Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War (23 page)

“I agree,” Gabriel stated, pulling Carter down next to him. “Robert, you need to go outside and cool down. Carter’s not going anywhere with you.”

Carter gazed at her father with a pleading expression. “I know you’re mad, Daddy, but please calm down. I don’t want to fight anymore.”

“Then do as I said. Get up and let’s go. We need to talk. Now get up!”

“Hey!” Nathan shouted. “I will only tell you this one more time before I throw your ass out of my fucking house.
My wife
is not going anywhere with you.”

“She’s my daughter!”

“I don’t give a fuck—”

“Please stop fighting,” Carter shouted. “Just stop!”

“Be quiet, Carterina,” Robert snapped.

“Don’t you
fucking
speak to her like that, Robert” Nathan snapped back.

Robert tried to push past Nathan to get to Carter, but Nathan shoved him back, blocking his path.

Okay, now this motherfucker had severely fucked up. “Are you
out
of your
fucking mind?
” Nathan roared. “What the fuck were you going to do?
Tell me!
” Nathan shouted. He pointed to the door. “You get the fuck out my house,” Nathan growled.

“Nathan!”

“Leave now, Robert, before I do something that may upset my wife even more than me kicking your ass out.”

Robert let out a deadly growl and clenched his fists at his side. “And what are you going to do about it if I don’t?”

When Robert took a step toward Nathan every man in the living room stood to their feet.

“Robert, you need to go somewhere and cool off, man,” Mickey said.

“Yes, you do,” Freddy agreed, leveling a deadly glare on Robert and waiting for Nathan to tell him he could attack.

Nathan walked forward until he stood directly in front of Robert.

“Nathan,” Carter said in a worried tone.

He ignored her, needing to make something very clear to this man.

He spoke in a low, menacing tone as he looked down on the man. “I don’t know what has gotten into you tonight, but if you need to take a walk, pray, woo-sa, or whatever the
fuck
you’ve got to do, you’d better go do it, and do it on the outside of my house. You say another word to my wife tonight, and you might see a not so pretty side of Nathan Salerno.” The muscles in Nathan’s jaw ticked as he stared into Robert’s cold eyes.

Robert let out a dark chuckle. “You want to fight the boogeyman, boy?” He leaned forward until he was nearly nose-to-nose with Nathan. “Fuck you,” he spat.

And that was the moment Nathan knew his gut feeling was right once again.

Swiftly, Nathan gripped the front of his shirt and threw him across the room, sending him flying into the dining room table. Carter screamed from behind him, but Nathan didn’t stop. He advanced toward the man, lifted him from the table, and slammed him down again. Regaining his composure quickly, he speared Nathan in the abdomen, sending them both flying to the floor. Nathan used his foot to kick the man off his body. When he fell hard on his back, Nathan capitalized on his disadvantage and delivered multiple punches to his face. After his body went limp, Nathan stood to his feet.

“Get up,” he roared. “Get up and fight you fucking coward!”

“Nathan!” Carter screamed from behind him.

Before he could turn to inform her that it wasn’t her father, Silas gripped his leg, attempting to knock him back to the floor. Nathan kicked his leg loose and stomped down hard on Silas’s chest.

“Ah!” Silas howled.

Nathan yanked him up from the floor and connected his fist with the man’s face. Silas stumbled back, tripped over a fallen chair, and crashed through a window in the front of the dining room.

Once Silas was out of the house, Nathan quickly ran over to calm his wife, who was being held back by Kyle and Gabriel.

“Baby, calm down,” he soothed her. Leaving Kyle and Gabriel, she went straight into Nathan’s open arms.

“Why did you do that, bubby?” she cried. Nathan continued to soothe her, attempting to calm her down. “Why did you hurt him?”

“Shh … it’s okay, baby. It’s okay, that wasn’t your father. . .”

Carter looked up at him with fear flashing in her eyes. “Wh–what do you mean?”

