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I nodded. “Go ahead, baby.”
“My father cut me off financially. He ordered me to join the navy, told me if I didn’t, he’d be sure I met with an accident like my uncle had. He didn’t allow me access to any of his money. I had a small amount of money from my grandmother, but most of what she’d left me was inaccessible until I turned twenty-five. I considered running, taking the risk that he’d hunt me down.”
“You could have gone to one of your friends. They would have helped you.”
“Then they would have been in danger. I would never do that.”
I sighed. “Of course you wouldn’t, no matter how much they wanted to help or how much you needed it.”
“I decided the navy was a perfect place for me to put all my anger and frustration to use.”
I grinned. “I felt the same way. I knew I was fucking dangerous. It was a way to use my talents mostly legally.”
Carter rolled his eyes. “Trust you to be sanctioned as a weapon and still find ways you needed to break the rules.”
I shrugged. “I’m not a rule follower. I never will be.”
“Good.”
“Now tell me what your family has done, and don’t worry. My parents were thieves and con artists, so we both come from criminal stock.”
“I wish all my family had done was steal. They’ve done far worse, things that make me sick to talk about.”
Carter told me how they were involved in treating undocumented immigrants like slave labor and about their human trafficking ring. I felt as sick as he looked by the time he was done. I pulled him into my arms and held him.
“Baby, I’m so sorry. I wish…I wish I could take all this away from you.”
“I…let’s not talk about them anymore, okay?”
“Okay, but once you had access to all the money your grandmother left you, couldn’t you have gone back to New York?”
“You know how much I wanted to be a hero, and I really didn’t want to use the money. I loved my grandmother, and I’m glad she provided for me, but I know how that money was earned. My grandfather was no better than my father. Our money had been dirty for generations.”
I huffed. “You’re so fucking stubborn.”
“Wasn’t that why you first pursued me? Because I wasn’t falling all over you, because I acted like I wasn’t interested, unlike all those boys in the bars.”
“How do you know anything about how boys in bars reacted to me?”
“It could be that I followed you. Possibly I was just as obsessed with you as you were with me. You were too busy flirting to realize it, but you weren’t even getting any.”
“Oh my God. You were fucking stalking me.”
“I paid attention to what you did.”
“No, you were stalking me.”
“I was keeping tabs on my team.”
“Damn it, Carter.” His smile made me want to pick him up, throw him on the bed, and fuck him as hard as I had outside, but we needed to finish this conversation first. “So, who do you think is responsible, your father, your brother, or both?”
Carter looked away like he couldn’t say it while holding my gaze. “My fucking brother. This isn’t my father’s style. If he decided he wanted me dead, he would just send an assassin or arrange an accident. He’d want it done and over with. All the games and negotiations? That’s Landon’s doing. Now that he’s taken over as CEO, he’s more interested than ever in keeping me from getting anything he sees as his.”
“I wished you looked more surprised.”
Carter snorted. “Me too. It’s typical of Landon to do something to disgrace me so even if I survived I could never run the family business. He wouldn’t have the balls to outright kill me unless our father ordered it. Angering my father is the last thing Landon would ever do. I just wish I’d seen through him sooner. It makes me sick that I didn’t realize he was plotting against me.”
“Damn Carter. I’m so sorry.”
