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"Look. As far as I'm concerned, that's none of your fucking business. Let me tell you how this is going to work. When Charlotte gets back, you will tell us how you found her, and if you so much as think of ever laying a hand on her again, I promise you the bullet from my gun won't miss. You filthy piece of shite."

He added instant coffee to the mugs and poured hot water over them, stirring. Michael sat, looking despondent as he set a cup in front of him. Then he went to check on Charlie.

She was brushing out her hair. He took the brush from her and ran it through her long locks. "Are you all right? You don't have to go back out there. I can handle it."

"No, and no," she said. "No, I'm not okay, but I will be and, no, I need to go back out there." She took the brush from him, setting it down. "Who do you think was shooting at us?"

"Not us." He put his arms around her. "My guess is they were shooting at Michael."

"Why?"

"I'm hoping that's what we find out." He kissed her on her head. "I know I've said it before, but I won't let anything happen to you." He was worried she was second guessing last night.

"I'll be fine," she said softly, but he didn't miss the slight tremble of her voice.

They returned to the front room and sat down at the table with Michael. Sin moved his chair, so he sat within reach of Charlie. "Why don't we start with how you found out Charlotte was in Scotland?"

"Let's start with who the fuck was shooting at us?"

"I told you that's not how this works. I ask the questions and you answer them. How did you find Charlotte?"

Michael glared at Charlie. Sin took her hand in his. "After she left me hanging at the church, my father had to announce to all the guests there would be no wedding. I was so upset. I tried calling her. We all did, but her phone was shut off. The police told us she ran off on her own accord. There was no foul play, so my father told me to stop looking. I should have listened to him, but I was so mad and so upset, I asked a friend of mine in the police department to keep checking your phone for activity. He called me two weeks later to say your phone was activated in Edinburgh, Scotland."

"So, you came out here to find her?"

"No, not at first. I got a call a couple of days later from my friend. He said someone had filed a missing person report with the Edinburgh police on Charlie. I hadn't spoken to your father since the wedding, my father forbade me to. He said you'd already brought too much shame on our family, but I reached out to him. Your father said to leave it alone, that you had made your choice and as far as he was concerned, you were dead to the family. It didn't sit well with me. You belonged to me. You owed me. So, I bought a ticket and came."

"How many days ago was that?"

"Uhm, three days ago," Michael said.

"What did you do next?"

"When the plane landed, I went to the police. They said the report was filed by a Jon Watson, her roommate's boyfriend. I asked for the address, but when I got to the apartment there was police tape across the door. The landlord said the place had been burglarized. I told him I was your fiancé and asked if I could see your stuff, but he said the police could find no trace of you, not even a suitcase."

"What then?" Sin asked.

"I went back to the police the next day to see if Jon had left a forwarding address or number where I could reach him, but he hadn't. They suggested I reach out to the consulate. I was leaving the building when I was stopped by an officer. He told me he had information on you but couldn't talk then, so he asked me to meet him at a pub later that night."

"Which pub?" Sin asked.

"Uhm, hold on, I wrote it down." He fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a tattered napkin. "The Black Sail."

Charlie blanched at hearing the name. Sin gave her hand a squeeze. His suspicions were right, Sokolov was involved. "Go on."

"In the meantime, I thought I would check the places Charlie might have visited, so I went to the art gallery. That is when I saw you. I called out, but you didn't answer so I followed you. I lost you on the way but kept stopping at each village, asking around. It wasn't long before someone said they recognized you and I could find you here."

"Aye. So, you came drunk and used violence to get her back?"

"I didn't expect to find her with another man." He looked at Charlie. "How could you do this? We were together for two years. I thought we were happy."

"You were happy," she said. "We were together because our parents wanted us to be together, and you were happy. My father gave you a job in his firm. You had golf, football on Sunday, weekends at business associates' homes. Those were all things you wanted. I never wanted them."

"Then why did you say yes? Why did you act happy?" Michael asked.

"I tried to say no many times, and if you knew anything about me, you would have known I was never happy."

"And he makes you happy?"