AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His confession showed me a whole new layer to how much I’d hurt him when I’d joined the cartel. He had spent his whole childhood not being cared about by anyone, and while he might deny it, he knew there was more between us than hot sex. And I’d betrayed him. I’d fucking shot him.
The tears that had wet his eyes spilled over and ran down his cheeks. “Carter, I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you what was happening. I should’ve warned you about what I was going to do. I shouldn’t have let you think….”
“I would never have let you go. I would have insisted on fighting this, and while I want to believe it would’ve worked, most likely we’d both be dead or in prison. My family’s fucking powerful. It’s not going to be easy to take them down.”
I tilted his head up, so he was looking at me. “But we’re going to do it. We’re going to take them down.”
Carter took a deep, shaky breath. “Yes. It’s time. I’ve waited long enough. I have enough people behind me now.”
“You wanted to do that all along, didn’t you?”
“Yes. That’s why I confronted my father with the secrets my grandmother told me about. But I was young and stupid, and I couldn’t see how many moves ahead of me he was.”
“I can’t imagine you ever being stupid, Carter.”
“I was so sure of my power. My friends and I ruled our school, and I thought I was hot shit.”
I grinned. “I bet you were, and I bet I would have loved forcing your surrender back then, watching you break, knowing the powerful rich boy was mine to command.”
Carter shook his head. “Why the fuck does that sound hot?”
“There’s nothing I can imagine with you that isn’t.”
He tilted his head as if considering that statement. “I guess you’re right.”
“See? I told you you’d let me do anything I wanted.”
“And I told you I do have limits.”
“But they don’t’ involve anything I truly want.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
“My friends think I joined the navy voluntarily, that I decided to leave.”
“But you didn’t.” It wasn’t a question. I could see the misery in his eyes. “What happened, Carter?”
“I confronted my father. I told him what I knew, thinking he’d be shocked, thinking—so stupidly—that maybe he would see me differently then. Why the hell I still wanted his approval after all that time I don’t know.”
I brushed a finger over his cheek. “He’s your father, baby. It’s hard to accept that parents don’t care. Trust me, I know.”
“Will you tell me?”
“Later. Right now, I’m here to listen to you.”
I waited for him to speak, watching as he breathed deep, his chest rising, then falling with an audible exhale. I wanted to take the pain away from him, but I knew I couldn’t. I would help him eventually, though, no matter the risk.
“My father laughed at me. He already knew. My uncle’s untimely death hadn’t been an accident. My father might not have been able to biologically father children, but he had a son who looked like him and he could mold Landon in his own image. He would not risk letting go of him. He told me one son was enough. He was done putting up with me since I would never be the kind of son he wanted. I wasn’t part of his family, so I’d never counted anyway.”
“What a sick fuck. I want to destroy him.”
“You and me both. Everything my father does is sick and twisted.”
“What does his company really do?”
“I’ll tell you that later, let me finish this sad fucking story first.”
