Carter Reed

Brianna wouldn’t have been there.” His jaw clenched as he said it. “She got a job at Octave? What the hell was she thinking? That place is dangerous.”
    Theresa frowned. “She’s probably thinking it’s the coolest job in the world. You go there all the time.”
    “I do not.”
    “You take me there all the time.”
    “Oh, yeah.” But as his jaw continued to clench and unclench, his anger was obvious. “How the hell did she get a job there?”
    “What do you mean? The owner probably lured her there. He’s sucking up to be your friend, Noah. He always does this.”
    Her voice rose a notch and his head slunk down. I got the distinct impression this was a fight they had often. My boss shot me a guarded look. There was also an apology there as Theresa started to talk more. “Why you’re friends with someone like him is beyond my comprehension. He’s bad news, Noah. He’s nothing but a—”
    “—Theresa,” he interrupted and shot me a pointed look.
    “Oh.” She flushed and turned to me. “I’m sorry, Emma. I don’t like one of Noah’s friends, but that’s not something you need to worry about. I’m really sorry. I forgot you were here.” Then she blinded me with her white teeth. “Want to go dancing tonight? Noah knows the owner of Octave. I might not like the guy, but his club is hot to go to.”
    Oh dear. I wasn’t sure how to react.
    She misunderstood. “Oh, you don’t have to worry. Trust me. I know the place can be dangerous, but whenever I go with Noah, we always get the VIP treatment. We get our own entrance and a private box. It’s completely safe. For us.”
    When I didn’t say anything, she grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
    She gushed, “I promise you’ll have fun. And it’s not like we’ll even see the guy. He’s barely ever at the club. He’s so important and powerful that he doesn’t have time for his friend.” As she said the last statement, her voice grew thick with sarcasm.
    Noah rolled his eyes. “Can you stop griping? You’ve never met the guy.”
    She shot him a dark look. “I don’t need to have met him. He’s bad news, Noah. I don’t know why you refuse to see that about him. He’s only using you for The Richmond. You’re the one who told me he wanted to buy some shares last year.”
    He shook his head and grumbled, “I didn’t say he wanted to buy shares. I said I offered him more shares.”
    She straightened to her fullest height and squared her shoulders back. “You’re crazy for being friends with him.”
    “Drop it, Theresa. You don’t know the guy. You don’t know my friendship with him. And,” he sent another pointed look in my direction, “you really want to hash this out in front of your newfound friend?”
    That did it. The tension left her in the next second and she squeezed my hand again. “I’m sorry, Emma. I get so angry sometimes.”
    I tried to give her a reassuring smile back. “Oh, that’s okay. We all have our…secrets, I guess.”
    “Well, it’s not really a secret, but it’s not an argument that needs to happen tonight. I invited you over because I thought it would be fun. This’ll be fun too. You’ll come to Octave with us?” She gave me a puppy-dog look.
    Well. This was going to be interesting.
    I nodded, but as Theresa cheered and Noah frowned, I wasn’t sure how this night was going to unfold. When we headed downstairs and piled into Noah’s car, I saw my car parked behind us. Oh, great. I hadn’t considered what to tell Mike and the other guards, but when Noah pulled into traffic and my car started to follow, I realized that they already knew what I was doing. I only hoped Carter wouldn’t get mad about the change in plans.

    “Sir.”
    Carter glanced towards the door and saw one of his men. He stood from the table and left his business associates behind. When they stepped into the hallway, his man waited until the door was closed before he told him, “The boyfriend met with a Bertal.”
    “They found him?”
    “No, sir. He went to them.”
    Carter’s eyes whipped up. “Are you sure?”
    He clipped his head in a nod. “Yes, sir. We held back, but when he returned to the apartment he had a briefcase with him.”
    “What was in it?”
    “Money, sir.”
    Carter’s eyes closed in a grimace. He knew what that meant. “Are you certain?”
    “He opened it in the car. Vance got a picture of it. It looked like a lot of money too.”
    “Okay,” he sighed. “Double the guards on her. Make sure