Claiming Carter (25 page)

“That’s what I should do,” Tim continued. “I should just kill you. If you keep seeing Kelvin Carter, you’re as good as dead, anyway. My life will never be the same again, thanks to you. So why not just end it all right now? I could kill you, and then blame it on your little boyfriend. How would you like that?”

“Tim, please don’t do this. You don’t have to do this. You can just move on with your life.”

“I don’t want to move on! I want
you
, and if I can’t have you, then nobody can.”

Tim walked over to the table next to my bed and reached into a jacket that I hadn’t noticed was there. When he turned around to face me, I saw that he had a large, jagged knife in his hand—probably the same one he used to slash my tires.

“Oh my god, please, Tim. Please don’t do this,” I begged as Tim began slowly walking towards me. “Please, please don’t do this.”

“You haven’t given me much choice, Lily. I’m a fucking wreck. I’ve been through hell because of you. It’s only fair that you go to hell because of me.”

Tim turned the knife around in his hand, preparing to stab me with it. “You made me do this,” he muttered, just as the door behind him swung open.

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Tim’s face held a very jealous, loathing expression. Kelvin was the complete opposite as he stood in the doorway wearing black basketball shorts, a plain white t-shirt, and all white tennis shoes. As he stared at Tim, he looked calm and collected, like he was calculating something in his head that he didn’t want anyone else to know. He looked prepared and courageous, and as he glared at Tim, there was one thing that I could tell for sure just from looking at him—there wasn’t an ounce of fear in his body.

“Well, look who decided to show up,” Tim said, his voice filled with obvious hate. “We were just talking about you, lover boy, and here you are. You have perfect timing.”

Kelvin didn’t say a word. He just stared at the man in front of him.

“Look at you, standing there with that smug expression on your face like you don’t have a care in the world. Like you’re better than everybody else. I bet you feel real special, don’t you? Do you have your special, fancy car parked outside? How much did that cost you? Did you buy that with some of your blood money? Break some guy’s legs and force him to pay you so you could go buy your little fancy car, and use it to seduce and trap a third grade teacher? Is that about right? Sound familiar?”

Kelvin still didn’t say anything. Instead, he glanced down at me, but only for a second. We made eye contact very briefly, but in that moment I knew that he was checking to see if I was okay—and to see if I was listening to what Tim was saying.

“Don’t you look at her!” Tim snapped, grabbing Kelvin’s attention once again. “Keep your eyes on me. She’s not yours to look at. I won’t let you pull her into your life of crime and drugs. You’re going to have to go through me first.”

Tim took a quick step towards Kelvin, but Kelvin didn’t move. When he realized that he couldn’t get Kelvin to flinch, Tim took a step backwards, to his original place.”

“Stop this, Tim,” I said in a fearful tone. “Please just put the knife down.”

Tim turned to me and stared directly into my eyes. “You better shut your mouth.”

“You talk to her like that again and I’m going to beat the shit out of you, and stab you with your own knife,” Kelvin said calmly. It was the most melodramatic statement I think I’d ever heard.

I felt a sudden rush of panic, mixed with a hint of excitement. The last thing that I wanted was for Tim to flip out and do something crazy, but I felt totally comfortable that Kelvin would protect me if he did. He was so composed and confident that I felt like he had control of the situation, even if Tim was the one holding the knife.

Tim turned around and directed his attention back to Kelvin. “Oh, is that right? You’re going to do something to me, mobster? Don’t you stand there and pretend like you really give a fuck about Lily. You people only care about yourselves. You are the scum of the earth.”

“Scum of the earth?” Kelvin replied. “I think you might want to look in the mirror. You broke into your
ex
-girlfriend’s house, assaulted her, tied her to a chair in her bedroom, and held her hostage at knifepoint. You are the very definition of scum of the earth.”

“Well, you would know, wouldn’t you? I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of scum in your line of work. Have you told Lily about your occupation? Have you told her that you’re a mob boss? Or were you too busy trying to get in her pants by showing off your car?”

Kelvin flashed a condescending smile. “You don’t have a clue what the fuck you’re talking about. You think I’m a mob boss?”

“Don’t patronize me! We both know who you are, Kelvin Carter. My friend in Chicago PD told me all about you. You’re a gangster who’s involved in all kinds of illegal activity, from extortion, to money laundering, and everything in between. You’re under suspicion for a number of murders and missing people, but, because you’ve bought some pretty high players in the Chicago PD, you don’t get any heat about it. Yeah, I know all about you. Sound about right?” Tim had a very smug look on his face.

“Sound’s completely wrong, actually. You should tell your guy in Chicago PD to do better research. That’s if I decide to let you leave here tonight with all of your teeth.”

“You think I’m afraid of you?” Tim barked. “I am not scared of you! You should be afraid of me, because I’m the one who has nothing to lose. You already stole Lily from me, and now that I don’t have her, I really don’t give a shit about anything else.”

“Please, just put the knife down, Tim” I said quietly.

Before I could get the last word out of my mouth, Tim had already turned around to face me. “I told you to shut up!”

All of a sudden, I watched as Kelvin took two giant steps towards Tim. Just as he was turning back around to face him, Kelvin reached back, clinched his fist, and hit Tim with the most devastating right hook I’d ever seen. Tim’s body flew backwards and he landed on his back behind me, dropping his knife. I thought for sure that Kelvin would rush to pick up the fallen weapon, but he didn’t. He just stood there, staring at Tim as he lay on the floor behind me.

“You son of a bitch!” Tim yelled as blood dripped from the deep cut inside of his mouth. Kelvin didn’t even respond.

