Carter Reed 2 (Carter Reed #2)(21)

Her name was Andrea. And she was waiting to meet me, whenever I made that decision. Live with him and love him as long as you can. I had shared this sentiment with Theresa; maybe I needed to follow my own advice.

After no bill came to us, confirming my suspicions, we left the restaurant. I wanted to tell Carter as soon as I saw him. I wanted to say thank you, again, for every time he took care of us at his businesses, but also talk to him about my sister. In a way, it was because of him that she found me.

Riding home in the limousine, I couldn’t stop thinking about Andrea. She looked like me in the pictures. She would have memories of our mother and maybe an explanation of what had separated AJ and myself from her. The more I thought about her and considered our first meeting, the more excited I grew.

When we got to Noah’s place, I called Carter. I wanted him to come home. I wanted to feel him hold me, and I wanted to share everything I had figured out that night, too.

He didn’t answer my call. And after I texted him, he didn’t reply. There was no response an hour later, so I went to bed without him. I didn’t sleep well. I was waiting for him. I wanted to wake up and talk to him, but he didn’t come home that night.

Late that night, Cole’s initiation was final. He was now the head of the Mauricio family. My job was done. I had trained with him twice a day, every day, over these last few weeks. I didn’t know if he was ready, but it was done. Glancing down at my phone, I saw that Emma had called and texted, but I didn’t call her back. I couldn’t, not yet.

“Sir.”

I looked up. The door was open, and I got out of the car, heading toward the private plane waiting for me. Once inside, I sat down, and as I clipped my seatbelt into place, I glanced at the man beside me.

“This was your idea, but you didn’t need to come with me,” I told him. “I assure you that I’ll be back as soon as everything is set.” Gene had been the one to advise me to return home, make it safe and ready for the coming war.

Gene didn’t smile. He only nodded and ran a hand over the scar on his face. He did that when he was uneasy. He didn’t know he did it, and I wasn’t going to give away one of the only tells I had on him.

“I’m the one talking you into leaving your woman’s side,” he said with a grunt. “It’s common courtesy. I’ll go back with you, help as much as I can. Besides, if shit goes down, I want to be at your side.”

Gene had been a mentor and in an odd way, he was like my own bodyguard. I knew he hadn’t approved when Emma first came back into my life. I hadn’t cared then, and I didn’t now. I would do as I pleased. She was most important, and Gene knew this was how I felt. That’s why he’d been around so much before we concluded the deal with the Bartel family.

I was glad to have him back at my side. He felt like home. Grinning, I shook my head. Gene was not like home. He was large, cold, mean, and distant. Emma was home, but still, I looked over at him. He cared. That’s why he was here, and why I allowed him to be here.

“You mean if shit’s going to go down, you want to be around the person who will probably keep you alive?” I murmured.

“Don’t be a f*cker.” He faced forward, his jaw clenching.

I chuckled, turning in my seat as well, as the engines were starting up.

Then he added, “Maybe.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.”

“Shut it.”

I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. Gene was with me because he was concerned for me. Neither of us were dumb. If the Bartel family war was going to commence, I would make a good example. I’d brokered the truce, and I could end it. If they killed me, the war was officially on.

My gut had been telling me the Bartels knew about Cole. They knew he was being prepped to take over, and they’d just been waiting. If the war was going to happen, it would be soon. Either that, or we’d wait for what Cole decided the family would do, whether he would launch his own attack.

“They killed his two friends, but he killed four of theirs.” Gene looked back to me.

He’d been having the same thoughts. I nodded. “One of them was Stephen Bartel.”

“The last battle was because of Dunvan, but this is closer to the core of each family.”

“A Bartel and a Mauricio,” I said. Ours had walked away. “We have to wait and see now.”

“I don’t like it. I don’t like any of it.”

Neither did I. “We follow Cole now.”

He grunted again and shot back, “I follow Cole now. You’re out, remember?”

I nodded. “You know what I mean.”

“You scare me, Carter.”

Those words threw me. I wasn’t prepared for them, and I didn’t respond. I waited. I wasn’t surprised at what he said, just at the timing of this statement. I had been teasing him moments earlier.

“A year ago you had your hand at my throat because I disagreed with you,” he added.

That was about Emma. I narrowed my eyes. “That was different. It wasn’t family business.”

“Everything you do is about family business.” His eyes were hard. “Whether you realize that or not. You’re not out, Carter. You’re not even trying to talk like it anymore. Just now you said, ‘We follow Cole.’ You’re still in. You were never out.”