
an Ava… something.”

“
An Avalanche,” I
mumbled, trying to see into my father’s office. Two figures were
inside. I had to get closer.

“
Charli, where are you
going?” Mia tried calling my name, but I had stopping listening.
The oak doors of my father’s office were all I could
see.

“
You had some nerve
coming here tonight,” my father was saying. “And with my daughter?
You stay away from her.”

Someone who came here with me? Did he
mean Frankie?

“
I
can’t help it, I love her, Stephen. And I
will
get what’s
owing to me.”

“
Levi, wait. If you do
anything to harm my daughter… if you touch one hair on her
head….”

“
You’ll do what,
Stephen? I’ll only even think of hurting Charli if I don’t get what
you promised me.”

“
Levi, please. We’ll
work something out, just don’t hurt Charlotte.”

There was silence for
a few seconds, and I wanted so badly to burst into the room to see
who was talking to my father. He had said he loved me, but I didn’t
know any Levi. I put my hands on the sliding doors, about to push
them apart, when the stranger spoke again.

“
We’ll be in touch.”
That was when the doors opened, and Frankie stepped out.
Withholding my gasp, I quickly merged into the crowd before he
could see that I had been eavesdropping.

Chapter
Seventeen

Nathan

As I placed my hand
on my driver’s side door to get out of the car, my phone
rang.

“
Hey, Mark, what have
you got?”

“
I pulled up a match
from the picture you sent me.”

“
Yes?”

“
It matches the
profile of a Levi Chandon who was charged with drunk driving and
manslaughter three years ago.”

“
Shit.”

“
Yeah, but that’s not
the fun part. Here’s where you say I’m a genius, and you’ll buy me
a beer.”

“
I’ll buy you a beer.
Tell me.”

“
He was let out on
bail the night before his high school formal. And guess who his
attorney was at the time?”

“
No!”

“
That’s right. Mr DA
himself, Stephen Jayne.”

“
Shit.”

“
Told ya.”

“
No. Shit, Mark. He’s
in there.”

“
In where?”

“
It’s Charli’s
twenty-first birthday party tonight. Susan invited me. And guess
who accompanied Charli tonight?”

“
Shit.”

“
Yeah. I’ve got to
go.”

“
Call me if you need
backup.”

“
Will do.” After
hanging up I almost ran to the front door of the Jayne residence.
When I saw it was open, I slipped inside.

“
Nathan. You made
it.”

“
Oh, hi, Susan.
Where’s Charli?”

“
Oh, I believe she was
with that friend of hers, Mia, just a second ago. Over by the
bar.”

“
Thanks.” After
scanning the room, sure enough, I found Charli standing by the bar
with Mia as her mother said. I had my suspicions about Mia, too, so
I kept my distance and observed. Frankie, or Levi, was nowhere to
be seen. It only took a minute for Charli to spot me, and before
long, she was coming over. My heart picked up its pace.

“
What are you doing
here?” she asked, almost accusingly. I decided to tell her the
truth. After all, everything was unravelling now.

“
Your mother invited
me.” Before I could confess anything else, our attention was stolen
by the sounds of Stephen Jayne yelling at someone in his office.
Before I could stop her, Charli was making her way towards the
door. Charli was safe from where she was standing, so I went around
the corner into the bathroom. I had been to this house once before,
so I knew that this toilet sat next door to Stephen’s office and
had a vent in the wall, so anything being said on the other side of
the wall could be heard easily. I locked the door, sat down on the
toilet, and listened.

My suspicions were
correct. Levi was in Stephen’s office arguing with him. Oh, shit.
Things were turning bad. I was almost tempted to burst in there and
blow my cover, but decided to stay and listen a little longer. I
had been trained to wait until the absolute last minute to pounce.
Levi was saying something about getting what was owed to him, and
Stephen was begging for him not to harm Charli. I knew what this
meant. It meant I had to pull my head out of my arse and do my job.
I had to protect Charli as I was hired to do, feelings or not. Her
life was at stake. I burst out of the toilet just in time to see
Levi coming out of Stephen’s office, and Charli disappearing into
the crowd.

“
Charli!” I shouted,
but my voice harmonised with his. I turned and saw him looking at
the invisible path Charli had made through the crowd. When our eyes
met, we shared something other than mutual feelings of hate towards
each other. It was game on.

