Chapter 38
Chapter thirty-eight
Carter
“I’m going to kill him,” I snarl as I pace away from Kelsey, back in the control room.
The police showed up seconds after Bennie dropped her Trent-shaped bomb, and because there was an active restraining order in place, they took her back to the station quickly and quietly.
Eddie followed the police to the station to give the initial statement, Lila on speakerphone with him to provide any updates necessary from the KH Security team as they continue to review tapes and put everything together.
Jaxon, Kelsey, and I promised we’d give our statements tomorrow morning, since Jaxon is due on stage in less than thirty minutes.
Jaxon is backstage now with his team, all of them extra vigilant after letting Bennie slip through the literal cracks in the building.
“Take a breath, Carter,” Kelsey says, grabbing my forearm to stop my pacing.
My face is pure wrath as I look at her, but she takes it, a lone rock in the storm that is my life.
“Take. A. Breath.”
The air I force through my nostrils and down into my lungs stings, the stale taste of the small space flooding my senses.
“We don’t know it’s Trent,” Kelsey says in a low tone.
“How the fuck not?” I whisper-hiss back.
“First and foremost, because Bennie only said the name Trent one time. And she continues to talk about this plan being between her and her imaginary pal, Dee.”
“It can’t be a coincidence that she used Trent’s name!” I say, my frustration getting the best of me.
“True, but she used my name too. That doesn’t mean it was me. She might’ve researched us after the publicity last week.”
“So what do we do?” I ask.
“We ask him about it,” she responds calmly, like it’s the most obvious answer in the world. “Text him. Tell him we need his help with a situation in the security room. He loves to feel important, so I’m sure he’ll be here in no time.”
I tap a few buttons on my phone, sending the message to my asshole of a half brother.
Me
We have a situation. Need you in the security room.
Trent
I pay you to handle that shit. Why do you need me?
Me
Big potential client had her team drop by to check us out. Need you to win them over.
“Nice,” Kelsey says, reading over my shoulder before moving her eyes back to the screen to monitor the show.
Five minutes later, Trent swaggers into the office. I see Kelsey send a quick message to her team, telling them she’s out for the next five minutes.
“Where are they?” Trent asks, searching the small space like he might have missed them.
“Bad news, Trent,” Kelsey says, making a little click with her tongue. “Your accomplice gave you up.”
“Excuse me?” he asks.
“You know, your girl Bennie?”
His eyes widen at the name, and I know Kelsey caught the movement too with the way her smile turns feline.
My body isn’t so sure a smile is in order. It feels like my world just dropped out from beneath me. It goes rigid, my hands balling into fists of their own accord.
Fuck. The guy I tied my wagon to just drove us into a wall and then lit our supplies on fire.
My phone dings with an incoming text message, and, when I see it’s from Julian, I open it quickly.
The fraying piece of hope I was holding on to that Trent might actually be telling the truth snaps.
“Really?” I ask my half brother, the coldness in my tone startling everyone. “Because I just got a text from a friend of mine who says there is a money trail from you to Bennie. It looks like you wired a thousand dollars to one Bennie Jensen at the beginning of this month…”
I trail off, my eyes scanning the second message that just came through, the pieces of the puzzle coming together quickly.
“The same woman who, as it turns out, was weeks away from completing a degree in computer engineering at MIT before she dropped out and was barely ever heard from again.”
“I did the job you two couldn’t do. I found her. And she was living on the streets. I felt bad for her, so I gave her some money, that’s it,” Trent says, his face a mask of annoyance.
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. You’re not the kind of guy who would spend time searching the camps and shelters in San Francisco yourself when it’s not something we’re being paid for.
And even if you were, you expect us to believe it’s a coincidence you paid her and a week later Kelsey’s systems were hacked in Australia? ”
“Coincidence,” Trent replies.
I was mad before, but now I’m livid. He’s lying, and we both know it, but instead of confessing, he’s doubling down.
“Are you sure about that? Because guess what? My friend found something else interesting in your financials…you’re drowning in debt.”
At that final statement, Trent’s bravado breaks. He drops into a chair, cradling his head in his hands. He looks so much smaller than he actually is.
“I couldn’t lose this contract. The company would go under. I can’t mortgage anything else, and I can’t tell Julie no—she thinks I fucking walk on water because I buy her anything she wants. It’s the only reason she’s even with me.”
“Are you kidding me, Trent?” Kelsey asks, voicing my thoughts. “You took advantage of a woman who clearly needs help and put Jaxon’s life in real danger because you can’t have a real conversation with your wife about money? You know how ridiculous that is, right?”
Trent shakes his head adamantly. “What do you mean? His life was never in danger.”
“You helped his stalker get into his dressing room!” Kelsey rises to her feet, pacing a few steps as she talks. “How is that not dangerous?”
His eyes go wide. “I didn’t. I swear I didn’t. Is Jaxon okay? She was just supposed to mess with your equipment. Make you look bad. Make it seem like your team didn’t know what they were doing.”
