AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Jill wound up leaving me because I couldn’t hack it in the civilian world. During the divorce process, I found out she’d been cheating on me throughout our marriage. But yeah . . . she wasn’t the person I thought she was.”
“I’m so sorry.” Tears formed in my eyes, hating that a man like him had ever been hurt. I remembered him telling me in Cape Town about wanting the kind of love his parents had, and he’d never found it.
“In some ways, I get it. I mean, we’re asking our wives to hold down the fort while we’re gone for months or more at a time, and it’s a lot of fucking work. They get lonely. And just because I was loyal . . .” He shook his head. “So, uh, after the Army I wound up with the CIA,” he said, shifting gears. “If you saw the movie 13 Hours, basically that’s what I did. Protected CIA officers or ambassadors. Things like that. Gray’s sister, she, um . . . well, I watched over her.”
“And how’d you end up in this line of work?” I asked, deciding not to continue the Jill conversation since he’d made the abrupt subject change back to work. If he wanted to leave her in the past, I’d leave her there, too.
“Gray created a security company, and he finally got me to join. Then we wound up partnering with Carter later on. So yeah, here I am. Operating is still my life.” He swallowed and shot me a look, as if there was a question he wanted to ask me: Can I handle him operating? Would I ask him to quit like she had? The question didn’t come, though, and he quickly returned his attention to the road ahead.
Carter had stopped outside a gate just off the roadway. We parked behind him as he reached out his window and punched in a security code. No house in view yet, but I assumed it was farther back on the property. From my estimations, we were right by the Andes Mountains in the southern region of the country.
I looked back at my sister, wondering if she was fake sleeping, allowing us a “private” moment to talk. No way was she that deep of a sleeper. No, that was me.
“So, what do you want to do with your life once your name is cleared and this nightmare is over?”
I whipped back around to face him just as the gates were opening, allowing us entry. “I’ve never even . . . I don’t know. I never thought I’d have a life outside of running. I never allowed myself to daydream the possibilities.”
He let go of my hand and cupped my cheek, the car remaining stopped despite Carter pulling through the gates. “It’s time you start thinking about that, because it will happen. Pretty soon you’ll get the chance to do what you want with your life.”
“You really think you can help clear my name?” My tears were going to fall, and I’d be unable to stop them. This beautiful, wonderful, strong man was giving me hope, and I’d never let myself feel that way before.
“Of course.” His thumb smoothed along my cheek.
“And what about Brant?” I closed my eyes, remembering the moment Brant Luther had cupped my cheek, swiping his thumb over my dimple as he slid the blade of a knife along my rib cage, cutting me.
“You’ll never need to worry about Brant Luther after this, I promise.” I flicked my eyes open at the darkness in his tone, just in time for him to look deep into my eyes as he said, “Because I’ll be personally killing that son of a bitch.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHARLOTTE
“Forget Bruce Wayne,” Lucy began, “I think Carter is more on the Iron Man level in terms of his money and access to stuff.”
Standing alongside her, we took in the view of the “safe house.” Its Mediterranean style transported me back to Spain, or when I lived in Sicily for a few months three years ago.
“When it comes to this man,” Mya said, nudging Carter in the side where they stood by their Land Rover parked on the U-shaped driveway, “you don’t even know the half of it.” She lightly chuckled. “Then again, neither do I. He’s a mystery to us all, and we work with him.”
“Real funny,” Carter said glibly, removing his unscathed sunglasses. All this beauty and mystery surrounding us, and what I really wanted to know was how in the world his Ray-Bans survived our episode of Survival?
Really, Charley, that’s what you’re focusing on? “So, we’re staying here for how long?” I asked, forcing myself to get with the program.
Jack swiveled my way, pulling himself from the quiet conversation he’d been engaged in with Gray and Jesse near the minivan. “We stay until we locate Brant Luther, and then we figure out next steps.”
“Wait. We don’t know where he is?” I questioned as I left my sister’s side to get closer to Jack.
“Camila touched base just before we pulled in,” Gray began, settling into operator mode again. “Her jet should land in about forty minutes, but after we gave her Brant’s name, she did some research while en route. Seems he’s been off-grid ever since—”
“The first season of that game show two years ago,” I blurted, putting it together. “He really does have those women.”
“There have been rumors he’s had some health issues,” Gray continued. “We can’t be sure of the specifics, and his corporate PR team has done their best to make sure of that.”
Corporate PR my ass. I’d done my research over the years to keep tabs on Brant, and it’d made my stomach turn to see how he’d gone from raising eyebrows that warranted undercover Feds at his office to being some charitable do-gooder who “gave away” twenty percent of company earnings every year to charities. My guess over the years was that he used the charities to launder his dirty money.
“I’m trying to make sense of all this,” Lucy said, joining my side again. “You think while he was getting treatment, he suddenly snapped and decided to abduct women because they looked like our mom?”
“Maybe he thinks they’re Mom?” I replied to her, and Lucy peered at me, skepticism in her wide eyes. “But in my opinion, Brant’s a sociopath. He definitely was one eleven years ago when Mom started to fear him.” Well, so she told me.
“Either something triggered him to begin abducting women who look like your mother these past two years,” Gray said, “or he’s been doing it for a long time and flew under everyone’s radar.”
