Dangerous Beauty: Part One: Destiny (27 page)

The elevator door opened and Carter tried to dart passed them both only to have her efforts stopped when Nathan caught her arm.

“Dammit, Carter. Stop running, just stand still,” he yelled glaring at her.

“Why, Nathan? I already said I was sorry,” she yelled at him.

“I don’t want a damn apology, Carter. I want you to stand still,” he said still glaring at her. “Kyle, tell my father we will be in shortly,” Nathan ordered. Kyle nodded, and with a parting glare to Carter, he walked off of the elevator.

Carter crossed her arms over her chest and stood still. Unwillingly. Nathan uncrossed her arms, and buttoned up her shirt.

“Now that I have your attention, you need to make sure you keep that damn temper of yours in check when you see Reeves.”

“I know, Nathan. I’m not a damn child.”

Nathan muttered something under his breath and Carter wanted to slap him in his damn face, but she didn’t want to prove him right about her temper. So she stood tall with her head held high.

“I’m ready when you are, asshole,” she said with a fake smile.

Nathan rolled his eyes and held out his hand for her to take it. Carter wanted to hit it away from her, but she once again refused to prove him right about her temper. So instead she took his hand and let him lead her through the office.

The longer they walked the more Carter thought about what she did. She would freak out too, if Nathan were ever in any danger. Guilt began to creep its way in.

Nathan was still mad at her. She could feel it, and she hated it. She started wracking through her mind trying to figure out what she could do to make him like her again.

Carter held on to Nathan’s arm tightly. “Nathan, I don’t want to go to the meeting if you’re still mad at me,” she pouted. A small pout, because it was true she was a spoiled brat that hated it when the man she loved was mad at her, so what.

“I’m not mad, Carter.”

“Yes, you are. Stop walking and talk to me.”

“We need to get to the meeting.”

“Not like this, Nathan. I’m sorry, I really am. Now please just talk to me. Tell me how you feel.”

Nathan stopped walking, leaned against the wall in the hallway, and groaned. He looked down at Carter. He could see in her eyes that her apology was actually real this time.

“I hurt you. I made you panic and I’m sorry. I’ll do better, I promise, just please don’t be upset with me anymore. I can’t take it, Nathan, you know I can’t.”

“I can’t take it when you put your life in danger like you did today, Carter. You’re so damn unpredictable you make it impossible for me to protect you.”

“I know, I know. I want to be better for you, Nathan.”

“Baby, I thought you were dead. Do you have any idea how terrified I was? I’m not mad at you I’m… shit I don’t even know what I am. You make me want to lock you up far away from all of this shit, Carter! I’m this fucking close to doing it. I’ll lose my damn mind if I have to go through what I went through today all the time. The thought of losing you is just too unbearable, baby. I can’t take that shit,” Nathan said. His tone both tired and defeated.

Carter worried her bottom lip, and looked down at her hands nervously. She was sorry, she really was. She never wanted to make him feel like this, and it hurt like hell knowing that she did. Carter didn’t want to cause Nathan stress, ever. She could see in his eyes how tired he was and she hoped it wasn’t her that he was tired of. Carter cupped his face.

“Let’s make a deal. Once we get married, I’ll cut down on my work with Mickey. But I get to keep doing the business work with your father because I love that.” She kissed his lips softly. “That way, I can have something to do, that I enjoy, and I can lighten your work load.” She waited for his response.

“Why not just stop working with Mickey all together?”

“Because I have issues, Nathan, and I love that grown men are afraid of me,” she said with a shrug. “Hey, I’ll even go to an anger management class,” she lied with a smile. No she wouldn’t.

Nathan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Well, you do have issues, that part’s true,” he said with a frown.

Carter nodded in agreement. It was true.

“And I know that anger management class idea was complete bullshit,” he said pursing his lips. Carter clenched her jaw to keep from laughing.

“So do we have a deal?” She bit her lip waiting for his answer.

Nathan smiled and nodded. “Yes,” he said with a sigh of relief. “We have a deal.”

Carter held out her hand. “Shake on it?” she asked with a playful smile.

Nathan smirked. He grabbed her hand a pulled her hard against his chest. Carter let out a surprised squeal right before Nathan captured her lips in a deep passionate kiss. Carter’s arms automatically wrapped around Nathan’s neck as he lifted her from the floor and their kiss became more fervent.

