Chapter 38

38

CHARLOTTE

T heo looks very dapper when he arrives at my cell door with a very fancy-looking meal laid out on my prison issued stainless steel tray.

"You're very dressed up for waiting tables," I comment, taking in his perfectly tailored black tuxedo.

For such a muscly guy, he looks good in a suit.

I can only imagine how handsome Killian will be tonight.

"You know the drill, step back from the door, Charlotte." Theo's all business as he stops, balancing the tray on one hand, and waits for me to move away from the door before unlocking it.

"For fuck's sake Theo, I'm not going to try to murder you with my dinner." Bored and grouchy, I'm pissed off at still being down here. The only person I've seen is Theo, and unfortunately for him, that means he's taking the brunt of my bad mood.

He raises an eyebrow while trying to hide the smirk tugging at his lips, but I do as he says, trying not to give him shit for just doing his job. Plus, he has been sneaking me nicer meals from the kitchen than the average prisoner gets, so I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

"That smells pretty good, actually." I walk backward to the cold concrete wall behind me, giving Theo as much space as I possibly can to open the door and drop my food inside. Just the sound of the key in the lock gives me the chills, no matter how many times I've heard it before.

"It should. Chef thinks I'm pregnant or something with the amount of food I'm stealing from the fridges these days."

I crack a smile, to make Theo feel better, as much as anything else.

I hate this place. Even though nobody could ever call me an extrovert, it turns out being on your own all the time sucks more.

My wolf is desperate to see the sky, and I need to exercise. Excess energy has me on edge, and I haven't been able to sleep.

In the never-ending silence, I've had a lot of time to ponder how I've ended up in this predicament. The one thing I can say for certain, is that whoever is responsible for trying to frame me, is going to pay.

"They must have had some of my clothes, Theo."

Theo sets my tray down on my bed and raises an eyebrow. "You know I'm not allowed to discuss anything about the case with you, Charlotte."

Annoyed, I wave away his objections. "I know, I know, I know, but you don't have to say anything, you just have to listen to me for a minute."

Stepping back outside the cell, but not yet locking the door, Theo looks up at the ceiling and sighs heavily.

I take that as my cue to keep going.

"They had access to my stuff. If Killian thinks he smelled me right beside him before he got hit, then he did. His super senses aren't going to be wrong. Not about me."

Theo gives me a look, but I refuse to elaborate on what I mean. He may have already guessed, but I'm not going to be the one to blab.

"So, there's only one other reasonable explanation, which is that somebody was either wearing my clothes, or covered in my scent."

Theo's lips twist in annoyance as I continue on.

"And there's only two ways that could have happened. Someone had to have had access to my room in the bunkhouse and was able to take or put on something of mine," I ramble on. "I've gone over this in my head a hundred times. Someone with access could have snuck into my room and took an item of clothing."

Theo stands straight and folds his muscular arms across his chest, listening intently.

"Or," I continue. "The other option is they had access to my room at my parent's house."

He raises an eyebrow. "We went through your stuff here, Charlotte. It didn't look like your room was disturbed, and there's nothing there with anybody else's scent on it."

Okay, I'm not surprised that he thought of this. These are clever people that Zane brought in. They won't leave a stone uncovered.

"Well, then that means somebody stole something from my bedroom at home and brought it here."

It's the only thing that makes sense.

"Are you really suggesting that your own family has set you up, Charlotte?" Theo looks at me, sympathetic, but he's not completely disregarding the idea, at least.

"I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe it's just somebody who has access to our house. One of Mum's dumbass council friends. Or Dad's alpha buddies."

At that, Theo's eyes widen comically. "Be careful, Charlotte."

I'm certain now, that this is how they pretended to be me, so Killian would lower his guard.

"Somebody who was in our home recently and would have been able to slip upstairs and steal something pretty easily."

He hesitates, and I know I've got him.

"Come on. All it'll take is a quick phone call to our housekeeper to find out."

With a put upon groan, he relents. "Okay, fine. I'll look into it," he says grudgingly, stepping back, and with an apologetic grimace on his face, locks the door once more.

"So, the ball is on tonight?" I comment, feeling more than a little sorry for myself.

"No, Charlotte. I dressed up just for you," Theo says sarcastically, but then regrets it when I look up at him with a hang-dog expression.

"It's all hands on deck up there. I swear, Edmund has lost his mind. And your sister?" Theo chuckles. "Well, your sister is the way she is. She looks as cool as a cucumber, but I don't think she's slept in about two days. Everybody is just running on fumes at this point."

I doubt there's a drop of coffee left in this palace.

"Is there any extra security for the night," I ask, wishing I could be part of the planning, and that I was going to be there to make sure nothing happened to Killian. "Because you know that with so many people coming onto the property, there's a good chance that tonight's gonna be the night."

Theo turns the key with a loud clunk and steps back. "Fuck, Charlotte. You don't need to tell us that, we already know. We've drafted in some extra help, so don't worry."

When I gesture for him to continue, he looks around quickly to make certain nobody is listening.

"On the gate. And around the property. We have some people here undercover, keeping an eye on things. We tried to convince Killian to cancel it. Zane said it was madness that we should put it off. But he's so bull headed. I think he nearly wants it to happen so that it's over and done with."

I go still.

"You're trying to say you think he wants to get killed?"

Theo blows out a deep breath. "I don't think he wants to get killed, but he's spoiling for a fight. I think he just feels so bad about you being locked up down here, that he'll do anything to draw whoever it is out. And I'm not sure he's thinking it through properly."

Damn it. Those aren't the reassuring words I wanted to hear.