“And that’s not putting his life in danger? He needs us for a reason. Bennie isn’t his only stalker. The man has fanatics around him at all times. All times,” I say, choosing to make Trent wait to find out if Jaxon was hurt or not.
“Did she hurt him?” Trent asks again.
Kelsey sighs. “He’s sporting a new haircut—which honestly looked surprisingly good—and will likely have nightmares for the rest of his life after his stalker crawled through the vents to get a few pieces of hair for her fucking love-potion, but yeah, mostly fine.
At least he talked her out of needing pubes. ”
Trent’s eyes widen. “The vents? She went off script.”
“No way,” I say, unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice. “The woman with significant mental health issues and an imaginary friend didn’t follow your plan? How strange.”
“She was just supposed to take down a couple of cameras. Just continue what I did with the earpieces…I mean, what happened with the earpieces. Damn it. It was just supposed to be little things like the earpieces.”
“Someone almost broke into his dressing room when the earpieces were down!” Kelsey says, venom dripping from her voice.
Trent looks at the ceiling. “Yeah, I may have underestimated that woman. She was very intoxicated, and I may have casually given her a badge and told her when it would be a good time to try to get backstage, but I swore her to secrecy. She seemed harmless. Who knew she came so well prepared?”
Kelsey’s face is a mask of disbelief at his statement, but she quickly focuses her attention.
“And then, after that was so successful, you decided to find Bennie and pay her to upskill your sabotage?” Kelsey asks. “How did you even know she could hack like that? It’s not in any of the information we had on her.”
“I didn’t know. I was in San Francisco for a meeting, trying to get a loan, and when I saw a shelter, it hit me—I could use Bennie to make sure I won the contract.
She was the reason the last team lost their contract with him.
It seemed like an easy solution. But I was just going to fly her out here, put her in a wig, and help sneak her backstage after the show.
Then just blame Kelsey’s team loudly as one last failure to make sure Jaxon left the tour with a clear understanding that we are the team he needed.
Then once we landed Jaxon, we’d get the contracts for the Holton tour and with the comedian.
I’d have enough money to at least keep up with all my payments.
” Trent massages his eyes with his hands.
“When I talked to her, she offered her hacking abilities up without me even asking. I suggested she do a couple of trial runs, telling her she needed to test your systems to make sure Jaxon was safe.”
“So how did she end up giving Jaxon a haircut in his dressing room today?”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t responded to my messages in a few days. I figured she just disappeared.”
“How are you such an idiot?” Kelsey asks, her hands on her hips as she stares at Trent with a look of disgust on her face.
“I don’t fucking know,” he admits, his posture one of defeat.
“It just…spiraled. It’s not like I masterminded some evil plan.
Things just kept…happening. I was in the supply closet and accidentally spilled my drink next to the box with the earpieces.
And I just thought…but what if I spilled on them?
And then Kelsey’s team looked bad, so I thought, why not do it again? ”
The room is silent as Kelsey and I absorb his confession.
“What are you going to do?” Trent asks. “If you tell Jaxon, Mitchell Security will be ruined. I’ll be ruined.” He looks at Kelsey. “Carter will be ruined too.”
Kelsey’s eyes meet mine, and I can see the war taking place inside her.
Luckily, I don’t have the same issue. I know exactly what I need to do.
Taking out my phone, my fingers fly furiously over the screen as I do what needs to be done.
“What are you doing?” Trent asks, his tone curious.
I hold up a finger, asking for a second, and smirk as Kelsey raises her eyebrow.
“Almost done,” I say, typing out the last few words.
“What are you doing?” Trent asks again. This time, his tone has changed from curiosity to confusion.
“Check your email.”
Both Kelsey and Trent pull out their phones, and Kelsey audibly sucks in a breath as she reads.
“Are you fucking kidding, Carter?” Trent growls. “You just destroyed our business!”
“I didn’t destroy it. Didn’t you read the email you sent out to our employees and current contracts—the one from your email? You destroyed the business. You put our client at risk. You put our entire team at risk. You did this. Not me.”
“That’s a risky move,” Kelsey says, her voice softer than normal.
It pulls me up short. Shit. It was risky. And impulsive. And I’m never impulsive. I’m just so frustrated and angry at Trent for putting Jaxon and our team in danger. For putting Kelsey in a spot where she had to choose between what was right and what would protect me, damn it.
I didn’t think about it. I just did what needed to be done to ensure she was going to be okay. To make sure she didn’t have to sacrifice her principles, her morals, to protect me.
“It’s done,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Trent says, his voice cracking. “What am I going to do? What am I supposed to do now, Carter?”
“I’d suggest getting a job. Probably having a conversation with your wife about her getting a job as well.”
I feel no joy at the statement, just bone-weary defeat.
Trent is an asshole, but I never wanted to screw him over.
He gave me a job when I needed one. We got along…
fine. But then he put so many people at risk just to protect himself.
Even if I hadn’t felt compelled to expose his mistakes to save Kelsey from choosing between her morals and protecting me, Mitchell Security—and especially my time there—would have been through.
Now I just have to figure out what’s next.