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“Let’s just say I’ve developed a fondness for Scarlett. I couldn’t allow you to manipulate her sister into a marriage against her will. Scarlett would be upset and might never forgive me.” He grinned at Darren, enjoying himself.
“What does this all have to do with me?”
“I’m getting to that,” Carter said coolly. “I’ve spoken with Chrys and realized that she is too young and immature to marry anyone, especially a man thirty years her senior. I was shocked that you would so casually offer her to the wolves to save your own hide once again. I knew you were a ruthless bastard, but I thought even you would have limits.”
Rocco exploded from his seat. “I didn’t come here to be insulted.”
“You came here at my request, and you’ll stay until I allow you to leave,” Carter said in a very soft voice. “You’ll take whatever I give you, and you’ll keep your damn mouth shut.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
Sighing, Carter swung his legs from the desk, ignoring the pain in his hip, and leaned forward. “Nothing,” he said after a long pause. “I’ve decided to return the deed to your house.”
“So you’ve had a change of heart?” The sneer playing on his lips told Carter than this is exactly what Rocco had hoped for. He hated the way it made him feel. But Scarlett was far more important.
Carter smiled, a cold, predatory smile. “No, I’ve decided Scarlett’s happiness is more important than your ruination. I can’t bear to see her unhappy, and I’m willing to give up my torture of you for her. I figure you’ll lose the house within two years to taxes anyway.”
Pulling open a drawer, Carter extracted the file containing the deed to Terini Manor and scrawled his signature across it. The experience hurt less than he’d expected, and he felt surprisingly free as he watched Rocco sign the papers. He could finally leave Terini in the past and concentrate on his future, a future that included Scarlett.
Rocco tucked his copy of the folded deed in his jacket pocket. His smile was feral. “She did a good job, didn’t she?”
“What are you talking about?” Carter asked warily.
“We had it all worked out, you see,” Rocco said. “When she came home on Halloween, we sat down and planned it all.”
“Planned what?” Carter asked in a bored voice, but his stomach dropped to his feet.
“Your downfall,” Rocco answered with a nasty purr. “She’s always been a good girl, my Scarlett. She was willing to do what had to be done to save her family. It made me sick to think that she would have to allow your beastly hands upon her, but we all made sacrifices.”
“You’re lying,” Carter said firmly, determined to hide his expression from Rocco. He tried to make Rocco’s words fall on deaf ears, but the part of him that didn’t trust easily, especially a Terini, was listening, even believing.
“Poor, deluded fool,” Rocco said with pity. “S
he’ll be out of here so fast your head will spin. Oh, I’m sure she’ll stay for a short time so she doesn’t hurt you too badly. She won’t know I told you, you understand. She’s got a good heart, that Scarlett. She even told me a few minutes ago that she hated to have to hurt you since she feels so sorry for you. Still, she realizes you started this little war.”
“Darren, show our guest out,” Carter growled, and Darren hurried to comply. It was all lies, he told himself as he poured a glass of scotch. Scarlett had not been in collusion with her father to end his quest for vengeance. She was not that good of an actress, and he refused to allow Rocco to sour his relationship with her. She loved him. “She loves me, dammit,” Carter snarled, flinging the glass against the mantle, where it shattered into a hundred pieces.
Scarlett
Much to Scarlett’s horror, Chrys and Lecy chose to leave with Rocco when Darren brought them to their father. When they returned to the bedroom to pack Chrys’s clothes, she tried to reason with them once more. “You don’t have to go,” she repeated again.
“It’s perfectly safe now,” Chrys said blithely. “We’ll be rich again soon, so there is no need for me to marry Ralf Lemmings. I would rather be in my own home then here with Braxton.”
“Don’t forget what Carter did for you.” Scarlett didn’t like her sister’s tone or expression.
“He did it for you or for his own purposes,” Lecy snapped. Those were the first words to come from her mouth since she’d demanded an explanation of Scarlett’s accusations against their father. She’d read the file, and then tossed it across the room, refusing to believe the report. “I know Father, and he’s no murderer,” she’d insisted and refused to speak to Scarlett again.
“I’m worried about both of you,” Scarlett fretted.
“Don’t worry for us,” said Lecy. “Worry for yourself, as you wallow in your existence as the man’s plaything.”
“Don’t talk about him like you know him. I think you’d better leave,” she said coldly. Acting upon her suggestion, they left the bedroom and joined Rocco downstairs.
“Are you sure you won’t come with us now?” Rocco asked, and Scarlett shook her head. They departed, with only Chrys saying goodbye. She wished they’d left under better terms, but she’d made her decision, and Carter came first.
“I’m glad that’s over,” said Darren. “My stomach couldn’t have taken much more of your father.”
“I know the feeling,” Scarlett said wanly.