I thought Theo would be here to tell me that everything's in order, that I don't need to worry, and that they've made great progress with the investigation.

I was hoping the ball would be a sting operation rather than dangling Killian in front of the assassin like bait on a hook.

"You could let me out, Theo," I whisper. "Nobody would even have to know. I can just be close by, just in case."

Theo laughs, tipping his head back, the noise loud in the echoing dungeon.

"Everybody would know the second you went upstairs because Killian would know, and he'd lose his shit."

My heart drops into my stomach.

"He really doesn't want me there," I whisper, forgetting that I'm supposed to be pretending we're in a fake relationship.

"Charlotte, he's not an idiot. He doesn't really think you did it. He just wants you to stay here, so that whoever it was, thinks that we think you did it."

I frown, wrapping my head around this riddle.

"So, he thinks that if the attacker believes he's blaming me, then they'll have like, what, a false sense of security?"

Theo shrugs. "Something like that. That's how he explained it, at least. Although, he didn't seem that sure himself. Personally, I think…" he trails off shaking his head and glancing toward the exit. "Fuck, I need to go. Guests are arriving."

"No, no, no. You started to say something. Personally… "I prompt. "Tell me, Theo, what do you think?"

Theo blurts out, "I think he's terrified that you're going to be a target. He knows telling you to leave or stay away won't do any good, and he'd be distracted if you're up there with him and something happens. So, he's taken the easier, not nice for you and slightly cowardly option of letting Zane lock you in a prison."

"For fuck's sake," I mutter. That tallies with the rambling nonsense Killian was spouting when he was down here.

Looking smug now, he delivers the killer blow. "Zane said that you could be taken out of the jail cells and kept in a bedroom upstairs. But Killian refused."

Blinking hard at Theo, I'm ghost smacked.

"What? You mean, I could have been sleeping in a normal bed with a bathroom, and he said no?"

Theo nods, pressing his lips into a thin line. "Uh-huh. And I think the only reason he said no, is because he wouldn't be able to stop himself from going to you."

He might have a point. "But I can help!"

"We're idiots, Charlotte. What can I tell you? If I had a woman I loved, and I thought something was going to happen to me, I'd do anything, absolutely anything, to make sure she was nowhere near me when it went down. I think this is just an extreme version of that, so don't take it personally."

How am I not supposed to take it personally?

"Enjoy your meal, which, by the way, the prince has demanded be sent down here. Just sit tight. Hopefully, in a few hours, we'll know who's behind all of this, and we'll be able to bust you out of here."

I stare at the tray, some of the cook's finest work, making my mouth water.

"He did this," I whisper, feeling totally overwhelmed and conflicted by the situation. I'm furious, hurt, and yet ridiculously touched at the same time.

My throat is closing up, thick with emotion. It's just the tiniest thing. It's not like he's brought me down books or my phone, or even better, busted me out of here. But somehow, after deciding that I'm safer down here, and that he's going to take on whoever's coming for him all by himself, the idea of him making sure that I'm not eating stale sandwiches means more to me than anything.

Clearly, I'm the idiot.

"Yes, yes. He made me pretend that it was for me, and then I've been sneaking it down. So, don't tell anybody, or there'll be murder. Remember Charlotte, we think you're the bad guy. You're supposed to be in prison. It's the line we've been feeding everybody."

I nod, stealing myself for the few hours ahead.

It's not going to be fun knowing that anything could be happening upstairs, and I'm stuck down here, but he's right. I know I wouldn't be able to operate at my full potential with Killian by my side.

Maybe the best thing for him is for me to just suck it up and wait.

"Your dad was here," Theo blurts out. "Probably not supposed to tell you that, either. Fuck, I'm breaking all of the secrets today. But he was here earlier to talk with Killian."

"About what?" I can't figure out why my dad would have come to the palace. He's as straight as they come. I know he has no deep, dark secrets other than the fact that he's mated to my mother. There's not a questionable bone in his body.

"I don't think he was talking about the pack. And in fairness, I don't think he was talking about your mother, either. I think he was talking about George."

I know all about the rumours. And considering what we found when we looked through the minutes, it would seem that the rumours are, in fact, true.

"Okay, so just because he was having an affair, it seems a bit of a stretch that he would murder the entire royal family to keep it a secret."

Theo shrugs. "I'm just telling you what I know. Maybe, while you've got nothing to do down here,

you can try and figure out how it all fits together."

"Sure," I say, as if that's not exactly what I've been doing since he threw me in here anyway. I've gone through every possible scenario I could come up with.

But none of them make sense.

Why would a man obsessed with another woman not just encourage her to run off with him? Why would he slaughter her entire extended family, especially when there was no hope that he could take their place?

With a defeated sigh, I sit down on the cot bed and pick up my fork.

"Go on. Go and have fun," I say.

Theo smiles, relieved that I'm not going to burst into tears or throw a fit that he's leaving.

"But again, Theo, I'm warning you. You stick by his side, and you make sure he's safe. And the second everybody's gone, you come down here and tell me what's happened."

"Deal." Rolling his eyes, he gives me a tiny salute.

"You know, if you hadn't locked me up in a jail cell and refused to let me out, even though you know I'm innocent, I might actually think you're a good guy, Theo."

He shrugs and grins. "Don't tell anyone. You'll ruin my reputation."

With that, he turns on his heel and heads toward the exit.

I close my eyes as the sound of his footsteps disappears down the hall, trying to push down the panic I feel growing inside me.

Not only am I locked in here on my own, but I'm helpless to help those that I care about up above.

This is going to be a long night.