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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. “She’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.”
&nbs
p; “I know the feeling,” Scarlett said wanly.
She found Carter in his study, watching Edward clean up a shattered glass. “How did it go?” she asked, wrapping her arms around him. Was it her imagination, or did Carter stiffen a bit?
“It’s over,” he said grimly. “Your father has what he wants, for the most part. I got what I wanted, for the most part.” His eyes honed in on her. “Did you get what you wanted, Scarlett?”
She frowned at his intensity, waiting until Edward left before answering. “I got you.”
“Is that what you wanted though?” he demanded, tightening his hold on her.
“Of course. I love you, Carter.” She looked at him, noticing how agitated he was, “I know how hard this was for you,” she whispered. “I want to thank you for doing the right thing.”
Carter continued to brood for the next couple of days, and Scarlett tried to be patient with him. She knew he was disappointed about the outcome of his plans for Rocco, but it was more than that. He was distant from her, and he seemed to have moved out of the room he’d moved her into. He hadn’t slept with her for the past three nights, and she was worried.
She tried not to think about it, but at times she couldn’t help wondering if she’d been a game to Carter after all. Had he enjoyed defiling Terini’s daughter, but was now tired of her and hoping she would leave on her own? That didn’t seem reasonable, and Scarlett tried not to push those thoughts from her mind. Until her father’s arrival, she’d been absolutely certain of Carter’s feelings, and she’d been secure in the knowledge that he loved her as much as she loved him.
For the fourth night in a row, Scarlett prepared for bed alone, having decided that if he didn’t join her tonight, she would move back to her old room tomorrow. This was his room, and if he didn’t want to sleep with her, he still had the right to the master suite. She only hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
By one a.m. there was still no sign of Carter, and she gave up, getting into the bed, missing his solid presence. Tomorrow, they were going to have to talk, and she wouldn’t accept his excuses of being too busy. They had to settle their future, because this endless drifting was slowly eating at her.
Sounds in the night awoke Scarlett, and she sat up in the bed, fuzzily focusing on the clock, surprised to see it was only a little after three. She heard raised voices downstairs and grabbed her robe from the closet, pulling it on as she rushed down to the first floor.
