Page 108 of Collateral Love
“Next phase,” I said. “We destabilize Charles ’ image.”
Joel’s eyes widened slightly. “Social?”
“Professional,” I corrected. “Philanthropic. Anything that makes people ask questions without saying his name.”
Channy leaned forward. “I can draft inquiries. Ethics complaints. Shell donors.”
“Do it,” I said. “Make it look organic.”
Xavier picked up his tablet again. “I’ll keep tracing the ghost hand.”
I nodded.
Because this war was no longer about bullets.
It was about exposure.
And somewhere out there, Charles was realizing that taking Kenya hadn’t made him powerful.
It had made him visible.
Which was always the beginning of the end.
And I still wasn’t going to kill him yet.
Because the law was circling now.
And I needed Charles alive long enough to show us who else wanted us broken.
The house was finally quiet.After hours of questions, strategy, and controlled panic, everyone had scattered to different corners of the house to breathe. I should have been resting. Instead, I sat up in my bed, attempting to read a small-town romance novel by Chante Bellamy. Reading used totransport Channy in high school, so I figured I would give it a try too. I stared at the nightstand where Zayden had left a glass of water for me.
My hands were still shaking from the thought that Charles tried to end my life. For a second, I thought I was alone. Then I heard the soft sound of a chair moving.
Channy. She stood near the doorway, arms wrapped around herself like she didn’t know whether to hug me or shake me.
Her eyes were wet.
“My Baby Bear,” I said softly.
She crossed the room in three quick steps and wrapped her arms around me so tight it knocked the air out of my lungs.
“I thought you were dead,” she whispered. Her voice cracked on the last word.
I held her just as tightly.
“I’m hard to kill,” I murmured.
She pulled back and looked at my face like she was checking to make sure every piece of me was still there.
“You don’t get to joke right now,” she said.
“I’m not joking.”
She swallowed. “You scared the hell out of me.”
Something in my chest twisted.
For years, I had convinced myself I was protecting her, but standing here now, looking at the fear still lingering in her eyes, I realized something ugly. Control and protection weren’t the same thing. Channy studied me for a long moment.
