2025-07-17 15:30:38Charles looked around the room, then slowly pulled out his phone. He took a few photos, careful to capture every corner—the gown, the boxes, the rings.
He sent the pictures to his team.“I want everything you can dig up about someone named Cox,” he said. “Apparently, he had some connection to Sadie in the past.”There was silence at first. Then a quiet voice responded on the other end.“We’re sorry, sir.”Charles raised an eyebrow.“We didn’t mean to step out of line,” another chimed in. “We were just worried… in case something bad happened to you.”Then Hardin spoke.“Whatever you decide, Big Boss, we’re with you. Always. You’ve dedicated your life to us—we’re more than ready to return the favor.”“And even if you decided to retire tomorrow,” another added, “we’d back you. Completely, sir.”Charles’s expression shifted slightly, the tiniest flicker of something unreadable crossing his face.
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Charles didn’t respond. Sadie could take care of herself. She hadn’t even bothered to see him off—hadn’t seemed to care—and he didn’t want her to.Caring would only make things worse when the remaining three months were up and he had to walk away.He took a cigarette from the pack August had bought earlier, rolling it between his fingers before reaching for the lighter.“May I do you the honour, sir?” August asked, hand already hovering to take the lighter.Charles shot him a look—cold, flat, the kind that made August remember exactly who he was dealing with. The kind of look a God of War would give before pulling a trigger.August’s grin faltered. He raised both palms in mock surrender. “I was just kidding. No need to take me too seriously.” But his voice was nervous all the same. From the bedroom doorway, Ramiro held his breath. He’d only pretended to lock the door earlier; curiosity had kept him posted in the shadows.Two
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“Most of them are drowning in debt. Dario shows up like Santa Claus, promises to pay off their families and maybe toss in some extra cash… and then—well, I don’t have to draw you a picture,” August said, collecting the paper from Charles.“The plan is,” August continued, “you pretend to be a stammerer, sir.”Charles slowly raised a brow.“I’m not done, sir,” August said quickly. “I’ll pretend to be dumb, and we’ll stick to the cover of you being my personal assistant. That part won’t change.”“I still don’t understand what any of this has to do with me pretending to be a stammerer.”“Sir, I can’t go in alone when we meet Dario. You’re the one who wants revenge, so I want you to do it yourself. If I pretend to be dumb, you’ll be my translator—”“And Dario will believe you can’t understand sign language?” Charles cut in.“We…” August paused, thinking. “We can just say I don’t understand sign language.”“You were b
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Outside, Charles scanned the area for Ramiro. The boy’s voice was gone, so the call must’ve ended. But he wasn’t in sight.“Over here,” Ramiro called from a little ways off, walking back toward him.“You’re scared I might knock you down if we go another round?” Charles asked.Ramiro gave a short chuckle. “I’m really sorry about earlier. You don’t have to pay us. I can do this much for you for free.”“About that,” Charles said, ignoring the ‘free’ part like it was background noise, “you want cash, or should I wire it?”“I just said—”“Bro, I’ve only been scared of one woman my whole life. Your girlfriend’s the second,” Charles cut in. “If I promised her something and went back on it, what do you think she’d do to me?”Ramiro chuckled again. “People say she’s scary, but I’m not scared of her. Not a bit.”“You’re my new role model, man.”Another quiet chuckle from Ramiro.“You're in college or som
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“What time? It’s not even been two hours since I met you and you’ve already had about a thousand things to apologize to me for,” Charles said. “I find it… kind of funny.”Ramiro smiled.The first time Charles had seen him smile. The kid actually looked like the type to make a group of girls stop mid-conversation.“I meant—running off with your meal. I saw someone that I didn't want to see me in that state but she still ended up seeing me. I'm really sorry,” Ramiro said.“It’s okay,” Charles replied. “Thanks to that, I’ll have nothing to eat tonight, and that works pretty well for weight loss.”Ramiro smiled again. “I’m sorry you had to see Luzia that way. She’s not usually the type to make a scene in public. I… got on her nerves, somehow.”“Yeah. I figured that out too. You’ve got a talent for getting on people’s nerves,” Charles said.Ramiro laughed. First time in five months someone hadn’t immediately called him stupid
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August was standing there, breathing like he’d just sprinted a marathon in Bogotá’s altitude, one fist still frozen mid-air. “Sir…” His eyes went wide when he saw Charles. “How—how did you get here?” He looked genuinely baffled, like Charles had just teleported in from New York. “I didn’t share my location with you. How did you even—” He stopped mid-sentence, suspicion dawning. “No way you’d be inside if—” “She brought me here,” Charles said lightly, rescuing August before his brain short-circuited completely. Every head swiveled toward the girl. “Who are you?” August demanded. Then, flicking his eyes to the boy, “Are you two siblings?” The girl nodded far too quickly. “Yes. He’s my elder brother.” The boy—still looking like his face had been run over by a bus—got to his feet and strode toward her. Strangely fast for someone whose body had just declared war on itself.
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“Oh, shit,” August stopped walking. “I should’ve told you earlier, sir. That guy I introduced you to earlier, that silver guy, he’s her boyfriend. Found out like… thirty seconds ago. Unless you’re cool with us staying there—”“Let’s just look for another place,” Charles cut in before his brain could even register the rest. The last thing he needed was to be that stranger in some messy lovers’ drama.“Hey, where’s your house?” August asked the boy.The kid froze for half a second, eyes darting. “I… I don’t… ha… have a house.”“Who you kidding? You think you’d still be breathing if I’d left you back there?”What a pain in the ass August was. Did he ever stop to think how terrifying a man his size looked when he leaned in on someone?“You’ve been here a couple of times,” Charles said, facing August. “Haven’t got any friends?”“Those two are the only friends I—wow. Shit.” He grinned in a pained way that made Charles not want
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