Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War (15 page)

Finally, she had mercy on him and stopped. He leaned into his side as he glared at her angrily.

“No, means no,
Carterina
.”

Carter giggled. “We get it from our mother you know. She is ticklish like this, too.”

Gabe rolled his eyes.

“I love to hear you call her mom,” Robert said with a soft smile. “So I am guessing all is well between you two?”

She smiled. “I still have some questions for her, but yes. I’ve known her for a few months now,” Carter answered.

That answer didn’t seem to sit well with her father. “Only months?” he asked.

Carter nodded. “Yes, Daddy. Some things, which I don’t want to talk about, happened,” i.e. Henry, Cole, or whatever the fuck his name was, “but I was alone for a while. Things changed for me, and I was put in a position to be found by mom. I had no idea she was looking for me, Dad. I had no idea anyone was looking for me.”

“I know, baby girl, and I’m sorry. I didn’t have time to tell you about your mother …”

“I understand.” She rested her head against her brother. She couldn’t really complain about how everything went down. To her, Gabe was a prime example that everything happened for a reason. Had things not happened the way they have, Carter would’ve never found her brother.

Carter reached over and took one of her father’s hands off of the wheel, holding it in hers. “Did you know about Gabe, Daddy?”

He’d already revealed a lot, but she
really
didn’t want to hear her father say that he’d known her brother existed and didn’t tell her mother or her. That would be unforgivable …

Her father looked over at her with a frown. “Not until Silas brought me here six years ago. Anastacia was devastated when Silas told her she’d lost her son. She’d been knocked out when you two were delivered. Carter, they believed you would die, but Gabriel was healthy. So Silas took him and told Anastacia he was dead. He wanted your mother to hurt. He says he brought you to me as a gift, but I don’t believe that’s why he brought you to me.”

“Then why?” Carter and Gabe asked simultaneously.

Robert sighed. “Like I said before, when Silas feels remorse for something he’s done, he deals with it by putting them in someone else’s hands, deeming himself unable to make it right. After the other person fixes his mistake, Silas comes back in search of forgiveness and a second chance. I believe he felt remorse for letting his temper control him and hurting your mother. Gabriel was healthy, and stronger, but … he wasn’t expecting you to live, Carter. Silas sent your mother to my door beaten and unhealthy with a tiny baby in her arms. Just like he knew I would, I stepped in to fix his mess. I took you both to the hospital in New York, and let her name you. I offered to help her disappear with you, but she was terrified. Silas found out that you’d survived and came back. He said if I helped Anastacia take you and run, he would find both of you and take you from her. You had to stay with me, or he’d lock you both away.”

“Bullshit,” Carter said in disbelief.

“Indeed,” Robert agreed. “Anastacia was weak enough to be captured by him, so I knew he’d do it. Although he felt remorse for what he’d done to her, he still wanted her to suffer. So I told Silas I would take care of you. I convinced him that your mother should stay with me a while to feed you. She stayed until both she and you were healthy … and I’m sure you know the rest.”

“That my mother never really abandoned me?” Carter sighed “Yeah, I know.”

He gave her a quick glance. “I know that the choices your mother and I made may confuse you, and I know you think the truth would have been less complicated, but that’s just not true. I kept the truth from you because I didn’t want Silas to catch on to what I was helping your mother with too soon. He only agreed to remain peaceful if Anastacia was away from you. The more you grew, the more time passed, the more Silas wanted you,
and your,
mother back.”

“What is his obsession with Anastacia?” Gabe asked.

Robert shook his head. “If you want to know the story of those two, you ask your mother. It is her story to tell, not mine.”

Nodding, Carter frowned. Damn this was a messed up situation. She just wanted to forget about everything Silas for the time being, which was surprisingly easy. Luckily for her, she was able to separate Silas and the hell he’d been raining on her family for decades. She knew there would be—for lack of cleaner language—a
clusterfuck of shit
she would have to deal with when she got home.

There was a large amount of information that she needed to relay to a few people, and the person that she feared giving the
‘fill-in’
to the most was driving the car. Now Carter understood the whole withholding thing her parents had done. She would definitely withhold a huge amount of information from her father right now if she could. Gazing off into the distance, she silently wondered how long she could put off the talk she needed to have with her father.

“So what changed for you?” her father asked, breaking her from her musings.

Carter’s eyes snapped over to him and she fought to keep her features neutral. “Huh?” she asked, even though she knew he didn’t like when she asked a question without using appropriate words.

He rolled his eyes and frowned. “You’re a genius, Carter. So you know that
‘huh’
is not a word.” He shot her a quick glare before turning his attention back to the road. “You said things changed for you that made it easier for your mother to find you. What changed?”

Shit! Shit! Fuck! Shit!
She was planning on telling him two, three, maybe four
years
from now. Dammit! What was she going to do? She turned to Gabe for support, but he shook his head and looked away, clearly letting her know that she was on her own on this one. The bastard.

Clearing her throat, Carter stared her father in the face. “Well, I was living in a place called Hope Beach—”

“I know the place,” he said. “It’s in New York. A long way from where we lived.”

Carter shrugged. “Yeah. Well … I needed to get away. Plus, Hope Beach was beautiful. Anyway, I sort of met this guy at a bar I worked at.”

“You worked at a bar …” he muttered.

Ummkay
… Well Carter was positive that his words were more of a statement than a question. That was an indication that
“Spook Steele”
didn’t like what his daughter had said.

