AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ew! You guys!” Ivy says from next to us, and Cat laughs. I grab her ass, where her daughter can’t see, seeing her eyes light up in response to my manhandling. She loves it.
“Lock up behind me, yeah?” I say to the girls, who both follow me to the door and stand there watching me as I step out.
I turn and take one last look at them both. Cat looking like sex on legs at the door, waving goodbye. Wearing her work attire, the same navy dress and black heels she was in when we first met. I stifle a groan, because I still need to fuck her with those sexy as sin black heels on. I have lost count on the number of times I have imagined her naked underneath me, her legs over my shoulders, those black heels near my ears since the day we met at the hospital. I decide then and there that is exactly what I will do with her as soon as I get back.
37
Carter
I sit in our meeting room at the compound, perplexed. Sebastian has been eyeing me from across the table since the moment he walked in five minutes ago, and I don’t like it one bit.
“What the fuck is going on?” I finally ask, cutting through the general chit-chat from Dante and Nico.
“What do you know about her?” Sebastian quizzes me. Pulling his head back and looking at me down his nose, and my eyes crinkle in question. Where he is going with this?
“She’s a doctor, a very fucking good one,” I say as my eyes flick to Dante quickly, and he nods in agreement. “She is a mom to a little girl named Ivy. She moved to Philly almost a year ago to get away from her ex here in New York. I saw him once at the grocery store, trying to intimidate her. He is a prick who looks like he has plenty of money. But she is scared of him. I’m sure he’s hit her, as her father has too. She is trying to legally separate from the both of them at the moment. She also takes self-defense classes at my gym.” I watch for Sebastian’s response.
“So he is a woman beater, then?” Sebastian grits out. He hates violence against women. We all do. “What else?” Sebastian prods, and I am beginning to feel unnerved.
“She has a sister, Maggie, a nice woman, with a family of her own. Their mother died when she was younger. And as I said, her dad is an asshole, from what I can tell.”
“Anything else?” I need to take a breath because this is really starting to piss me off. Dante didn’t get this treatment about Annie, and so what the hell has gotten into Sebastian.
“She looked scared when I left her this morning. Her house is secured with cameras, intercoms, and double doors. She has a lawyer who is working on the paperwork to extract her and Ivy from the ex. She seems hesitant with her father, as I said, he hit her, Ivy is scared of him too. She hasn’t signed off on the intervention order for him yet, though. I have Benji keeping an eye on them while I am out of town.” I look at Dante and Nico before looking back at Sebastian, and they seem as confused as I am.
Sebastian nods. “Could she be faking it?” he asks, and for the first time in my life, I don’t like what Sebastian is proposing here.
“You think she makes up the bruises on her face?” I ask with a bite, my voice getting louder, fists clenching. “You think I can’t see the fear in her eyes, the tears that run down her cheeks when she thinks I am not looking?”
“You're in love, Carter. You’re blind to it if it is there,” Sebastian says to me simply, like he is discussing the weather.
“She is not a liar,” I grit out, ignoring the love comment.
“She seems all kosher to me, Sebastian. She is a great doctor, has even spoken to Annie about leaving New York and wanting to get away from her ex,” Dante offers, and I thank God I have back-up because I am starting to feel like I am missing something.
“You know I need to be 100% sure about people before they can come into the fold. Just because she is special to you, Carter, doesn’t mean I don’t investigate,” Sebastian says, his face still not giving away anything. “I checked out Annie just as closely.” He looks at Dante, and I see shock on Dante’s face, none of us knowing what lengths he goes to, but assuming he is pretty thorough.
Sebastian throws a file onto the table, and it slides across the polished timber surface, stopping right in front of me.
“What the hell is this?” I grab the file and start flicking through the contents.
“This is information I gleaned a few days ago from my sources. It appears that her ex-boyfriend is a Mr. Daniel Cole, and is going to be up against our man Roy, running for senator. He has huge money behind him from his own father and his pals. One of which is a doctor named Thomas Wakeford,” Sebastian says as I start to look at the information in front of me.
“Apparently, at the City Gala Dinner tonight, he will be not only announcing his run for senator, but also their engagement,” Sebastian spits out, and my world implodes.
I sit in shock. Reeling. My chest tightening, lungs seizing.
I’m quiet as I study a photograph in my hand. It is her, with him by her side, but it looks to be a few years old. She looks beautiful, there is no denying it, but her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. No, this can’t be true. She’s been honest… I know it.
I raise my eyes and look at Sebastian, giving nothing away. “Go on,” I say, asking him for further information.
“They want Daniel in as senator so they can run drugs,” Sebastian says, steepling his hands together under his chin.
“Brian Cole is using his son to get ownership of the docks and influence over the city police. Essentially, he wants what we have got, and I am not planning on giving it to him.” Leaning back in his chair, he continues to watch me, waiting for my reaction.
“Her father is a retired heart surgeon, and wealthy beyond measure. He is funding 50% of Daniel’s campaign.” I lean over and pick up the photo.
“What is his stake in the game, then?” Dante asks, as we all try to piece together the players.
