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McKenna’s curious stare was on Carter as soon as he ended the call. “Be where?”
“Private party.”
“Now?”
“Tomorrow.”
After a few minutes of silence she turned back to the window. “Is anyone going to die?”
Carter chuckled and shrugged noncommittally. “I would hope not, but that’s always a possibility.” He winked and she frowned hard, electing to keep her thoughts to herself.
After being invited to a private party at Kohen’s house, Carter and McKenna spent the afternoon shopping for attire that would fit the occasion. Carter purchased a black tux, which he had measured and customized to fit his tall athletic frame perfectly. While the alterations were made, he watched McKenna cautiously shop for a dress she wasn’t thrilled about wearing to a party she wasn’t interested in attending.
By seven, they were having a private dinner in a restaurant close to the apartment and by nine, they were walking into his apartment. McKenna was both mentally and physically drained from the day. They hadn’t discussed Lynx or what happened to him further and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. After a shower and changing into comfy clothes, McKenna found Carter sitting in the study, drink in hand, while the coin that held so many secrets rested next to the bottle.
She sat close to him, tucked her feet under her body, and leaned forward, lifting the small trinket and turning in her fingers. Carter’s shoulders locked tightly while he slowly sipped his drink and watched McKenna studying a piece of his history.
“Can you tell me about this?”
Carter’s eyes remained on the black metal while he lifted the glass to his mouth once more, finishing what was left, considering his words before he spoke. Exposing the coin meant allowing McKenna access to his past. His parents and how he lost them, plus the potential for their lives to mirror the one his parents had.
“My parents.”
She frowned, lifting her gaze to his. “What about them?”
“You remember when I said my father died a few months before my eighteenth birthday?”
She nodded.
“My mother died the day before him.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” He leaned forward, wrapped his hand around the bottle, and refilled his glass. After he returned the half empty bottle back to the table, he drank with a heightened awareness of McKenna’s eyes on him.
“What happened to them?”
“My mother was out shopping. Someone shot her. A few hours after my father got the call, that coin was left on our porch. My father didn’t think. He reacted. He ended a lot of lives before he got careless and someone ended his.”
She stilled for a long moment. His confession crept into her spirit and burrowed somewhere deep. She could feel the loss laced in his words. Carter loved his parents and they weren’t here anymore.
“You didn’t know that stuff he told you about the coin?”
“No. I inquired a few times, no one had answers. That…” He nodded at the reminder she still held. “Was connected to what happened to my parents so I kept it, hopeful that one day someone would have answers.”
His eyes met hers and he communicated what would happen when he had those answers.
Carter wanted retribution.
“Malaika wa mauti,” she whispered, remembering what Lynx recited after reading what little information he found. Angel of Death. “What now? He can’t tell you anything or help you figure it out because…”
Her eyes met Carter’s and he finished the sentence in his head.
I killed him.
For you.
I chose you, again.
