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"Hey, look at me." Nathan’s voice grounds him. It's cold. Hard. It leaves no room for Carter to do or feel anything besides what Nathan allows. Carter opens his eyes, finding that Nathan’s expression matches his tone. "How little was this boy?"
"Please," Carter begs. "I don’t wanna talk about it, Nate."
Nathan's face and tone soften, but he continues to push. "Carter, this isimportant."
"I don’t-" Carter stops himself. If he tells Nathan, maybe he can ask for more information of his own. Maybe he can ask about Elliot. Maybe he knows something like he knew something about Casey. "I don't think he ever said. Young. Too fucking young.”
“That fucker.”
Carter flinches at the tone of Nathan’s voice. If he thought it was cold and hard before, that was nothing compared to now. “What?”
“He’s not supposed to be doing that. Selling children.” Nathan huffs. “That sneaky piece of shit. There weren't any at the auction. None in the group photo of the cell either. That bastard."
“Is that your moral line?” Carter asks sarcastically. “Rape adults, but no children?”
Nathan’s eyes flash at him. “No. It’s just not his market. He must be selling them under the table. I’m not the only one who would be pissed if they found this out. He’s breaking the rules.”
“There are rules?”
“Yes. Absolutely. Otherwise it’s all fucking chaos.” Nathan points a finger at him. “And chaos gets you caught.”
“Who makes the rules?”
“Us. The major players. Me. Hanson. Miller. Saint-Pierre. Quinton.”
“And you decide who gets what markets?”
“In a way. We agree amongst ourselves. It’s like a social convention. No one has it written down that this market or that market belongs to a certain someone, but it’s just understood. That’s not to say that everything is concrete, by any means. I’ve been collecting markets since I took over here. There used to be 9 major players at the table. We’re down to 5. I’m hoping to get it down to 4. If I have my way, I'll control almost the entire north-western hemisphere."
Carter traces a finger along the edge of one of Nathan’s scars. Something is twisting in his gut. Something… he doesn’t like. “Isn’t that making you enemies?”
"Well, it's not like I leave them hanging around. And those who worked under them know it's best to conform."
Carter frowns. "Did you know that J.F.K. had his own elite group of men who would infiltrate governments and assassinate major leaders he didn't like?"
Nathan sounds amused for some reason when he answers. "I may have read that somewhere, yes."
"One of his staffers was interviewed way down the road, like when everything became unclassified." Carter turns in Nathan's arms, resting his chin on his chest so he can look at him. "When talking about his assassination, he pretty much said something along the lines of,Well, what did J.F.K. expect? He started it."
Nathan's lips twist into a smirk. "Are you implying that I'm going to get iced, Carter?"
"If that means killed, then yes." Carter nibbles his lip, feeling his cheeks go hot. "Or, at least, I'mworriedabout it. A… bit."
The amusement in Nathan's expression suddenly softens, replaced by fondness. "Nothing will happen to you, even if that does happen. Benny will make sure of it."
"I'm not worried about me. Honestly, I'd probably be better off in the long run. It's you I don't want to see hurt…"
"What?" Nathan sits up then, turning to give Carter his full attention. "You'd be better off?"
Carter winces. "That sounds worse than I meant it to. I just… if someone else owned me, I'd be a normal slave. I'd be like the others. I get that you refuse to let me break or whatever, but that's because of how you feel about me. Whoever took me next wouldn't have the same qualms. They'd want to break me."
"And you think you'd be better off broken?" Nathan practically growls.
"I don't know, honestly. But you have to see where I'm coming from. You're a smart man. My mind is full of fire and passion. My mind was working towards one day fighting the very thing I've fallen victim to. I have the mind of a protester. An activist. An unapologetic snowflake. You've trapped that mind in a body that has to obey to survive. That has to sit back quietly while others get hurt and killed. That has to take whatever is handed to it and thank the person after. You have to see how awful that is, Nathan. I know you do."
Nathan’s nostrils flare. "So, what? You'd really rather me mentally break you? Just make you empty and worthless? Truly just holes?"
Carter looks off to the side, his eyes burning. He hadn't meant for this to be a conversation. At least not tonight. Not after they've just confessed their love only hours before.
