Chapter 20 – CARTER
20
CARTER
P eople said the beach was peaceful. Those people were idiots.
Seagulls squawked loudly as they fought over the carcass of a crab. Waves crashed against the beach, pounding broken shells into sand.
Some days the crosscurrent was so strong, it dragged people out so far they had no hope of finding the surface, swimming back to shore.
Boats sunk in ocean storms. Entire crews lost to the abyss of blue.
Then there was what lurked beneath the surface. Things that could sting and bite and poison and kill.
All nature was brutal.
Beautiful, but brutal.
It was why I liked it here. I felt at home among the self-destructive landscape. Among the beasts and the broken shells.
After Hudson Vaughn’s attempt to blackmail me, I was hot-headed and ready to draw blood from the first person to look at me wrong.
I hadn’t slept since, which probably wasn’t helping.
This did, though.
Our beach called to me. As soon as I could break away from work this afternoon, I came straight here, parking myself in the sand where the blood of Anna’s lost virginity once stained the sand.
Crazy to think how long ago that was. We were just two vulnerable teens marked by their fathers’ cruelty, sharing secrets and creating a bond that would become completely unbreakable.
Anna was so perfect when I brought her to my villa, letting me hold her, letting me punish her, letting me fuck her. It ate me knowing my seed wasn’t in her right now. Wasn’t in her at all times. Fuck, I wanted to fill her with it so completely that no form of contraception would work against the battalion of it.
I was distracted by the buzz of my cell. Sighing, I pulled it out and answered Paulson’s call.
“What?”
“I’ve got news, and you’re not going to like it.”
“Tell me.”
“Remember, I’m just the messenger.”
He was stalling. Paulson’s self-preservation tactics were really starting to annoy me.
“Spit it out,” I growled.
“Fine,” he said, sighing. “Your girl’s ex never stopped putting up bounties for her on the dark web. They were buried deep and my guys didn’t find them until they’d been up awhile. We took them all down, but there were some replies on the posts.”
An icy dagger twisted in my gut.
“What kind of replies?”
“Information sharing mostly. Her…her real name was used several times.”
Jesus fuck.
I squeezed my eyes shut, digging the edge of my cell into my temple, needing the bite of pain to level me out as dark spots fought for cruel dominion over my eyes.
“Anything else,” I barely got out through my teeth.
A pause. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Carter. There was a photo a user posted in reply to one of the bulletins. One taken at a charity gala. You were also in the frame. The image puts her here. So we assume whoever is looking to collect on this bounty now has a good idea of her location.”
My vision went black with rage.
That pathetic piece of shit.
Josh Porter was as good as dead. It was only a matter of time. I’d do worse to him than what I did to my father and that was some of the most twisted shit I’d ever done in my life.
“ Find him ,” I ordered Paulson. “Find him now . Move the fucking world if you have to. I want three times as many men out there looking for him and anyone else who replied to the ads. I want them stopped before they cross the state line. How many men do you have on her now?”
“Three.”
“Double it.”
“Got it.”
“And Paulson?”
“Yeah, boss?”
I could feel my face twitching, feel the anger coming off me in waves strong enough that even the sea seemed to be receding into itself, not wanting to come too far onto shore.
“If another bulletin goes up and you don’t have it taken down in the same fucking second, I will cleave your head from your shoulders and hollow out your skull to make a fucking ashtray out of it, you feel me?”
“I do. I have someone on it around the clock.”
I stood and jabbed the button to end the call, quickly opening the app that tracked Anna’s phone. She was in town, but a good twenty minute drive away. I had to move fast. Who knew how many people might have seen those ads by now?
I sprinted back to the villa. My muscles burned as I crossed the sand, my breath coming in ragged gasps.
As I threw myself into the car and set the GPS, I forced myself to clear my mind long enough to think.
I accessed the audio on Anna’s phone, and three voices floated out. One, I recognized as Anna’s, and another as her friend Summer’s. There was also a third male voice I didn’t know.
Fuck.
Who the hell was it?
From what I could hear, muffled likely through her purse, everyone’s tones seemed relaxed, but I couldn’t trust it.
He could be biding his time, trying to get Anna alone. Posing as someone trustworthy. An electrician or a plumber or a fucking vacuum salesman.
I kept the sound on while I started driving, playing it through the Aston’s speakers to try to capture more of what they were saying.
Every muffled word, every laugh from Anna reassured me that she was alive, at least for now.
How long had that ad been up?
Fuck. I should have asked Paulson.
Was it long enough for someone to get here? To find her?
