Chapter 4

Selina went downstairs and headed out of the estate.

Charles never tried to stop her. Susie followed and pleaded with her a few times, but once Selina passed through the gate, Susie stayed on the steps and only kept calling for her to stay.

Selina merely gave a silent smile at the performance.

She took a car out to the country house. The house was her own private property. Back when she and Charles had first come to Southport to make their way, she had wanted a home, so she bought it with her own savings.

That country house held too many memories of her and Charles.

Something bitter rose in her chest.

In her last life, Charles's will had even instructed her to live here, and Emma, the daughter she had raised so carefully, had agreed.

It was laughable, now that she thought about it.

But none of it mattered. Once she dealt with this house, she was leaving here for good.

That night Selina slept unusually well.

Early the next morning she went out to find an agent and sign a listing agreement. She had barely stepped outside when she found Charles crouched at the curb with a bouquet in his hands.

He saw her and came straight over, delight in his eyes. "I knew you'd be here.

"I bought these for you. See if you like them."

Selina frowned and covered her nose.

She had always had bad sinus trouble, and pollen made it worse. Susie was the one who loved growing flowers.

Selina didn't take them. She pulled the car door open to leave, and before she could get in, something yanked her back by her clothes.

She fell backward, caught off guard.

"It's you! Selina, you bitch! Where did you take my wife?! Bring her out here!"

Selina's heart lurched. She looked up into the murderous face of Bruno DeLuca, Susie's husband.

Before she could say a word, Bruno hauled her up, cocked the hammer, and pressed the muzzle to her forehead. "If you don't hand her over, I'll kill you right now!"

Selina's wrists shook and her heart hammered.

In her last life she had gone to Sicily and taken Susie away, and crippled one of Bruno's legs doing it.

As soon as Bruno healed, he came after her to Southport.

He camped outside her cigar shop and made scenes, demanding she produce Susie. Because she couldn't bear to see Susie suffer, she handled Bruno herself, and every time he showed up she had her bodyguards beat him.

Then one time she was in a hurry and went out alone with no bodyguards, and Bruno got his chance.

She took three bullets and spent months in the hospital, and while she was down a rival took her largest club away from her, leaving several bars unable to cover their costs and forced to close. The losses were enormous.

Remembering all of it steadied her considerably.

She wasn't letting garbage like this cost her anything again.

Calmly, she pushed his gun aside with one finger and guided the muzzle toward Charles beside her.

"Your wife going missing is none of my business. He's the one you want to kill. He took her, not me."

Selina shrugged, entirely at ease.

Bruno swung around on Charles, both hands on the gun, and rushed forward until the muzzle was against Charles's temple.

"It was you! You took my wife! Is she sleeping with you? Tell me! How many times have you slept with her?!

"I'll drag your name through the mud all over Southport! Who the hell are you to take my wife?"

Bruno was practically screaming. He pulled out his phone and started filming Charles's face.

"You seduced her, didn't you? You play the devoted husband to her sister by day, then crawl into her bed at night. Have you got no shame! I saw you fawning over her before. Turns out you'd already been sleeping with her.

"I'm putting this online and letting everyone know!"

Bruno said it like a man in the right, and the second he finished recording he moved to upload it. Charles's face went scarlet.

He lunged for Bruno's phone, and Bruno spun the muzzle back on him, ready to fire.

"Touch me and see what happens!"

Charles raised both hands and explained in a rush, "Don't do anything stupid! There's nothing between us. I brought her out of there because she's Selina's sister, that's all. And what about what you did?!

"You and that woman humiliated her and tormented her together. You nearly tortured her to death. Do you understand that?!"

Even with a gun to his head, Charles defended Susie that fiercely.

Watching it, Selina didn't say one word.

She turned and got in her car and drove off to deal with this last piece of property. In under two hours it was done.

She was about to go back and pack when Adrian called her.