“How did I know I would find you two like this?”

Carter and Nathan reluctantly broke their kiss and looked over to Angelo standing with his arms crossed over his chest, and his lips pursed. “Can I get you two to keep your hands to yourselves, and get your asses in here?”

They both knew he wasn’t asking, so why the hell did he word it that way.

Carter giggled and ran over to hug Angelo. “I have a surprise for you,” she said with a big smile on her face.

Angelo looked down at her and grasped her chin. He examined both sides of her face. “Not a scratch,” he said with a proud smile. “And the other guys?” he asked.

Carter smiled wide. “Two dead, and one unconscious,” she said proudly. She loved making Angelo proud of her. They had developed a father, daughter relationship these past few months that she cherished dearly.

Angelo laughed. “That’s my girl,” he kissed her forehead.

“Stop enabling her, papa,” Nathan said looking at his father and Carter with a small smile. He had no idea how much his father wanted a daughter until he introduced Carter into his life. Carter could do absolutely anything and still be a perfect angel in Angelo’s eyes.

“Don’t listen to your grumpy old boyfriend. You’re my dream daughter,” he said smiling at Carter. Carter laughed and turned to Nathan sticking out her tongue playfully. “Now tell me, child, what’s this surprise you have for me?”

Carter brought her left hand up and wiggled her fingers. “I’m getting married,” she said in a sing song voice while bouncing up and down.

Angelo’s eyes lit up and he lifted Carter high in the air, laughing joyously. Carter giggled and laughed as Angelo twirled her around in his arms, voicing his excitement in Italian. He placed her feet back on the ground and walked over to his son with his arms wide. “
Complimenti il mio bel bambino
,” he grabbed Nathan’s face with both hands and kissed both of his cheeks.

“Papa,” Nathan said trying to get out of his father’s grasp.

Carter laughed and tried not to cry. She’d been too damn emotional lately. She figured it was because of all the beautiful changes in her life.

“Don’t ‘papa’ me. This is wonderful news. Come over here, Carterina.” Carter went over to him. “You will be a good husband to her, son,” Angelo said patting Nathan’s cheeks lightly then he looked at Carter. “And you will have many sons to carry on the Salerno name.” He began walking forward with one arm over Nathan’s shoulders and the other over Carter’s. “You two have no idea how much happiness you have given me today.”

“So that means you’ll walk me down the aisle?” Carter asked softly and Angelo stopped walking.

He turned to Carter with and unreadable expression, and Carter began to ramble nervously. “I just…I wanted to ask you be-because I wanted someone that I love to walk me down the aisle and you’re like…a…father to me,” she said softly feeling tears glisten her eyes. “You can say no I just…”

Angelo cupped her face lovingly, and his eyes glistening with tears of joy. “
Onore a Voi me bella ragazza.
You honor me, and bring me so much joy.” He kissed both of her cheeks. “Of course I will walk you down the aisle.”

Screw holding back. Carter let the tears fall freely from her eyes and hugged Angelo tight.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you so much.”

***

“Can you tell her to stop looking at me like that?” Andrew Reeves asked Angelo.

Angelo looked at Carter and chuckled. “My future daughter in-law has to look at you Mr. Reeves, it’s one of her many jobs here at S.O.”

“What job is that exactly?” Reeves asked trying to look away from Carter, who was staring daggers at him.

“She can spot a lie from fifty miles away. Think of her as a human lie detector. So I would be careful if I were you. If you came in here to lie to us today you will not be leaving this office alive. Now tell us what you want,” Angelo said coolly.

“Can you at least ask her not to look so damn deadly,” Reeves said in a pleading tone. “I’m serious, Angelo. I’ve been scarred by her kind,” he said.

“What the fucks that supposed to mean, you little bitch,” Carter spat.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I’m half black, Carter. I’m not a damn racist.”

“Then you might want to explain what you meant Reeves. If she wants to kick your ass I’m sure not going to stop her, and I’m sure no one else will either,” Nathan said with a smirk.

“I was talking about her damn identical mother,” Reeves said quickly. “She told me that I better come and tell you all what Mitch was planning, or she would burn my family’s restaurant down with them inside it.”

“Bullshit,” Angelo said. “You’re trying to tell me you spoke to Anastacia?”