My grip tightened on the steering wheel. I had to get to Anna now if I wanted to save her. Summer was just as innocent and harmless as Anna, so she’d be no protection against an intruder. My bodyguards were stationed outside, but even they weren’t infallible. An expert, someone ex-military or CIA could manage to get around them.
And with a payday like the one Josh was offering, I knew it was possible all kinds wanted a piece of the pie. The first ones who tried were nothing but a bunch of young thugs in baseball caps looking for a quick buck.
Their corpses now lay bloated at the bottom of the ocean. Food for the fishes.
I drove as fast as I could without killing myself. It took me half the projected time to reach the destination, which turned out to be a modern-looking condo building.
I skimmed the names on the doorbells, hoping to see one I’d recognize. Thank God, one stuck out.
James O’Callahan.
I remembered him from Paulson’s files on the people close to Anna. He was Summer’s current boyfriend. This was his apartment.
Was it his voice on the other end of Anna’s phone?
I left the door open, rushing from the car at the very front of the building, seeing two men in the distance, speaking in hushed tones into their earbuds. I recognized them as mine. One pulled his weapon, his head moving on a swivel at something he heard on the other end of his earpiece.
I almost called to them, but an older woman exited the building with a dog, and I used the advantage to get in without busting the double glass paned doors. I held one open for her, forcing a fake smile as my phone rang again.
Grinding my teeth, I pulled it to my ear.
“Go.”
“We got a lead on a group of mercenaries headed into the city to collect,” Paulson rushed to say. “My guys are checking their last known location and tracing them from there. Looks like they’re somewhere in the east end but moving fast. We lost them on Fifth.”
I was in the east end. This fucking condo was east end.
Anna.
I didn’t bother waiting for the elevator. I sprinted up four flights of stairs, the image of Anna’s fear-filled face driving me to move faster than I ever had. My heart pounded, repeating her name.
Anna. Anna. Anna .
I tore into the hallway, skidding past apartment 404, backtracking, gripping the frame as I threw a booted foot into the door.
The wood cracked easily, letting me stride right into the open concept kitchen and living room. A girlish scream pierced the air and I whipped my head to the left to find three sets of wide eyes taking me in from a kitchen island. Anna’s quickly turned icy, even as her cheeks flushed pink.
“Dude, what the hell?” James demanded. “Who the fuck are you?”
I ignored him, heading straight for my little siren, who had hopped off a stool to greet me. She was perfectly intact, and relief washed over me in waves.
Her palms met my chest and she shoved, making me falter a step.
“ Anna .”
She shoved at my chest again, a vulgar expression on her face.
“ Out ,” she hissed. “You can’t just go around breaking down people’s doors whenever. The. Fucking. Mood. Strikes!”
She punctuated each word with another shove until I caught her wrists.
“Anna. Anna, stop. ”
I hushed her, pulling her in by her wrists to cradle her face with my free hand, needing to feel her.
Her lips twitched in annoyance. Fuck, she was so adorable when she was angry.
She struggled against my grip on her, muttering that I was an inconsiderate asshole.
Behind her, James moved around the countertop, and I flicked my gaze to him, fixing him with a look that made him stop in his tracks. His throat bobbed.
Prey recognizing a predator.
I’d eat that boy alive if he moved another inch.
Nothing was coming between us.
“Carter, can we do this out?—”
My lips crashed down on hers, stealing a kiss. My fingers wove into her hair, and I focused on the feeling of her soft body arching against mine. Her lips parted and I felt the hitch in her breath as I swept in. Felt her melt for me, even now, even with anger still knotting the skin between her brows.
I grunted as a sharp sting bit into my bottom lip. As she bit into my bottom lip.
Pulling back, I prodded the injury with my tongue, grinning as I tasted earth and copper.
“Enough.” She dropped her arms heavily, pulling down hard and swift enough to break my hold. “What the hell is going on, Carter?”
“You think that’s her ex?” Summer’s voice floated to me from where she was whispering with James.
“I don’t know. Should we, like, call the cops or something?”
“Um, Anna…” Summer called tentatively, a wince in her expression. “Who’s your friend?”
Anna steeled herself before turning to face Summer and her boyfriend. “I am so sorry, you guys. He has absolutely no manners, but he’s harmless.”
I scoffed.
So did James.
“And, uh ,” James lifted a brow. “What is this harmless friend doing in my condo, exactly?”
He had put his body in front of Summer’s, as if I were a danger to the only girl who’d shown my Anna any real kindness since she came home.
“Carter?” Anna pressed, her hands on her hips.
