Tracy got into the vehicle, and Alex started the Navigator. “Time to roll.”
Chapter 19
A
lex kept a good distance behind Tracy as he followed her. There were a couple of times Brianne worried that he’d lose her, but he never did.
Tracy drove into an upscale neighborhood. Not the kind of high-end exclusive neighborhood where Alex’s house was, but definitely an area where upper-middle-class people lived. There were lots of Audis, Mercedes and BMWs in the various driveways.
Now that they were in a residential area, Alex slowed down, but he never lost sight of Tracy’s car. When he saw her indicate and turn left into a driveway, he pulled up to the curb a good hundred feet back.
“Why are we stopping here?” Brianne asked.
“Just waiting a moment. I don’t want her to see us. Once she goes inside, I’ll pull into the driveway.”
Tracy exited the vehicle and trotted toward her front door. The moment she was inside, Alex drove forward. He
was unbuttoning his seatbelt as he turned into the driveway, and Brianne did the same. She could see the determined set of Alex’s jaw and couldn’t help feeling anxious about what was to come.
They were about to see Carter.
Provided he was home.
And provided she and Alex weren’t way off base.
Tracy Salmon Holden.
No, they weren’t way off base. They were right on the money.
“Ready?” Alex asked.
Brianne nodded. Then she opened her door and hopped out of the Navigator.
Alex took the lead, rushing to the door. Brianne expected him to knock, but instead he turned the knob. Lo and behold, the door opened.
Tracy, who was still standing in the front foyer, whirled around and screamed. Her eyes took in Alex. Then they landed on Brianne, growing wide with recognition.
Beyond Tracy, Carter rushed out of a bedroom, his own eyes wide with worry. But the moment he saw Alex and Brianne, he stopped dead in his tracks.
Alex placed his hands on his hips, enjoying the look of stunned horror on Carter’s face. “Surprise, surprise.”
Tracy’s eyes flitted between Alex and Brianne, as if she expected one of them to pull out a gun. “Carter…”
“What’s the matter, Tracy?” Brianne said. “Not happy to see me?”
“Come here, babe,” Carter called. Tracy rushed toward him, and he wrapped an arm around her. As she clung to his shirt, Alex’s heart nearly imploded.
His mother’s ring was on Tracy’s finger.
“Go sit down,” Carter told Tracy. She was already whimpering, clearly terrified. “Sit down,” Carter reiterated firmly.
Tracy scurried to the living room, but she didn’t sit.
Carter walked toward Alex, the look on his face smug. “So you found me,” he said. “It was that bit on ESPN.” He shook his head, a sardonic chuckle escaping his throat. “What are the odds you’d have seen that?”
“You were bound to be discovered one day,” Alex told him.
Carter looked from Alex to Brianne. “And you’re here, too.” He shrugged. “Should I be flattered? Have you been holding out hope of finding me alive after three years?”
His smug tone showed he didn’t care one lick how he’d hurt Brianne, which enraged Alex. Closing the distance between him and Carter, he did something that was long overdue.
He drew his hand back and punched him square in the mouth, sending his former friend flying backward against the wall.
Carter rose slowly, bringing a hand to his mouth. Drawing back his hand, he eyed the blood on his fingers. Then he laughed, as if this were all a game. “I bet that felt good, didn’t it, Alex?”
“You’re damn right it did.”
Brianne walked slowly toward Carter. The jerk had the nerve to act smug, even at a time like this. “You’re right,” she said to him. “I did hold out hope that you were still alive.”
Carter smiled. “I knew you would.”
“You are the biggest jerk I’ve ever had the misfortune of knowing.” And then she slapped him. Hard.
Instead of looking smug, Carter actually looked surprised.
“Damn you for all you put me through, you selfish, evil cheater!”
Alex put a hand on Brianne’s shoulder and gently guided her away from Carter. “It’s okay, Brianne. I’ll handle this.”
Brianne saw when Carter’s gaze fell on Alex’s hand on her shoulder. She also saw the flash of curiosity.
“Handle?” Carter asked, his eyebrow shooting up. “You came here to handle me? What, beat the crap out of me?”
“I came here to get my mother’s ring back. The one your wife is wearing.”
