Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Charlotte turned to look toward the door and she wished she never did. 

She locked eyes with the man that entered the penthouse. In a designer suit and hair jelled back in a way she didn’t recognize.

Her hands stilled around her champaign flute. Her entire body freezes.

After five years, she recognized him almost immediately. At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. 

She’s faced with the familiar features of her ex-boyfriend, now a stranger. His eyes, once soft and warm, now ice cold and distant. 

She felt a surge of panic as her gaze locked his. How was he here? She was set to meet with Volkan Baysel. What was Amos doing here?

He walked toward her table with slow and calculated steps. When he finally reached her table he sat in front of her.

Rosalie was momentary distracted by the man beside her trying to feel up her leg. She knew the man was going home tonight. She wasn’t sure he was going to wake up the next morning though. 

Charlotte couldn’t help but swallow the lump in her throat.  

The room began to spin when Charlotte finally came to her senses. He was still alive. 

He didn’t die five years ago. She watched him die. He left her, while she thought he was dead, mourned for him, he was out living his life… Doing God knows what. 

“Amos?” her voice cracked.

His stare hardens. “Mrs. Romano…” he sneers. “You’ve got some nerve feigning heartache. You moved on, married one of the men i despise most in this world.” he glares at her. The cigar between his fingers distracts Charlotte from the cold look in his eyes. 

She swallows trying to calm herself. “Is that why you’re doing business with my grandfather to get back at me?” she asks. She couldn’t think of any other reason he would be working with her grandfather, if not for the fact he wanted to get back at her. She hated the thought but this proved her thoughts were true.

Volkan looks at her, his blue eyes ice cold. He knew Charlotte better than she knew herself. He was feeling her out. Finding out how much she’s changed. He was willing to play the long game. But when it came to Charlotte he was always impatient and rushed things. They spoke for years before they met face to face. Where she tried to have him killed.

Charlotte’s icy cold and calculated façade came undone and she nearly whimpered. She wasn’t used to the cold look he was giving her. It sent a shiver down her spine.

“You left me, and now you’re looking at me longingly. Don’t kid yourself. I’ll never fall for your lies again…” he sneers. 

“I didn’t leave you…” Charlotte she defends softly. 

"You left me for dead, and now you will pay." 

 

She searches for words, her mind racing, but all she can manage is a weak, "I thought you were gone." She swallows; I thought you were dead… She adds in her mind. She thought a part of her died with him. That it burnt away with his body. 

Yet here he sat in front of her as if the part of him she knew was all but a dream.

He leans in closer, his presence imposing, and whispers, "You should have made sure when you had the chance." 

The scent of his cigar fills her lungs, bringing back memories of their passionate, yet tumultuous past. She knows, at this moment, that her life is about to change forever. 

As she sat there, frozen, unable to form words. She didn’t know what to say. What happened five years ago haunted her for the last five years. She was never going to be okay again. She was ready to meet him in the after life. She was ready to end her life when she was done dealing with her grandfather.

She finally realized just how dirty her grandfather was playing. Charlotte has lied to herself for years about never being in a relationship. That she didn’t miss Amos and the warmth he’d given her.

Her strong and powerful façade had come undone. She needed to regroup. She needed to get the hell out of her before Alessandro returned. 

She feared ever showing her vulnerable side in front of him. They were forever playing the game and she didn’t him knowing she could be broken. 

The thought of dying was so much better than this. So much better than facing the man she thought died years ago. 

“Is everything okay?” Rosalie asks. 

Charlotte forces a smile, her heart pounding out of her chest, and replies, "Just an old friend." The lie tastes bitter on her tongue, but she knows she must keep up appearances. She was a married women. She couldn’t let anyone know about her past. She couldn’t let Alessandro know about Amos.

No one knew about her relationship with Amos. She kept that part of her a secret from everyone around her even her parents. She didn’t want people to make assumptions about what happened back then. 

About what went down. She would never admit that she loved him. She wasn’t sure what they were was love. She had a hard time with love. She always had a desperate need to please him. She wasn’t the same person she was five years ago. But it didn’t mean it didn’t burn her insides to see him like this. 

All she wanted to do now was get away so she could compose herself. He was the same yet so different. Amos was always cold but never to her. 

Volkan saw right through her. He leaned closer to her friend. A sinister smile that sent shivers down her spine. 

“Hi, I’m Volkan, Charlotte and I go way back. Are you her friend?” Volkan asks.

Rosalie frowns. “If you go way back why would you support her grandfather when he drugged and dragged her to Italy to marry a man three times her age?” Rosalie didn’t hold back the punches. 

Something about her words helped Charlotte compose herself. She realized the life she had with Amos was a lie. He didn’t even tell her his real name.

Volkan was Turkish. She knew that much. She’d done research on the man. She didn’t find any pictures of him. She wished she had seen a few. Nothing would have prepared her for seeing him tonight. She wouldn’t have come if she had known this would happen. 

“How was I to know? I didn’t even know he was her grandfather.” he lies through his teeth. 

Charlotte realized, she might be behind her families demise. She’d told Amos/Volkan everything about her family. 

Charlotte excused herself from the table and made her way around the room. She couldn’t spend another second that close to the man. He was a liar and she realized. She didn’t just want her grandfather dead. She wanted Amos dead as well.

As the evening progressed, it becomes obvious he didn’t want anyone else speaking to her. Whenever a man approached her, he would shoo them away, with a threat of bodily harm or menacing glares aimed at them. She was done with the night, she just wanted to get away. She couldn’t take it anymore.

Charlotte was caught in his web once again, unable to free herself. She wasn’t the same person she was back then. She was different. She was Charlotte Romano now. She couldn’t afford to be caught with a man that wasn’t her husband.

After everything Alessandro had done for her, she couldn’t do that to him. The part of her, Amos wanted to punish was long dead. She buried her with his body five years ago.

The caged bird that sat in her tower has also died. She was long dead. Two years ago with the rest of her men. The part of her that was alive was nothing but a mere shell set in her revenge to get back at everyone who’d hurt the dead parts of her.

After spending the entire night trying to get away from Amos. She couldn’t take it anymore.

He was here for revenge, he wanted to make her suffer. She knew that much. She wasn’t going to let him succeed. She would fight him tooth and nail. She had come so far, she wasn’t going to let him rob her of her revenge, because of his unfounded anger.

As she walks to the restroom, he walks up to her and with a possessive hand on her lower back, he whispers, "We have unfinished business," and guides her toward the exit. She feels a chill run down her spine as she realizes the true depth of his anger and the danger she now faces.

She pulls away from him and ran into the bathroom. 

She stares at herself in the mirror. Her hands were trembling tears in her eyes. She couldn’t be here anymore. She was ready to check out. 

She needed to get out of here before he spotted her. 

She sent Rosalie a text asking her to distract Amos so she could escape. 

She opened the tap, and splashed water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror one more time before blowing out her breath. She could do this. She needed to get out of here.

She walks out of the bathroom and into the hallway. Seeing the front door she bolts for it. When the apartments lights go out. in compete darkness Charlotte tries to locate her phone to use the flash. 

She’s suddenly yanked into a firm embrace. His familiar warm body pressed against hers. She tried to protest but he held her firmly. 

His hot breath brushes ear. “These five years, I’ve spent every single day thinking about how to punish you.” he says before she feels her body go limp and she loses consciousness.