James blew out a sigh, and I tracked his stare to the mangled door to his condo.
Anna glared at me pointedly.
“Send me the bill for the door,” I told him, tugging a business card from the inside pocket of my jacket. He recoiled as I approached but took it.
I turned to find Anna still glaring.
What was I missing?
Right.
I cleared my throat and turned back to James. “Apologies for bursting in like this, it was imperative that I spoke to Anna.”
I didn’t wait for James to reply before turning and arching a brow at Anna.
Better? I asked her wordlessly.
She rolled her eyes, growling to herself. “Next time use the doorbell like a normal person.”
“Or the handle,” James added. “It wasn’t even locked.”
Of course it wasn’t.
I resisted the urge to break James’ nose.
Who the fuck just left their door unlocked? Especially with two beautiful women inside. What was wrong with people?
“We’re still waiting for an explanation, Carter.”
I caught Summer mouthing something to Anna that looked like he’s hot, but she schooled herself the instant she felt me looking, studiously looking anywhere else.
The weight of the gun tucked in the back of my pants from the Aston’s glove compartment grounded me as I stalked to the wide bay windows and peered outside.
The others whispered in my absence as I pulled my phone to my ear and dialed Paulson, alternating between checking the parking area and the broken door for any sign of approaching mercenaries.
Paulson answered on the first ring like a good dog. “Status?”
“We have a tail on them in midtown. We’ll have them within the hour.”
I sagged.
“Want us to dispose?—”
“No,” I hissed. “I’ll do it myself.”
I pocketed the cell and went to the kitchen island, making James and Summer disperse as I pulled Anna’s portfolio together and gathered the rest of her things into her bag.
“Grab anything else you brought,” I said. “We’re leaving.”
“Anna?” Summer hedged, her voice growing higher in pitch. “This isn’t the guy from St. L?—”
My girl shook her head, rushing over to snatch her bag and camera from my hands. “No, Summer, everything’s fine. Like I said, this one just has no manners .”
“Does this one have a name?”
“Carter Cole,” James supplied, reading it off the business card between his fingers.
“Why does that sound so familiar?” Summer mused and then her eyes brightened and her lips popped open. “Oh my god, this isn’t the one that?—”
“ Summer ,” Anna warned.
Summer squealed, completely unaware that if I didn’t have a veritable army out there scaring off every mercenary aiming to claim the bounty on my girl, they’d be dealing with a very different sort of villain right now.
“I thought you said he was?—”
“Summer!”
She mimed zipping her lips, but made a gesture at Anna holding her hands about nine inches apart with a wince and despite myself, I almost laughed.
So she had told someone about me.
Or at least one part of me.
She didn’t meet her friend’s eyes as she huffed, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder. “James, thank you so much for the amazing breakfast.”
Wait. This fucker cooked for her?
“And Summer, I’ll have the photos from the shoot fully edited and in your inbox as soon as I can.”
“Okay, yeah, no rush. Are you sure you’re good going with?—”
“Yeah,” Anna rushed to say as I caught her elbow between my fingers and started to drag her to the door with me, helping her step over the broken pieces despite her trying to pull from my grasp. “I’m totally fine. Sorry about this again, by the way. Buy a really, really expensive door, James, he can afford it.”
There’s my girl.
“You take care of my girl, Carter Cole,” Summer called after me. “If you break her heart again, girl code says I get to key your car and slash your tires.”
As threats went, it wasn’t one of the more frightening I’d ever received. But the fierce look in Summer’s eyes pleased me. Anna deserved friends who looked after her, who saw her for the treasure she was.
Anna asked me what was going on twice more before I got her out of the building, into my car, and across town to my villa.
I could make up some bullshit about wanting her to be comfortable on my sofa before I told her, but the truth was, I just wanted her within the walls of my impenetrable villa so she couldn’t run away once she knew the truth.
She strode through the foyer, straight into the kitchen, pulling open every cupboard until she found a glass and filled it with water.
“Okay, you got me here,” she said as she finished the glass and set it in the sink. “Are you going to tell me why you just completely embarrassed me in front of my friends and made a complete ass of yourself?”
“Sit.”
Her nostrils flared, but she did as she was told, crossing the hardwood floor to the sofa where I had my way with her just days ago. The evidence of what we did had already been cleaned away and I found myself wanting to put it back.
“I think I’ve been pretty patient, Carter.” She sat, looking up at me. “Start talking or I’m going home.”
I slipped into the seat next to her, my thigh pressing against hers.
