Carter Reed

cabin-like home. It was huge. When I climbed out of the car, I glanced over and saw two large wrought iron gates closing behind us. It locked and a bolt of electricity sounded. No one was getting in.
    “Where are we?”
    Noah answered Theresa’s question, “We’re somewhere safe. Don’t worry. We’re only here for the night.” He frowned at Carter. “Right?”
    There was no answer. Carter took my hand and led the way. When we stepped inside a spacious foyer, he pulled me into a back room and closed the door. “I need you to do me a favor.”
    “Why are we here? Why aren’t we home?”
    He stepped close and dropped his voice, “That’s part of the favor I need from you. I don’t trust your friend. I can’t let her go on her own and I couldn’t bring them to our home, so this was the next best choice. Everyone’s on lockdown for the next twenty-four hours. There’s no cell phone or internet connection here. I have one television, but that’s it.” He turned my shoulders so that I faced him squarely. “Emma, I need you to watch your friend for me.”
    “Theresa?” Alarm rose in me. “Why?”
    “I killed a man. She was already in the car, but she could’ve seen. I need to know what she saw and what she’s thinking about it.”
    “You mean if she’ll report you?” No, she wouldn’t. I frowned. She couldn’t, this was Carter. My Carter. “She knows you’re friends with Noah and she knows about us.”
    “You said yourself that she’s never approved of my connections and she doesn’t like my friendship with Noah.” He frowned a little and touched my hip to pull me closer. His head dropped to my neck, his favorite spot. His lips brushed against my skin as he murmured, “I killed a man in front of her. I know she considered him a friend. I’d kill him again.”
    Shivers coursed through me, but they weren’t the bad kind. They should’ve been, but they weren’t. I held my breath, closing my eyes as his hand explored under my shirt. It traveled up, nearing my breasts. It stopped underneath my breasts. His fingers slid under my bra and rested there. My chest rose as I wanted him to continue touching me.
    He grinned against my neck and moved back to meet my gaze. His eyes were lidded, heavy with desire. “I would do it again in a heartbeat. He was sent to kill you, Emma.”
    The image of him holding his gun flashed in my mind. A heavy feeling rested over my chest. “Why? He worked for you, didn’t he?”
    He hesitated, removing his hand and stepped back.
    I was cold without his touch. “Carter.”
    He grimaced. “I forgot he was friends with Noah and Theresa. I had hoped to keep him away from you.” He paused for a beat. “He was selling information to Franco.”
    “What? Why would you—how long have you known that?”
    “It’s why he was working for me. We were watching him and Octave was the best place for him to work. All of my businesses are legit, but he didn’t know that.”
    “Wait. You stuck him at Octave so that he could give information to Franco?”
    He chuckled, shaking his head. “No, we stuck him there because there was no information to give. Anywhere else and he would’ve been suspicious, but Octave doesn’t strike people as being vanilla. That’s what it is, though.” His grin fell flat. “He’s the one who told Franco where you were. He’s why we were attacked the first time.”
    “But…” That meant that they had been looking for me…not Jeremy’s body anymore…
    “Yeah,” he sighed. “They knew, Emma. They knew it was you.”
    Ben gave me enough money.
    Ice ran through my veins. My mouth fell open as my breathing slowed.
    He looked happy last week. He thought he was hot stuff.
    I stopped breathing. It couldn’t be, but it had to be. No way. I felt gutted. Someone had taken a knife and slid it across my throat before they reared back for one deep thrust. A sick sensation started to fill me and I began to tremble.
    “Emma?”
    I shook my head. It couldn’t be, but he said it himself.
    “Emma!” His hand grasped the back of my head. He forced me to look at him. “What’s going on?”
    “You,” I gasped out. I couldn’t talk.
    “Me?”
    “You said—it was Ben. Ben told them.” Ben gave me enough money. Oh god. I closed my eyes. A raging headache had started. It was going to split me open. Mallory and Ben are gone. Panic overwhelmed me and I couldn’t breathe. I opened my mouth to draw in oxygen, but none came. My lungs had