“It was fucking Silas wasn’t it?” Gabriel snapped.

Carter shook her head vigorously. “No, no. It’s n–not possible. He doesn’t know where we are. How would he find us? I can’t be him, Nathan,” she sobbed. “That was my dad, you hurt my dad.”

“It wasn’t you father, Carter,” Nathan said. “I promise you that is not your father. Trust me, baby.”

“I do …”

Nathan gently stroked her cheek before he cupped her face. “Trust me,” he repeated, still trying to calm her. “You’re shaking, Carterina. Be calm and trust me.”

Nodding her head, she attempted to dry her eyes. “I trust you,” she whispered. “Where’s my father then?”

Nathan didn’t have an answer for that, but luckily he didn’t have to.

“After Nathan passed out, Robert left to go to town and make some arrangements for when he got back to New York. I’m almost positive he hasn’t been back yet,” Mickey said. “We just have to hope Silas didn’t get to him and that he’s on his way back.”

“Carter, baby, that means it wasn’t your father in our bedroom.”

“It was Silas?” she whispered, moving closer into his embrace, and he held her tighter. “Nathan, you need to go get him. He’s outside … he could get away.”

Nathan nodded for Mickey and Lucca to go out and get Silas, and they nodded in understanding. They were nearly at the door when …

A copious amount of red lasers filled the living room and the dining room areas, covering the house completely and making everyone in the house pause.

“Fuck!” Lucca yelled.

Mickey looked back at Nathan and shouted, “Get down!” before every person in the room dived to the floor.

Nathan dived with his arms wrapped around Carter. He took the impact of the fall on his back, then he quickly turned to shield her body with his just as the bullets began to fly through the house.

The sound was deafening, and soon it just morphed into one high-pitched screech in Nathan’s ears. He held Carter tight, never shifting, ensuring that her entire body was completely covered by his. Whether he was shot, or this house collapsed, he was determined to make sure Carter and his baby lived through this. Just when Nathan thought the shooting would never stop, all fell silent. Suddenly Silas’s screams cut through the thick air.

“Stop! Stop! I said stop you idiotic, illiterate fucks!” His voice was both devastated and angry as he screamed at his men. “
I said don’t shoot
!” he shouted. “
My kids are in there
!”

To Nathan it sounded like his mouth was full of blood.

They heard him spit before he stared calling out again. “Gabriel! Cecilia!” he screamed in devastation. “Gabriel! Cecilia! Say something to Daddy!”

Nobody said a word. Nathan heard something slide across the floor and he looked up to see a gun lying in front of him and Carter. He locked eyes with Mickey, took a moment to be relieved that he was okay, and then nodded his head.

“Silas!” It was Robert, and he sounded as if he was far away.

“Silas! Get over here. Get in the car
now
,” another male voice said.

“Silas, what did you do?” Robert shouted again, and it seemed as if he was running for the house. “What did you do?” Devastation laced his words.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Robbie!” Silas cried as the sounds of cars roaring to life and tires screeching filled the air.

“Stay down,” Nathan commanded as he stood up first with his gun in hand.

“Nathan, no,” Carter cried grabbing for him, but Nathan stopped her.

“I said stay down, Carterina,” he repeated sharply. “Don’t move.”

Carter bit down on her bottom lip and looked away from him as tears fell down the side of her face. Lifting his gun, he started for the front door.

“Nathan, let me—”

“Stay down, Kyle” Nathan said. “No one moves until I say it’s clear.”

He had no interest in losing his wife, nor did he want to lose any of his brothers. The only gun they had access to at the moment was the one in Nathan’s hand; other than this, they were unarmed. Nathan had guns hidden in the house, but if there was still danger outside they wouldn’t have time to get them before someone got shot. Nathan was the second best shot in the room—Mickey being the first—so as their leader he nominated himself as the one that checked for further danger before giving the all clear.

He inched toward the door with pressed his back against the wall. Heavy footsteps neared the door at rapid speed.

