Charlie shook his head. "The people who want you dead were actually your allies who want to jump ship by cleaning house and save their own skin now that things have changed. It's the principle of sacrificing your friend when you run into a hungry bear—the bear won't hunt you if it has something else to eat.

"That's just the way it is when it comes to switching sides. They have all the more reason to want you dead since you might be aware of certain individuals' dirty laundry, even if you weren't actively getting involved in it."

Tanya was left speechless, as that definitely was the case—she knew certain things, even witnessed it, but she wasn't an active part of it.

And with a new sheriff in town, silencing her was just a matter of self-preservation.

Naturally, she couldn't just tell Charlie those things outright, especially since they weren't alone.

Fortunately for her, Charlie wasn't interested in what she did, saw, or knew.

Instead, he quietly said, "Judging from the current s