76. Chapter Seven
Chapter seventy-six
Reid
Idon’t leave the hotel room to dial my father. Carrie deserves to read the tone of the exchange that we both know will be about our engagement. I stand at the window overlooking the city where Carrie joins me, and I punch the callback number. My father answers immediately. “I hear congratulations are in order,” he says.
“On which point are you referencing?” I counter cautiously.
“Finally landing a blow that West can’t stomach. You did well, son.”
He’s such a dick. Only my father could turn his son finally getting married into revenge. “What exactly are you referencing?” I ask again, because despite my assumptions that I know what he’s talking about, my father’s range of nastiness is vast.
“I know you proposed to his daughter. West called me. He promised me deep, unbearable pain if this moves on to become marriage.” He chuckles. “It was amusing, to say the least. Are you really going to marry her?”
“Yes, father,” I look at Carrie, “because I love her.” Her lashes lower, tension sliding over her face with the confirmation that this call is about us. I cut my stare and focus on my father. “She’s off limits. You understand?”
“So says her father, but he won’t be a problem. I’ll handle him.”
“You will not handle him,” I bite out.
“He’s coming for me over you,” he says. “So you handle him or I will. And don’t wait too long. I don’t play sitting duck well. Tell Carrie welcome to the family. I look forward to all the good things she brings with her.” He hangs up.
My jaw clenches and I slide my phone back into my pocket. “Well?” Carrie demands, stepping back in front of me and against the window.
My hands go to her face. “I love you.” I kiss her, a deep, claim-her kind of kiss meant to distract her. I press her against the concrete pillar running up the center of the window, one of my hands sliding under her shirt.
“Reid,” she hisses, catching my hand. “Reid, wait.”
I don’t wait. I kiss her again, cupping her breast and dragging her bra down to tease her nipple. She moans but presses on my chest. “Stop. Damn it, stop. I need to know what just happened. Then feel free to fuck me until I temporarily forget, but I need to know.”
I suck in air and press my hand to the pillar on either side of her head. “Right. Fuck.” I scrub the one-day stubble on my jaw and straighten, my hands settling on my hips. “I’m going to need to go back to the States and deal with this.”
“What? You can’t leave. We have a huge project to navigate.”
“Which you are capable of handling.”
“Reid,” she compels. “What is going on?”
“My father welcomed you to the family. Your father called him and threatened him.”
“Threatened him how?”
“He said that if this continues, he’ll make my father pay in a painful way.”
“What?” Carrie drags a hand through her hair. “Who is he? Really. Who is this man I call my father? What did your father say?”
“He loves how pissed your father is, but he said that your father will come for him and that if I don’t handle him and quickly, he will.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God.” Her hands go to my chest. “I have to go back. You have to stay.”
“Baby, I’ll handle this. You can’t deal with my father, but I will.” I cup her face again. “Listen to me. I will handle this. We’ll go to the meetings tomorrow. I’ll stay a few days, in which I’ll make plans to deal with our fathers, and then head home to deal with all of this. I’ll fly back and we will go to Paris.”
“I can’t go to Paris. I’m going to worry the whole time. Are you okay with that? Can we just have Christmas in our home together?”
My heart softens with those words our home.
“Yes, baby, we can. Of course, we can, but there won’t be anything to worry about when I’m done with our fathers. I’m going to handle it.”
“How?”
“We’ll talk about it. We’ll get Gabe involved. I need to update him. Order us some food. Let me call him while you do and then we’ll talk through our plans while we eat. Yes?”
“I don’t think I can eat.”
“You need to eat, sleep and trust me. I won’t let anything happen to your father.”
“I do trust you. I think I’ve proven that.”
“You have, but you need to remember that now. I got this and I got you.”
“How?”
“By being the brutal asshole you know I can be. I know you trust my ability to be those things. “
“Right about now that makes me happy.”
I kiss her forehead, but she pulls back. “Reid, I love you with all my heart, but I’m scared for my father. Maybe we have to call off the engagement just temporarily. Just until you can do your thing.”
Those words stab me like a sharp blade. “No,” I say in instant rejection. “I told you, you’re protected.”
“But my father is not.”
“Yes. He is. I will protect your father. You have my word. I promise you, Carrie.”
“How, Reid? How can you end this when they won’t let you end it?”
“I’ve never closed a deal in my life, baby, that someone didn’t want to stop. We’ll do this. We’ll do it together. I’m not taking that ring back. I’m not even pretending to break our engagement. We need to plan our wedding, not postpone it. Our fathers don’t get that power over us.”
“You’re right, of course.”
“I am right. I love you. You love me. Fuck them for being such shitty parents. As for Christmas, I would love to spend it with you in our home because we’re starting our life. Now, order food. I’ll make phone calls. We’ll end this war and start our lives together.” And because her quickness to call off the engagement is bugging the fuck out of me, I add, “Unless you just don’t want to marry me.”
Her hands go to my face. “Of course, I want to marry you,” she vows, sincerity radiating in her voice. “So very much.”
Relief washes over me. I cup her backside and pull her snug against me. “Then fight for me, baby, like I am for you and us.”
“I am. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel that I wasn’t. I’m not running. I’m not having second thoughts about us. I just—murder takes this to a whole new place. Murder is not sabotaging someone or ruining their business. It’s murder.”
“I knew this would rattle you and with good reason, but that’s why I didn’t want to tell you. Not because I didn’t think you could handle it, but because you shouldn’t have to. I don’t want this to be your life but we’re already in the middle of this simply by being their children. Just know this, no one is going to die and we are going to live happily ever after with our dog and cat.”
She breathes out. “Yes, please. I am fighting. Fighting is all that works. I just wanted you to know that I’m willing to do whatever you need me to do to end this. Make your calls.” She kisses me. “I do think I need those French fries and most definitely the ice cream. It’s power fuel for the fight.”
“I’m all in on the power fuel.” I kiss her and release her, but not without a hell of a lot of regret. I hate so fucking much that our fathers placed this shadow over our engagement. I dial Gabe and update him. It’s a quick call that ends with us coming to the same conclusion: we need outside help. By the time I disconnect, Carrie has ordered food and I sit down on the couch with her. “Let’s make this next call together.”
“What call?”
“Gabe and I agree that we need backup, but I’m not going to rush back to New York and leave you here to worry. That was a wrong decision, a rare kneejerk decision on my part. I belong with you, so we’re going to call Royce Walker, of Walker Security, and we’re going to pay him whatever it takes for him to find a way to end this for us.”
“You think he can do that?”
“His team consists of ex-CIA agents, hackers, special ops, and every form of law enforcement you can name. This is the bottom line, Carrie. We need to hold take control and that means holding our parents as our captives. I have ideas on how to make this happen, but we need to let them play as dirty as necessary. Better that than anyone ending up dead. That means your father may feel pain, too. Are you okay with that?”
“Just keep him alive. So, yes. Yes, I am. Make the call. End this and then yes, let’s get married.”