Reeves looked directly at Carter, “Tell him I’m not fucking lying. Here’s the story. Mitchell called me the same day your crazy little ass came to town saying that he wanted to help me retaliate against baby Salerno. I told him I wasn’t doing shit because I didn’t think it was worth it. I’m not a dumbass, I knew I wouldn’t win, but Mitchell told me that y’all were already planning to kill me. So I met with him. He told me that we had to do something quick because somebody was after him. Some chick named Anastacia Stone almost killed him in his office or some shit.”

“Wait… He said Ana was in
this
office?” Angelo asked shocked.

“Yes,” Reeves said never moving his eyes from Carter’s. “Anyway, I was never gonna help the crazy ass motherfucker because he was trippin’. Looking around every corner like some crazy lunatic to see if this chick was there. I’m serious, just the thought of this broad drove him crazy. He was telling me that she was going to kill him because he ordered a hit on her daughter and Spook, and she was after him because he made her think her baby died. I didn’t believe him. I thought he was seeing shit, but then she came to see me. She told me that I worked for her, and I had to watch Mitchell’s every move and tell her what he was planning. I told her to go to hell, and then she threatened me with a big ass knife, so I did what she said. When I first saw her I thought she was you, but she’s older and taller. Her hair is long but not as long as yours. She’s fine as hell too, but she didn’t trip when I told her that like you did.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Reeves. You know damn well what happened that day.”

“What happened that day is you can’t take a damn compliment.”

“I was sixteen years old, you piece of shit! You told me you could make a lot of money selling me.”

Reeves smirked “Look at you. I could. Millions,” he said with a shrug.

Carter hit the table hard with her fist and stood to her feet. Reeves flinched. “He’s telling the truth,” she said never taking her glare from him. “My mothers in New York and Mitchell killed my father.” She pointed a finger at Reeves. “You better thank the fucking heavens that I’m trying to better myself because if I wasn’t… it would take God and an army of angels to keep me from shoving my fist down your throat.” Her tone was cold matching her deadly stare. Reeves shifted in his seat, but remained silent. Carter pushed her chair back and stormed out the door. “Nathan,” she called as she exited the conference room.

Nathan stood from his seat. “If you all would excuse me, my fiancé needs to speak with me.” He looked at Reeves with cold gray eyes. “Do you happen to know where Mitchell is, Andrew?”

Andrew cleared his throat nervously. “If he’s still alive… I don’t know somewhere planning how to kill y’all with those two hit men. Anastacia and I lost his fat ass a week ago. She’s looking for him though. That’s why I’m here and not her. Plus she doesn’t think her daughter is ready to meet her yet.”

Nathan took a deep breath, frowned and nodded his head. He turned and walked out of the conference room to go and find Carter. He found Carter around the corner leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked, concerned.

Carter looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “No,” she whispered. “She’s here Nathan. She’s in New York. What if she approaches me? What do I say? What the hell do I do?” she said frantically shaking her head. “I can’t do this.”

Nathan pulled her shaking body to him. “Shh. Don’t worry baby,” he said tenderly. “We’ll figure this out, I promise. She’s obviously here to protect you.”

“Why would she protect
me
? She abandoned me, Nathan. I convinced myself a long time ago that the woman didn’t even love me” she said with a hint of devastation and something Nathan couldn’t discern in her tone.

Nathan frowned, knowing that there was a war of emotions going on in Carter’s head right now, and there was nothing he could do about it. He could only be there for her. He kissed her forehead softly. “I know this is hard, baby. But you aren’t alone anymore. You have me, and our family. We’ll get through this together and handle the rest as it comes. Right now we need to handle this Mitchell problem, and then we’ll focus on you meeting your mother.”

Carter shook her head firmly. “I can’t, Nathan. I don’t want to.”

Nathan cupped her face. “Yes you do, baby. I know you. You may be reluctant right now, but if you let her leave New York without meeting her, you’ll regret it. You owe it to yourself to hear her side of the story.”

Carter looked away from Nathan as tears escaped her eyes. She knew what he said was true. She just couldn’t deal with any of it at the moment. “This is too much. I’m tired, I just want to go home and go to bed. Please come home with me,” she begged gripping Nathan’s shirt and burying her face in Nathan’s chest.