“I’ve been looking into your ex.”
She groaned. “Carter, I didn’t want you going after him. It’s exactly why I didn’t want to tell you his name in the first place.”
“I had no choice, Anna. My PI reported that several weeks ago, Josh placed ads on the dark web, offering a reward for anyone who could deliver you alive.”
Her face turned ashen, eyes alive with shock and fear and everything I was trying to protect her from.
“He wouldn’t. Why would he? It had to be some—some kind of?—”
“My team removed the ads as soon as they could. That’s why I’ve had my men following you. It was a precaution in case anyone…”
I couldn’t finish the sentence.
“More ads were posted recently, and they weren’t taken down as quickly as they should’ve been. It won’t happen again, but it looks like your real identity and location were broadcast to anyone who might’ve viewed the bulletin.”
Anna balled her hands on her knees. She hunched over, like she was trying to make herself smaller. Like if she got lower, the smoke from this dumpster fire couldn’t suffocate her.
She pushed a hand against her chest, breathing fast.
Before I knew it, my hand was rubbing slow circles in her back.
“Breathe, Anna. Just breathe. I’m going to keep you safe.”
“I knew Josh was messed up,” she murmured after a minute. “ But I never imagined he would do something like this. This is…”
“A coward’s move.”
“And the dark web? What even is that?”
“You don’t want to know.”
She fought for control of her breathing again and something cracked in my chest.
“Why would he…”
“So he could have total control. So he could feel like he owned you.”
“Oh, God. I can’t even think about that,” Anna said, shuddering.
I pulled her tight against me and she didn’t fight it, burrowing into my side. “It’s all right. He won’t get his hands on you. I’ll find him first.”
Anna stiffened. When she met my eyes, her gaze was full of reproach. “Wait. You didn’t even tell me. You’ve known all this time and you didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t want to worry you,” I explained. “And between me and your father, you were well protected.”
She stood abruptly, turning to face me with a hard expression on her face. “But you didn’t think I deserved to know what was happening? I could have made different choices, Carter. I wouldn’t have snuck off by myself or put myself in danger. This is my life, not yours!”
My stomach twisted with some unknown emotion.
Anna paced across my living room. I could see her anger rising with each step.
You’re going to lose her.
Fix it.
Fix it.
“I didn’t want you obsessing about your ex,” I said and the words were coming out all wrong. “That’s why he did all this. Because he wanted you to be afraid. I didn’t want him to win.”
She laughed, but the sound was hollow. “I can’t believe I actually thought for one second I could trust you. That you were different. God, you’re just like him.”
Anger surged through me. What did I do to deserve to be compared to that piece of shit? Yes, Anna was mine, but I didn’t try to push her down and make her smaller. I was giving her everything she wanted. What she needed. Even if she didn’t see it that way.
“Take it back,” I said through gritted teeth.
“I won’t. You think you get sooo many brownie points for hiring some retired mall cops to watch me?”
They were far from that and she knew it, but I let her go on.
“No, you’re a real hero.”
She needed to watch her tone.
“You’re only hiding things from me and trying to control every part of my life. No biggie, right Carter?”
She poked me hard in the chest.
“Don’t try and pretend you’re not a manipulative prick just like all the rest of them.”
That, I was guilty of, but I wouldn’t apologize. I was doing what I needed to do to make her safe and make her see where she belonged.
Who she belonged with.
I’d do far worse.
“I did what I needed to. I won’t apologize.”
“Of course you won’t. You don’t care about what I want. You only care about what you think you deserve.”
This is not how you keep her, Carter.
I tapped my fingertips on the arm of the sofa, racing to find the right words. The ones that would make her see. Make her stay .
“Maybe I messed up a bit,” I admitted. “I could’ve told you what was happening and I chose not to. If you want the truth, fine, you have it. From here on, ask me anything you want to know and I’ll tell you, just know that you may not like the answers.”
Her brows furrowed and her jaw flexed as she thought through what I imagined was a thousand questions she wanted answers to. There was only one I wouldn’t give her.
“Are you keeping any other secrets from me?”
“I once came to see you on the beach straight from the ER. I woke up in the emergency room and ripped out the IV before they could?—”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” she interrupted. “Is there anything else you’re hiding from me now. Since I got home.”
Dodged that bullet. But I’d have to eat another one.
“All right. Yes. I had my PI look into you as soon as you were back in town.”
She didn’t look surprised, more vindicated than anything. Like I was confirming something for her she already knew and judged.
