Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
I had a sense of unease that wouldn’t leave me as we dressed and headed downstairs. It was reasonable that I dreaded running into Ford’s grandmother without him there as a buffer, but I could handle her, especially knowing that Ford was fully on my side, that he loved me. I shouldn’t be this reluctant for him to leave. No way was I turning into a clingy boyfriend. He needed to go, and Miles didn’t want me there.
I knew he would tell me everything they talked about when he returned, but no amount of reassuring thoughts could ease my nerves.
28
FORD
As soon as I entered Miles’s office, I could tell things were bad. Miles had been cagey on the phone about what was up, saying he didn’t have time to explain, but I’d understand why this meeting was necessary when I got there.
Miles and Carter were glaring each other, and Worth was there too. If they’d called him in, that meant this went beyond Montgomery Enterprises’ business, it was personal. It already had been for me because of Jay, but what had made it personal for everyone else?
I closed the door behind me. “What’s going on?”
“One of the men we’re after is Matteo.”
My eyes widened as I looked at Carter. “The man who took you captive?”
He nodded.
Worth frowned. “Why am I the only one who doesn’t know this whole story?”
“Because you weren’t around when Carter first came back, and he doesn’t like to talk about it,” I said.
“Can you at least fill me in now?”
Carter sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Would you rather I tell it?” Miles asked.
Carter shook his head. “If I’m going to have to fucking confront Matteo, I better at least be able to talk about him.”
The bitterness that had hung over Carter for months after he came home was back, and I hated that.
“Matteo was in my platoon. He was an arrogant shithead, but we hooked up a few times.”
That statement begged for questions, but I knew better than to ask.
“In the midst of a mission that was going to hell, I caught him meeting up with members of the cartel we were supposed to put out of business. I held back, listening, hoping he was setting a trap for them, but knowing in my gut that wasn’t what was happening.”
Worth looked pale. “You were right, weren’t you?”
Carter nodded. “I watched Matteo make a deal with them, but then I fucked up. I reached for my weapon, but I made too much noise. I took off but Matteo brought me down with a bullet to the shoulder.
“The other man ordered him to shoot me in the head, but Matteo said I’d be useful, so they trussed me up, dragged me back to the enemy’s stronghold, and tossed me in a cell. Later that night, Matteo returned. I expected to be tortured, but he let me go, told me to get the hell out. Somehow, I made it back to camp before I collapsed.”
“Fuck, man,” Worth said. “That’s…I knew you’d been through some bad shit and all, but damn. I’m sorry.”
Carter just nodded.
“And now the fucker is right here in New York causing trouble again,” Miles said.
Worth scowled. “Then he’s as good as dead.”
I expected Carter to agree, but he didn’t say anything, didn’t move, didn’t even seem to breathe. There was a lot more to this story than he was telling us.
“Are the men Matteo was working with connected to the ones who want the warehouse?”
“Yes,” Carter said. “That’s probably why Miles’s friend put us onto this situation.”
Miles nodded. “Almost certainly, not that the bastard will give me any details.”
“It’s safer that way.”
“He could have warned us about Matteo.”
Carter huffed. “Yes, he could have.”
None of us suggested that Miles’s friend didn’t know, because this man had an uncanny ability to suss out any and all intel once he involved himself.
“He probably thought it wouldn’t get this far,” Carter said.
“Did he think I’d sacrifice Jay?”
“Jay wasn’t originally on this case.”
I nodded. “True.” The woman who’d been assigned to it was a bitch, not that she necessarily deserved for her life to be in danger, but she’d given the case to Jay just to test him, knowing it was an impossible win, or at least thinking it was. I didn’t think she had any idea about the rest of the bullshit attached to it. “So, what does that mean?”
“It means things just got more complicated,” Carter said.
Miles huffed. “It means we’re going in hard. We aren’t just going to send a warning. We’re going to obliterate them.” He was furious. They’d hurt his friend and that was the last thing he’d tolerate. Next to going after Ben, that was as bad as it got for Miles.
I turned to Carter. “Do you agree?”
He blew out a long breath. “We don’t have a choice.”