Tim struggled to pick himself up off of the floor, but when he finally did, he made sure to grab his knife, and I wondered why Kelvin hadn’t tried to pick it up first. Just then, Tim ran at Kelvin and swung wildly at his face with the knife. Kelvin ducked, and countered with an uppercut to Tim’s stomach, and then followed it with another punch to Tim’s jaw. When his fist made contact, I heard a thunderous cracking sound that seemed to echo throughout the room.

Tim fell to one knee and grabbed at his face with his hand. “Goddammit! My jaw. I think you broke my fucking jaw!” Tim mumbled.

I looked up at Kelvin and the expression on his face told me that he’d had enough of listening to Tim talk. He reached back once again and seemed to swing with every muscle fiber that he had in his body, landing another punch square on the side of Tim’s chin. Tim fell backwards and his head bounced off of the floor. I had to look over my shoulder to see him, but I could tell his eyes were closed, and he was lying on the floor unconscious.

I looked up at Kelvin, who was standing in front of me, staring down at his unconscious opponent. When he looked over at me, his expression softened.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Are
you
okay?”

“As long as you are,” Kelvin replied. Then he reached down and picked up the knife that he’d knocked out of Tim’s hand for the second time, and used it to cut the rope from around my ankles and wrists.

When I stood up, Kelvin pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him with everything I could. I didn’t know how he did it, and I didn’t even care. All I knew was that Kelvin Carter Jr. had just saved my life. He’d protected me from a man wielding a knife who intended to use it on me because I didn’t want to be with him anymore. How could I ever repay him for something like that? I felt like I was forever in his debt, and my desire to be with him seemed to multiply tenfold.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Kelvin said as we embraced and he rubbed the back of my neck with his strong hands.

“I could never thank you enough for what you did tonight. I could never repay you for saving my life. Thank you so much for being here and saving me,” I said as a tear built up in my eye and trickled down my face. “How did you know he would be here?”

“I didn’t. I just had a feeling that something might go down tonight, and I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about it. I actually drove by the house once earlier just to kind of put myself at ease, but when I got back home, that feeling came back so I decided to come by again. That’s when I saw the Mercedes parked outside. I’m just sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”

“What? No way. I’m just grateful that you came back. He would have killed me, Kelvin. I could see it in his eyes. He was going to do it.”

“Well, he won’t be able to ever hurt you again.”

“What do we do with him?”

Kelvin seemed perplexed by the question and took a moment to think. He let out a loud sigh before he answered. “We have to call the police. Go ahead and call them. I will stay here and make sure he doesn’t wake up.

I didn’t feel comfortable staying in the room with Tim, so I ran into the kitchen and dialed 911. I gave the police all of the information they needed and told them to hurry, because I thought the intruder might wake up soon. The operator assured me that the officers would be at my house any minute now.

When I walked back into the room, Kelvin was sitting on the edge of the bed. He’d thrown the knife on the floor, next to the chair I had just been tied to. He looked up at me when I walked in and flashed a warm smile, accompanied by a small giggle.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“We got him. I’m just really glad that we got him. Don’t have to worry about who it is anymore. He’s the one responsible for everything, and it just puts me at ease knowing that we got the guy. It’s good. It’s really good.”

I walked over and sat next to Kelvin on the bed. “
You
got him. If it wasn’t for you, I probably wouldn’t even be alive right now. You saved my life tonight, Kelvin. Do you realize that? You saved my life.”

I placed my hand on top of Kelvin’s and leaned in to kiss him. My emotions peaked when our lips met and I could no longer hold back my tears. The night had been a total nightmare, but it ended with a rainbow at the end of the storm, thanks to my knight in shining armor.

He reached up and rubbed my cheek, wiping away my tears. Suddenly, I heard a shuffling sound coming from the other side of the bed. Kelvin seemed to hear it too, and he pushed me off of the bed just as the knife went into his shoulder.

I heard Kelvin scream, and I looked up to see Tim standing behind him holding the knife and trying to stab Kelvin a second time. He swung again, and Kelvin dodged, but the tip of the blade still grazed Kelvin’s upper arm. I immediately noticed the blood seeping through his white shirt.

Kelvin was now on his feet, moving from side to side as Tim feinted at him with the knife. I didn’t know what to do. Was I supposed to jump in and try to help Kelvin? The last thing I wanted to do was be a distraction, but Kelvin looked like he could use my help, so I took a step forward.

“Stay back, Lilliana!” Kelvin yelled, the moment he noticed me moving.

Then, Kelvin faked like he was going to rush Tim by taking a quick step forward. Tim fell for it and swung wildly with the knife, hitting nothing but air. Kelvin took full advantage of Tim’s wild move and lunged forward, grabbing him by the wrist and pushing him back, slamming him up against the wall next to my window. They wrestled around, pushing each other back and forth, each of them trying to gain control of the knife. Then, Kelvin grabbed Tim by his shirt and lifted him off of the ground. I watched in amazement as Kelvin turned to his side and thrust Tim over his leg, causing Tim’s legs to go flying in the air as his head slammed violently against the floor. Kelvin reached up and punched Tim in the face three times, and blood splattered across the wall next to them.

Kelvin grabbed the knife that was now lying on the floor, and held it up against Tim’s neck. I held my breath as I saw blood beginning to lightly trickle down the blade of the knife as Kelvin applied pressure.

“You stupid motherfucker!” Kelvin bellowed. “You stabbed me in my fucking shoulder! I should kill you right now. For everything you have done. For everything you have put Lilliana through. I should kill you right here.”

“Do it, murderer,” Tim said as blood spilled out of his nose and mouth. “It’s what you do, isn’t it? Go ahead, kill me. Slit my throat. Do it! Kill me so she can see the animal you really are.”

Kelvin’s fingers tightened around the handle of the knife, and my heart sped up as the amount of blood coming from Tim’s neck transformed into a steady pool as Kelvin began to apply pressure.