Beautiful Stranger (Completed)

CH 22

Three months later....

Xavier

Things were going great between Charlie and me. Castro Rivera was behind bars. His son had escaped prison and fled the country. Gino was currently living in a country that had no extradition treaty with the US.

However, a lot of their key players were off the street. A lot of their bank accounts had been frozen and all of their warehouses had been seize with their products.

Judge Edwards....well, nothing happened with that. Nolan was convinced he was dirty but how exactly could we prove that. Plus, he was a well known judge. We had zero proof and as far as it seemed, the Rivera family was out of business.

I was still worried about Gino not being in prison. Granted, the minute he stepped foot back on US soil, he was going to prison. I was still worried though.

Charlie had become more open with me. I met her best friend, Chloe. She was just as beautiful, intelligent and independent as my girl. Her and I got along well.

She also was getting along with Nolan, which was a surprise for everyone. After meeting Chloe, he became even more accepting of Charlie. Imagine that, he was interested in her best friend.

"Do you want us to drop you off?" I signed to Bailey while the three of us had breakfast.

I insisted that she come live with us. I had plenty of space and I knew that was what Charlie needed. Bailey worked as an interpreter for the court. She did a lot of online work but she did go in a few days a week.

I worked myself to the bone with learning ASL. Obviously I wasn't as fluent as Charlie just yet, but Bailey and I were able to communicate now. It made Charlie happy I cared enough to learn and that was enough for me.

"No, I'm working online today." She signed back to me. "Thank you though."

"You're welcome." I signed back.

"I have to work late today, Xavier. Micah will drop me off when we're finished." Charlie signed and talked.

We always signed whenever Bailey was in the room so she wouldn't feel left out. It took some getting use to but it helped that I was already bilingual. "I don't mind coming to get you."

Unfortunately, I hadn't found any dirt on her partner yet. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I didn't care. I couldn't stand him.

It had been three months since they had that huge fight. Charlie said Micah was just acting like nothing had happened between them. And she followed suit. The whole thing was still weird to me. I didn't want her with him.

"It's okay. I'm not sure when we'll be finished." She signed back before getting up.

I looked at her and Bailey looked between the both of us. "It's okay if you want to go talk to her. I have some things I need to do anyway." She signed while Charlie's back was turned.

I smiled. Bailey was in full support of our relationship. She wrote me a long letter after I asked her to stay with us about how Charlie needed someone like me. She didn't even know me but she felt like she could trust me. She didn't feel that way with Micah.

"Thank you." I got up to walk to her. I kissed her head. She was becoming like a kid sister. "Can you take Henry? I swear he knows when we're about to fight and he doesn't like it."

My dog looked up from where he was chewing on his dog toy. Bailey and Charlie had started teaching him signs, so he'd listen to Bailey whenever she was around. My dog apparently was trilingual now.

"Come here, Henry." I whistled and he jumped up, with his chew toy in his mouth. "Go with Bailey. I need to chat with Charlie, okay?" I rubbed his fur and he nudged his head against my thigh. That was his way of agreeing. "Good boy."