“Carter! Gabriel! Nathan!” Robert called.

Nathan closed his eyes and trusted what his gut was telling him. There was no more danger outside, and that it was indeed the actual Robert Steele running toward the door.

“It’s clear,” he said as he opened the front door right as Robert reached the porch and ran through. “Go out and get the cars ready. We’re leaving tonight.” The guys nodded and did as he’d instructed.

Robert surveyed the room, frantically searching for his daughter. “What—where?” he said as if it were one word through his heavy breathing.

“I’m here, Daddy,” Carter said softly.

Gabriel helped her up and she sat on her knees with her head bowed, rubbing her hands up and down her legs. She was taking deep breaths and her body was visibly shaking. Nathan didn’t like it, he didn’t like seeing it, and she was scaring the shit out of him. A bad feeling formed deep within his gut, alerting him that something was off in the room. Something was wrong.

He looked around the room, seeing everyone standing to their feet. His brothers looked unharmed, Carter and Gabriel were okay, so why did he feel like something was going to happen?

Robert quickly ran to his daughter and dropped to his knees in front of her, hugging her tightly. “Oh thank God,” he said in relief. “I’m so sorry, baby girl.” He looked back at Gabriel, who sat behind Carter. “Are you okay?” he asked him.

Gabriel didn’t respond.

Robert pulled back, cupped Carter’s face, and looked into her eyes. “Are you okay, baby girl?”

Carter shook her head slowly. “Where were you?” she whispered.

“I said I was going for a walk, Carter. Don’t you remember? I went to town to make arrangements for my return to America.”

“Silas was here, Daddy …”

“I know, sweetheart, I know.”

“I thought he was y–you. How did he find us?”

Robert shook his head. “I don’t know,” he answered with a pained expression on his face. “I don’t know, but I promise you that I
will
find out.”

Carter shook her head as tears fell from her eyes. “I can’t handle this,” she cried.

“Don’t cry, Carterina. Yes you can. You know what I taught you,” he said firmly. “We never stop fighting.”

“I can’t even tell the two of you apart, Daddy!” she yelled. “I should have known that he wasn’t you when he came into my bedroom, but I didn’t! Do you know why?”

Robert didn’t respond, but Carter continued anyway.

“Because to me, his actions were normal for who I think
you
are
. But the only problem with that is that who I
think
you are is not who you
actually
are. I can’t tell you and Silas apart because to me, you’re one person! I was raised by
both
of you. I know that you want me to be strong, but I can’t. Frankly this whole situation is freaking me out.” Carter balanced her hand on the coffee table at her side and her other hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I need to get up. I can’t do this right now, this is too much.”

Robert reached forward to help her up as well, noticing something off in her eyes. Nathan noticed it, too. He walked toward her.

“Is everything all right?” Nathan asked. He walked passed Robert and took her hand. “Baby, what is it?”

Carter shook her head. “I don’t know, I just …” Her words trailed off as she looked down and lifted her dress. She reached between her legs and grazed her fingers over her upper thigh. When she brought her now shaking hand back up, Nathan’s heart stopped as fear grasped his body.

“Na–Nathan.” She examined her blood cover fingertips. “W–why am I bleeding?” Carter immediately slipped into a hysterical panic. “Something’s wrong,” she cried hysterically. “Something is wrong with my baby!”

“Baby?” Robert whispered in shock. “You’re pregnant?”

“Nathan, snap out of it,” Gabriel yelled, yanking Nathan out of his state of terror. “Let’s go.
Now
. We need to get her to a hospital!”

Nathan snapped into action, scooping a hysterical Carter in his arms and running out of his house. He didn’t explain anything to anyone, he didn’t even stop to see who followed him or joined them in the car. He got both his wife and himself into one of the vehicles, started the ignition, and floored it to the nearest hospital, praying profusely to the almighty God that his wife didn’t just have a miscarriage.