Charity regretted it the moment she walked back into the party room, "Hey, charity!" turning around to see who called her she smiled when she saw April approaching her. "Hey beautiful, I see you back in the arms of your date," April said, staring at Absalom, she bowed her head in a slight greeting which Absalom returned.
"I am, how are you enjoying the party?" Charity asked and April shrugged.
Turning around slightly she patted a man's back and he turned to face them, "hey babe this is my friend-"
"Charity" the man stated and Charity froze, her lips parted, and her grip on Absalom's arm tightened. "Fancy meeting you here, how long has it been?"
No words, Charity found that she was unable to utter a word, her eyes had not moved from his face since she saw him and if he hadn't already revealed it himself her reaction was enough to know there was something there. "You two know each other?" April asked looking between both of them.
"Yeah, we do" he replied, staring right back at her, only while her face was frozen in shock did he have a small smile.
"How? How do you two know each other?"
"Would you mind telling them Charity? I assume this is your date?" He said looking at Absalom, Absalom pulled her closer to him and partially hid her behind himself.
"It doesn't matter to me, she hasn't mentioned you before so I assume you're her past?" Absalom replied, "I don't care about the past, it's just a lifeless pit that prevents one from moving forward."
The man nodded with a sly smirk on his face "how wise" he laughed and Charity's palms fisted in anger? Pain? So many different emotions swirled around her mind but nothing beat the hurt she felt, how dare he smile, after what he did to her!
"Well, she is the lady I was just talking about, the glamorous stranger about to open her bar" April stated cheekily and Charity wanted to dig the ground and enter it when she saw the surprised look he gave her, the surprised look they both gave her.
"She's opening a bar?" He asked more of an insult than a question Charity thought "wow, talk about being brave, after what happened to the last one?"
Her jaw dropped even further, "what happened? Has she had a bar before? Ooh, I would have loved to see it" April said.
"Oh no you wouldn't there was nothing special about it, it was just... mediocre."
"I would watch that mouth if I were you, do you have no manners?" Absalom said, his voice low but the threat in them more than evident.
The charity held him back "let's just go" her voice was soft behind him. Absalom turned to face her and he got angry, what the hell did this psychopath do to her to make her so... meek.
"Charity," he whispered but she shook her head.
"It was nice meeting you April, but I have a sudden headache I would like to go now," she said the last part of her statement directed at Absalom.
"Fine, we'll go-"
"Mr Gorski, I am detective Julius of the police department," he provided his badge "You are under arrest for fraud, theft on multiple accounts, and online scams, come with us quietly or we will cuff you in front of all these people."
The charity wasn't the only person that froze this time, April had a look of absolute mortification written all over her features. Even Absalom stared at him in surprise, the next thing that happened was beyond unexpected. The room erupted into utter chaos as Absalom and April held their ears after the loud bang of a gun. Charity did not have that luxury, in the chaos her hands and Absalom were disconnected and now she stood with a familiar body behind her and a most unfamiliar cold at the side of her temple.
"Stay away, stay away or I swear I will put a bullet in this woman's head!" he screamed at the police Could she say she was shocked at this point? There weren't enough words in the English vocabulary to explain the extent of how flabbergasted Charity was at that moment.
"Jonathan! What the fuck?!" She screamed.
"Shut up and stand still Charity" he growled behind her and she scoffed in disbelief.
"Mr Gorski, put down the gun," the detective said but who was listening?
"Jonathan what the hell are you doing?!" April screamed.
"Shut it you bitch!"
"You have got to be kidding me" Charity sighed.
"Shut the fuck up Charity" Jonathan growled but Charity had reached way past her breaking point.
"No I won't shut up Jonathan, are you even serious after everything you did to me you still have the mind to hold a gun to my head?! What type of monster are you? I mean are you stupid or are you just mad?"
"Shut it!" He screamed firing another shot at the ceiling.
"Stop talking Charity," Absalom said, Charity glanced at him, if she wasn't at the unfortunate end of the gun right now with how leisurely he was standing she might think they were just at some tea party.
"I won't, I refuse" she spat, "you want to shoot me, Jonathan? Go ahead, I mean the only thing you didn't do was finally kill me, just do it, and now that you completely and utterly ruined my life!" She screamed back.
"You want to do this now?" Absalom scoffed and she gave him a pointed stare.
"Listen to you boyfriend Charity, I am not the same man you knew," Jonathan said, "I will pull this trigger."
"Go ahead, fucking pull it. I don't care anymore, do you know how I woke up this morning Jonathan? With fucking debtors at my door, I had to crawl down a pipe in nothing but the big t-shirt you gave me last Christmas to escape them because the man I was supposed to marry lied and stole all my money and left me in a mountain of debt." Charity laughed, "and now look he was not done he had to hold me at gunpoint. Wow, Jonathan when I think you cannot be any lower you go and do this!"
"Of course Charity the fuckling victim, the angel that can do no wrong!" Jonathan screamed back, "take another fucking step detective and I swear I will kill her."