Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
I sighed. “Yeah, I did. Back then. But I couldn’t even stop the evil in my own family.”
“You’re not fucking responsible for what they’ve done.”
“Maybe not, but I’m going to be responsible for ending it.”
Matteo smiled. “Good.”
27
MATTEO
This time Carter barely protested when I insisted on driving. He stripped off his suit jacket and yanked off his tie before dropping his head back against the seat. I could see the weight of what he’d learned pressing down on him. He was still as pale as he’d been when he learned what really happened to his mother. He twisted his hands together again and again as his knee bounced rapidly.
I laid a hand on his thigh. “You need to take some time to breathe.”
“It’s not so easy to do that when you find out your brother killed your mom, and your father didn’t care, and both of them would prefer I was dead too.”
“Baby—”
“How could he do it? How could he kill our mother? She wasn’t like dad. She was so kind and good, and she never belonged with him.”
I squeezed Carter’s leg. “I’m so sorry about all of this. Tell me what you need.”
“I don’t know. Right now, I just need to call X and find out if they’ve made any progress finding Landon.”
“Even if they have, it might be best if they kept an eye on him while we take some time to come down from this morning. I don’t think you’re ready to face him after what just happened.”
“I can do whatever I need to do.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t do it. I just think it would be better if you had some time to process all of this.”
“What the fuck good will it do to sit around talking about it?”
“I actually thought you might want to take it out on me.” I sensed his eyes on me then. I glanced over and watched his hungry gaze drift down my body.
“Take it out on you?”
I grinned. “It seemed to do you a lot of good the other night.”
“Matteo, I don’t—”
“I would love to give you that. I enjoyed every second of what you did to me, the way you punished me, the way you used me to make yourself feel better. You can be as rough with me as you want. You need to take the edge off before you talk to Landon.”
“We don’t even know if he’s been located.”
“So let’s find out.”
Carter pulled out his phone and put it on speaker. Miles answered after a few rings. “Any word on Landon?”
“Have you seen your father?” Their questions clashed into each other.
“Yes,” I answered. “Dear ole dad is still the asshole he’s always been, and he says he doesn’t know where Landon is.”
“I see Matteo is there too.”
“He never leaves my side now,” Carter said.
“Well, you do need a babysitter right now.”
Carter scowled at the phone. “Fuck off. Have you learned anything?”
“Landon hasn’t been located yet. We found some places he’s been, but not where he is currently. We’re closing in, though. I think we’ll catch up to him soon.”
“We’re going to go back to my cabin and wait there.”
“So in other words you’re going to—”
“Don’t, Miles. Just don’t.”
Carter used his scariest voice, but Miles just laughed. “I’m sure you need it.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of him,” I said.
Miles huffed. “I don’t doubt it. Carter, what did you learn from your father?”
“He didn’t kill my mother; my brother did.”
“Oh my God, Carter. Do you need anything?”
“No, I….” He glanced over at me. “I’ve got Matteo.”
“I’m glad you do.”
I smiled. “I knew you’d come around.”
“Don’t push it,” Miles said. “Is there anything else we should know?”
“The bastard claims he told Landon not to run,” Carter said. “I’ve given him twenty-four hours to sign all the business assets over to me.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“I told him I’d unleash Matteo on him.”
Miles chuckled. “I like that plan.”
“This isn’t going be something we can just sweep under the rug like we have with other enemies.”
“No, we’ll need to think this through and—”
“Not if he comes after Carter,” I interjected.
“No,” Miles agreed. “In that situation, you do what you need to do, and we’ll figure it out after the fact. Carter, do you have any guesses where your brother would go?”
“He’s always had a weird fascination with Atlantic City.”
Miles snorted.
“He also might be somewhere along the coast of Rhode Island. We used to vacation there every summer when we were little. My father may still own some property there.”
“We’ll look into that right away.”
“I can—”
“No,” Miles and I spoke at the same time.
“We’re handling this,” Miles added.
“Fine. One other potential location is Colombia, but the cartel is angry with him, and he hates the heat.”
“We won’t rule it out. Go take some time with Matteo. We’ve got this.”
“Thanks.”
After he ended the call, I drove us to Carter’s cabin. It was closer than going back into the city, and it was unlikely his brother was close to his home. At least I assumed he’d run a good distance away. I sure as hell would have, but it was quite obvious Landon was nowhere near as smart as me or Carter. He might’ve pulled off ruining Carter’s career in the SEALs, but he was going to live long enough to regret that and what he did to Carter’s mother.