Chapter 58
Charlotte
I stared in disbelief at his response and instantly looked away. An uneasy feeling coursed through my body in waves, I had moved miles away to run from a reality I didn’t want, but it had caught up with me.
“You didn’t call anybody. Did you?” I asked as my palms felt sweaty and my body trembled slightly. If he had thought that I was part of Rogerio’s family and called them, I wasn’t sure how to process that.
I didn’t want them to know where I was. I had moved so far so I never crossed paths with them. I knew the Thuthais were somewhere in the upper–class region, but I hoped for a minute that I would get a break from all that. I tried to steady my breathing and started pacing.
“No, I didn’t think I had any reason to,” he said after a long silence, and I sighed in relief.
“Is there a problem? You have their…” he continued, but I waved dismissively.
“It’s a long story. Complicated one too,” I responded.
“I’ve got a lot of those too,” he said, and we chuckled. We stared at each other for a bit, then looked away.
“Now that’s another thing we have in common,” I said as I stopped walking. “Thank goodness,” I responded, and I lowered my gaze. “I have to tell you something, though. I’m not part of the family anymore, so whatever this is…” I pointed to the cars. “I don’t think you’d be doing that for some random person.”
“Well, it’s sad that you think I’d only do nice things for rich people. I might not know much about your ties with the Thuthais, but if you still have their card and you’re not on any of their watch lists…”
“They have watch lists? For what?” I interrupted, and I could see him resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
“Everyone has those,” he replied, and I shook my head.
“I don’t,” I uttered.
“Well, this is for you. We are going to compensate everyone who was a victim of today’s event, but let’s call this a gift from me to you,” he replied, and I shook my head slowly.
“I don’t understand,” I answered, and he smiled.
“I think we would need to sit for that,” he announced, and I chuckled. “We have to go. You need a change of clothes, then I can tell you everything you need to know.”
“I don’t have a change of clothes or anything. They were in the suite,” I muttered slowly as I realized that all my belongings were gone. Now, I truly had nothing. I felt dizzy at the thought, and my eyes started to water as I zoned
out of the conversation.
I could see Thiago’s lips moving, but hearing his voice was a different ball game. All I heard was a loud ringing in
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Chapter 58
my ears, which made me stagger backward. “Charlotte!” Thiago said loudly, and I snapped back into the present as tears rolled down my cheeks. I wiped them off with the back of my palm and locked gazes with him.
“Sorry, I… I’m okay,” I stammered, and he sighed.
“No, you’re not. No one who experienced what happened today will be, at least for a while. What I was saying is, your things are in the backseat of that car,” he replied, pointing at the SUV parked behind me.
“What? What did you say? My things… The fire. When the explosion happened, my things were…” I started to say, and he walked past me to open the car door.
In the middle of the seat sat everything I had brought with me from Milan. “How…” I started to ask, but he closed the door and shrugged in response. “We have to sit for that,” I repeated, and he nodded.
I followed him into the car he had come with and stared through the windows as we sped out of the lot into the city. For the first time that day, I had a proper look at the sun. It shone brightly, and I chuckled at how that was a contrast to the day I just had and how I truly felt. I had not fully processed how what started as a great day turned into something I’d struggle to forget.
As I pondered on the thought, a part of me started questioning the sensibility of following Thiago. It didn’t make me feel any better that his family was the reason people almost lost their lives. For all I know, they could be following us, ready to finish the job, and I would be caught in the middle of it all.
There wasn’t much I could do anyway. If Rogerio’s affluence had brought me this far, when it started to feel like I had lost everything once again, it might do me a lot of good to stick around for the ride. I had nowhere to go and no will to get on another plane, jetting to a different country at the first sign of trouble.
Time will pass, and I’ll think of this as yet another experience. I lowered my gaze, reached below, and pressed a button to lower the glass to chin level, and sighed as the wind blew through my hair as the car veered off the highway onto a rocky path.
As it blew through the trees and slowly swayed the leaves from side to side, I caught a glimpse of a snake slithering away as the hue on its body blended with the landscape. My eyes darted around as dust particles swirled in the air, and I half–heartedly took note of certain landmarks. I felt the need to be able to identify things in the city, and I used that as an avenue to steer my thoughts away from everything and focus on anything that could give me some semblance of security.
“To silver linings,” I murmured and smirked as the cars slowed to a halt in front of a gate.
I leaned out a bit more and watched as the driver passed the security a small black tile, which he inspected briefly. A few seconds later, the gates opened up, and we were driving towards another gate. This gate was smaller and already open. I turned to Thiago, realizing he was watching me with keen interest. “Where are we?” I said as we locked gazes.