Chapter
Eighteen

Charli

After the party and
when everyone had left, even Frankie, or Levi, whatever his name
was, I retreated to my room. I needed to be alone. I was still
reeling after hearing what I had heard inside my father’s office.
The truth was… I didn’t know what the truth was. Frankie had lied
to me—not only about his name. He lied to get closer to me. I had a
feeling it was all a sham. What did he mean by getting what was
owed to him? What did my father owe him? I wanted so desperately to
ask my father about it, but I realised I wasn’t supposed to know.
Something was going on, and I was being kept in the dark. And after
the events of my birthday party, all I wanted right now was to curl
up in my bed and sleep. I had only consumed two glasses of my
favourite cocktail and one glass of pink champagne, but I felt like
I had a hangover. After dragging myself off my bed, I slipped out
of my dress and hopped into the shower. I felt cold, but not from
the temperature of the air. What Frankie had said, and my father…
chilled me to my core. I slumped against the wall of the shower,
allowing the hot water caress my skin while my conscience fought a
battle inside my head. One side wanted to still be with Frankie,
and wanted to deny anything was wrong or dangerous about him. But
the other half was screaming at me to run, and for me to realise
that Nathan might be the right guy. As I tormented myself by
thinking of both guys, someone stood outside my door.

Nathan

After the party, and
after I made sure Levi had left, I had to see Charli, to make sure
she was okay. I knew she had overheard what had been said in her
father’s office, and I also knew she had been hurt by the news. The
fact was, Charli now knew or at least, suspected something, and I
didn’t know what to do. If I revealed myself to her, what would she
think? Would she think of me as a liar like the man she called
Frankie? Technically, I was using an alias, a fake profile of a
college student, and I felt I had to let Charli know that I wasn’t
the bad guy. I needed to let her know she could trust me. I stood
at the base of the staircase, staring up towards Charli’s bedroom
door when Stephen came up behind me.

“
Nathan, did you catch
everything?”

“
Yes, sir. I
did.”

“
You know what you
have to do now. Don’t you, son?”

“
I… I think so.” I
turned around to face the older man. “I’m scared,
Stephen.”

“
I know, son. So am
I.” Stephen placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a reassuring
pat.

“
I want Charli to know
who to trust. How can I do that when we’re all lying to
her?”

Stephen lowered his head. “Not yet. She
can’t know yet.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s
confirmed. My suspect is Levi. I want to go after him, arrest him
but I know it’s not time yet.”

“
Yeah, I know.
Almost.”

“
But I also want to go
to her,” I said, nodding towards the top of the stairs. “She’s
pretty shaken up.”

Then Stephen smiled at me. “You’ve
fallen for her.” He sighed. He sounded tired, and I knew it wasn’t
just fatigue. He wanted it all to end. So did I.

“
Go home, Nathan, and
wait until this is over. You will know when it’s time.”

I hung my head,
because I knew he was right. I had to wait. I was never a patient
person. I hated waiting.

“
Alright. But at least
let me say goodnight.”

Charli

I wondered who would be outside my door
wanting me at this hour. Probably one of my parents, I thought. I
wrapped my dressing gown around me and walked to open my door. The
person waiting for me was not who I was expecting. Well, maybe it
was deep down. My stomach did a somersault.

“
Nathan.” His name
barely escaped my lips. “What are you doing here?”

“
That’s the second
time you’ve said that to me tonight.”

“
And before you said
my parents invited you.”

“
That’s
true.”

“
So, how do you know
my parents?” I leaned against the doorframe and crossed my arms
over my chest.

“
I used to work at the
courthouse.”

“
Oh? Doing
what?”

“
I used to be a
bailiff.”

My eyes widened. “No way!”

“
Yeah.” He scratched
his head, and I noticed he changed the subject quite quickly. “So I
came to check on you, to see if you were okay.”

“
I’m fine. Just a
little shaken up.”

“
I know. Look, what
you heard…”

“
How do you know what
I heard?”

“
I… I heard it,
too.”

I paused and looked down at my hands.
“What do you think it meant, Nathan? Frankie was arguing with my
dad. They know each other.”

“
Yeah, I know. But
it’s probably because your father has helped him in the past.” When
my shocked expression became apparent, he corrected himself.
“Legally, I mean. Your dad is an attorney.”

“
You’re right. I
wonder what happened?”

“
That’s not for us to
know.” He placed a hand on my arm, and I looked up and met his
eyes. There was something in them that made me want to reach out
and pull him into me, to hold him close. I couldn’t deny the way he
made me feel. As if sharing my emotions, he stepped towards me and
put both hands on my face. He held me still as if I were a wild
filly in danger of fleeing. That was the way these men made me
feel. Ignoring everything my conscience was screaming, I let go and
stepped into his arms.

“
Nathan. Stay,” I
whispered the last word and he looked up into my gaze. I was about
to kiss him when he answered my request instead, kissing me hotly
and with more passion than I could ever have imagined. I pulled him
backwards with me into my room and kicked the door shut behind
us.