“Your dad did a pretty good job erasing every trace of you from existence after you left. For years, I had no idea where you were. If you were even alive. We only got a few leads on where you were after you were already on your way back.”
“You really had no right to invade my privacy like that.”
“I know for a fact that you would have done the same thing if you had the money and our roles were reversed,” I said and her eyes narrowed. “You were just as curious about me as I was about you. I know you kept up with me online. Searching for me, looking at my pictures.”
Her jaw dropped.
There it was. My other dirty little secret.
“How could you possibly know…”
I saw the moment it dawned on her and lifted my chin in the face of her icy glare.
“You hacked into my phone, didn’t you? Into my search history?”
Her cheeks turned an absolutely delicious shade of pink.
“Yes,” I replied simply. “I could also mirror the screen and when it was necessary, I listened to your live audio.”
She looked like she couldn’t decide whether to laugh or scream. Blinking like an owl. Opening and closing her mouth like some kind of adorable amphibian.
She wasn’t surprised I had an investigator looking into her past, but she was shocked at this?
I didn’t see all that much difference.
“When… necessary ?”
I pressed my lips together. Touché.
“Okay. Not always when necessary.”
She backed away another step, almost tripping on the coffee table. I lurched to catch her but she gave me a look that could’ve curdled dairy and I sat back down. For now.
“What the actual fuck, Carter?”
I steepled my fingers, pressing them to my lips to sigh against them.
“I’m a possessive man, Anna,” I said, drinking in every inch of her.
She shivered at the attention, betraying her misplaced rage.
“You’re so fucked up,” she said, almost to herself as she shook her head.
“ Yes . Yes, I am.”
I pushed to my feet and slowly closed the gap between us, not stopping until I was inches away and her calves were pressed into the edge of the coffee table.
“I’m not ashamed of what I am or what I want, Anna. I know I can be controlling and overpowering. I want things from you that are definitely fucked up. It’s because I want all of you.”
I ran my thumb over her lower lip, and her breath hitched.
“I want to consume your every thought. I want to know exactly where you are, always. I want to ruin you for anyone else, and make you come so hard, your memories of anyone before me are wiped from that beautiful mind. I want to tie you to me in every way humanly possible.”
I let my hand fall down her chest, to her stomach.
I could feel her pulse tap-tapping against my hand. Speeding like a runaway train. “Can you accept that, Anna? Can you accept all of me?”
When I moved to brush my thumb over her hip, she smacked it away.
“Don’t touch me.”
I removed my hand, but didn’t dare take another step away. If she wanted space from me, she was going to have to take it herself.
After a second, she scoffed, giving me a half-hearted shove before going to get her bag from the kitchen. “I’m going home.”
She stormed down the hall, digging her phone from her purse, presumably to call for a ride.
I got ahead of her, planting myself between her and the door. “You’re not going anywhere right now, Anna.”
Not until I got the call from Paulson saying he caught the bastards that came into town to get my girl. Maybe not even then.
“Yes, I am. Move. ”
She shifted right, and I blocked her path again.
“You can’t just do things like this! You can’t just hack my phone and look into my past and listen to my private conversations and check my fucking search history. It’s fucked. Ugh, this is so fucked, just move. ”
Anna feigned left and then darted right, ducking under the arm I threw out to stop her, but I used that arm to curl around her waist instead, hauling her back.
She let out a frustrated scream, fighting out of my grip to turn the full force of her fury on me. “ I’m going. ”
This time, when she pivoted to continue down the hall, I didn’t stop her.
“Lyle, initiate lockdown.”
Anna stopped dead in her tracks, twisting her head to me with shock and confusion all over her face, but just until the electronic voice of my smarthome’s AI replied.
“Initiating lockdown.”
Her eyes went round as saucers.
She bolted for the door, but the metallic sounds of locks engaging on every exit in the villa echoed like fifty hammers striking iron. Then came the whir of the emergency shutters coming down over the windows. I had to admit, it was impressive if a little dramatic.
I hadn’t needed to use this little feature since buying the place, but a glorious satisfaction came over me as the house sealed itself from anything and everything that could hurt my little siren.
Anna pulled on the door handle, fighting with the locking mechanism.
“Shall I alert the authorities, Mr. Cole?” Lyle, the AI controlling the house asked and Anna stopped fighting with the door, looking up at the ceiling like she was trying to find the source of the voice, her chest heaving.
“That won’t be necessary, Lyle.”
“Lyle!” Anna shouted. “Lyle, open the front door.”
Lyle didn’t reply.
“It’s coded to my voice, Anna. You aren’t leaving until I say you’re leaving.”