Shifting in the seat a little, Carter moved closer to her brother. She cleared her throat again and continued sealing her fate. She was pretty sure her father was going to trip balls. Anastacia was such a damn liar. Or maybe she just didn’t know or understand exactly how much Carter’s father didn’t want her involved with
any
boys. “Umm … well,” Carter took a deep breath, “the guy that I met, his name is Kyle Valente …”

Suddenly the car slowed and came to a stop in the middle of the road. Carter and Gabe both leaned back when Robert turned to look at Carter with an impassive expression. “Is your mother in your life right now?”

Nervously swallowing, Carter nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“Tell me that you are not … romantic with Kyle Valente. Your mother would not allow that!”

Carter frowned. “What the hell is wrong with Kyle?” she asked, feeling the need to defend her friend.

“Watch your mouth, Carter.”

“He’s an amazing man. Any woman would be lucky to have him!”

“Not you!” he yelled. “That’s … that’s just …” He made a sound of disgust, which pissed Carter off even more.

“How dare you judge him?” she demanded, appalled by her father’s behavior. “I love Kyle. He means a lot to me, and I won’t let you disrespect him like that. He’s kind, sweet, considerate, and he loves me, too!”

“He’s your blood!” Robert shouted.

Carter snapped back with a loud gasp. “What?” she screamed. “That’s impossible!”

“No it’s not!” Robert shouted. “How the hell do you think his mother and father met?”

Gabriel pursed his lips and shook his head. “Okay dude, I just got her to forgive you. Are you fucking serious?”

Carter was speechless.

Robert continued. “Abrielle, as fucked up as she is, actually had a good friendship with Anastacia when she first moved to Italy. Both of them were results of Alexis Stone’s affairs with other woman. Your mother’s mom was the last affair, and woman, Alexis loved. Abrielle came from a one night affair Alexis had with an Italian woman. She came to visit your mother often after their father died, and she became involved with Cesare Valente. She didn’t lose her mind until after Cesare and Anastacia became intimate and broke her heart while she was pregnant with Kyle,
your cousin
, Kyle.”

She was still shaking her head in shock. “Impossible.”

“Carter, you had to see it. He looks like a Stone,” Robert said.

“No he doesn’t!”

“Carter, think about it. He has long, thick black hair, the same damn jawline as your brother, pale skin …”

“But he has blue eyes,” Carter pointed out. She’d thought the eye color dominated in the Stone family.

Her father shook his head. “Doesn’t matter if he has his father’s eye color, Carter. He’s just as much of a Stone as you are. He is your cousin. You need to end it with him … now.” He looked away from her muttering, “I can’t believe Anastacia allowed this to happen.”

“She didn’t allow anything to happen, Daddy.” Carter had spoken the words with a little anger in her voice. She was so sick of her parents. She’d just gotten this one back, and he was already dropping multiple big ass bombs.

Robert’s brows furrowed in confusion. “You mean you are not intimate with Kyle?”

“No,” Carter answered.

Relief flashed through her father’s eyes. “Oh thank God,” he said with a light chuckle. “I don’t know whether I’m happier that you and Kyle aren’t doing the whole incest thing, or that you don’t have a boyfriend. I’m not sure I am ready for that.”

Carter glared. “Well get ready for this, Steele. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“I gathered that, Carter—”

She silenced him with a raise of her hand, a move she wouldn’t have dared done as a child. Too bad she wasn’t a child anymore. “I have a husband. I’m married.”

“You’re married …”

And there he went again with that repeating shit. “Yes,” Carter stated, “I am.”

Reaching behind her, she unzipped the side pocket of her backpack, and when her hand came back around she had her wedding ring. She slipped it on and smiled. She’d missed feeling it on her finger.

“I don’t understand your words, Carter” he said with irritation in his tone. “You and Kyle are not together, so what the fuck?”

Carter didn’t flinch. “Kyle was the first man in the Salerno crime family that I met—”

“What?”

“Seriously, all you two do is fight,” Gabriel said, rolling his eyes.

They both ignored him and continued.

“I work for the Salerno Organization now, Daddy. I’m quite the asset. My work there is valued.”

Robert’s hand slammed against the wheel … hard, causing Carter and Gabe to flinch.

“Are you out of your mind?” he growled and shook his head. “No. You don’t need whatever he’s paying you. You will quit the moment we get back to the States, Carter. No more. You are done there. You will pack up and leave with me and your mother.”

He stated the words firmly, leaving no room for argument, and Carter stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. Did he not know that she wasn’t an idiot? Did he not know that she was an adult, and she didn’t need nor want him making any decisions for her?

“Absolutely not,” Carter said firmly. “I will not be quitting anything.”

Robert looked at her in shock, but Carter didn’t back down. Her father was in her life again, and she needed to establish her independence right now to avoid future confusion. If she didn’t then she would be stuck in his world, where his rules went and no one else had a say.

“I’m not a child. I can take care of myself. I have been for the past six years.”

“You’re too young and naïve to take care of yourself, Carter. You’re too trusting! You were sheltered as a child, and six years by yourself will not teach you everything you need to know about this world!”

“I know enough,” she yelled.

“You know nothing,” he bellowed in reply.

“I’m learning as I go. I have the ability to make my own decisions!”

“Are we talking about the same decision making ability that left you strung out on drugs and fucking your brother, Carterina?”

The words were like a sharp blade that pierced her right in the heart. Carter shot back as if her father had just punched her forcefully in the face. Shame, heartbreak, and embarrassment overwhelmed her entire being, and the world transformed into a cloudy pool as devastated tears blurred her vision. She didn’t hear or see anyone else, she just jumped over her brother and stumbled out of the car.

“You fucking asshole,” Gabe shouted at Robert. “Go to hell! Carter, wait up.”

Carter could barely hear him over the ringing in her ears. She walked quickly down the road ahead of her, hoping that they had gotten closer to Rashid, and the walk wouldn’t be too long. She wanted to go home. She wanted Nathan …