Page 100 of Freedom’s Inferno

I smiled against his skin. “I love you too.”

He pressed a kiss to my forehead, lingering there, and I closed my eyes.

Sometime later, we were tangled in Charlie’s bed, the blackout curtains drawn tight to keep the morning light out. He’d pulled me against him after we’d showered off the bathwater, my back pressed to his chest until I turned in his arms, wanting to see him, to listen to the slow, steady rhythm of his breathing. He shifted, exhaling through his nose, the kind of quiet, unguarded exhale that only comes from exhaustion.

The shadows moved across the wall, a faint sliver of light leaking around the curtain edge. Peace was strange after everything that happened. Lying in that bed, with him, as if we hadn’t both been drowning days ago.

“What now?”

Charlie’s fingers paused mid-drift, the rough pad of his thumb still against my shoulder blade. His breath deepened, the small weight of his chest lifting beneath me. He didn’t answer right away. Maybe he was trying to figure out what I meant. If I was asking about us, or about Damian, or the mess that had started long before either of us knew the full truth.

When he did speak, his voice was low and gravelly, like he hadn’t used it in hours. “Now we sleep. For once, we don’t plan, we don’t run. Just… rest.”

I smiled against his skin, but quieting the thoughts spinning in my head wasn’t enough.

“And after that?” I asked.

Charlie’s hand slid into my hair, his fingers catching in the tangles there. “When I take the insurance payout, I’ll have the building restored,” he said. “But after that, I think I’ll sell it.”

I tilted my head. “You’d sell it?”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah. Blackwell Sterling is dead as far as I’m concerned.” He exhaled through his nose, the breath warm against my hair.

I studied him, something tender tightening in my chest. “What will you do?”

Charlie huffed a laugh. “Like you said, you’ve been in the books. You know what I’m worth.” His hand shifted to my hip, tracing the curve of my side. “I’ve got enough money to float until I figure it out. We’ve got nothing but time.”

I froze, my gaze drifting past him, somewhere far away. Then, my eyes widened, a sudden realization washing over me, and I burst into laughter. I laughed so hard I had to press a hand to my mouth to stifle it.

Charlie frowned, propping himself up on one elbow to look at me. “What?”

I fought to catch my breath, still shaking in hysterics. “Oh my God,” I said between gasps. “I forgot to tell you in the chaos of everything that happened. I know where the twenty million is.”

He blinked, stunned. “What?”

My laughter softened into a grin. “The missing money. Charlie, I know where it is.”

Chapter 40

Lana

The following day, we stood in my foyer, surrounded by the hush of old wood and the faint ticking of the grandfather clock. Morning light filtered through the front windows, tracing pale streaks across the floorboards.

Charlie lingered a few steps behind me, his hands in his pockets, his eyes fixed on me like he was trying to read what I wasn’t yet saying.

“I was waiting for you,” I began, “Outside of Haven House, when you went into the café. That’s when I saw it. The clock shop. The same one from the business card.”

He frowned, following my gaze to the clock. “That’s a hell of a coincidence.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I went inside, just to look. The clerk there… I recognized him. He’d been here, servicing this clock.” I ran a hand along the carved edge of the mahogany. “That’s when it hit me. Richard was obsessive when it came to this relic, he damn near lost his mind if I went anywhere near the fucking thing.”

Charlie’s brow furrowed. “You think he hid something in it.”

“I don’t think.” I crouched, the floor cold against my knees. “I know.”

I switched on my phone flashlight and shined it under the base of the clock. Dust motes danced in the beam. At first, I saw nothing but years of neglect, until a glint of silver caught my eye. I squinted closer.

The backing to my earring, the one I dropped the night when…