Brianne saw Tracy look at the ring on her hand, then at Alex. Finally, she sank onto the sofa.
“Are you sure you came all the way here for a ring?” Carter asked. His eyes volleyed between Alex and Brianne. “Or did you come here to gloat?”
“Gloat?” Alex asked.
Carter nodded toward Brianne. “Looks like you got my girl. And you wanted me to know it.”
Alex didn’t dignify the question with an answer. “Why did you do it, Carter? Why did you fake your death? For the money?”
“I did what I had to do,” he said, nonchalant. “I’m sorry it hurt you, buddy. And you, too, Brianne. But hey. Life goes on. It obviously did for you two.”
Alex grabbed Carter by the collar, barely keeping his anger under control. “You piece of dirt. You have no clue what I went through. What Brianne went through. Because of your deception!”
“But you got Brianne, didn’t you?”
Alex slammed Carter against the wall. Tracy screamed.
“Fifteen years, man. Fifteen years we were friends. And you could hurt me the way you did? Why? So you could
empty our safe of a hundred grand? So you could steal my mother’s ring? So you could have a laugh?”
Carter jerked out of Alex’s grip. “I already said that I did what I had to do. I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Because you haven’t given us any answers,” Brianne snapped.
“I was in debt,” Carter said through gritted teeth. “Okay?”
“In debt?” Alex asked. “That doesn’t make sense. You were loaded.”
“I lost a ton of cash,” Carter said. “Gambling. I did some betting with some bookies. At first, it made me money. Next thing I knew, I was losing it all in a flash. I made a lot of enemies. People who wanted to kill me.” Carter looked at Brianne. “But I never planned to disappear. I figured I’d take off, head to Brazil or something. Until that day on the mountain when Alex gave me the idea.”
“What?” Alex cried.
“Did he tell you what happened that day three years ago?” Carter asked Brianne. He paused a moment, then looked at Alex again. “Did you tell her, Alex? Tell her what happened on the mountain?”
Brianne threw her gaze to Alex, who was steadfastly looking at Carter.
“There is no way in hell I suggested you fake your death.”
“Maybe not, but because of you, I got the idea.”
Alex looked at Brianne. She was staring at him, the confusion evident on her face.
“Ah, he didn’t tell you that we argued,” Carter said, and began to smile. “Not only did we argue, he left me on the mountain to die.”
Alex grabbed Carter by the collar again. “You low-down, dirty—”
“Go ahead, Alex. Hit me again like you did that day.”
“You
hit
him?” Brianne asked, jerking her gaze from Carter to Alex.
Alex said nothing, just glared at Carter.
“Now that I think about it, maybe you were hoping I’d die out there. Because then you could return home and have Brianne all to yourself. Your plan worked like a charm.”
“That’s a lie!” Alex snapped. He shoved Carter toward the wall, then released him.
Brianne looked at both men in confusion. She didn’t understand what they were talking about.
A smirk came over Carter’s face, followed by a look that almost resembled anger. Perhaps a smidgen of jealousy. “He slept with you to get back at me, Brianne—after leaving me to die.”
“Did you really hit Carter on the mountain?” she asked Alex.
“Yeah, I hit him,” Alex admitted. “You should have heard how he was talking about you. Gloating about how you’d make the perfect wife, but that he wasn’t giving up his girlfriend.”
“So you hit him and you left him on the mountain.”
“That’s when I knew I could disappear,” Carter said. “He’d left me. The snow was coming down. It was the perfect time.” Carter paused. “I knew that one day he’d make a play for you.”
Alex shot a look at Brianne, saw the disillusionment in her eyes. “Don’t listen to him, Brianne. Carter is a skilled liar. For him to get off that mountain undetected, he obviously had a plan in place. He’s had three years to spin his lie to make me the villain. In fact…” His voice trailed off as reality struck him. “You used
me.
You goaded me into hitting you. You needed us to fight so that we would
separate. Then you met with whoever helped you get off the mountain, leaving me to feel a world of guilt.” Alex
knew
that was truth. Felt it in his soul. But the look on Brianne’s face said she didn’t know what to believe.
“Nice try, Alex. But Brianne’s smarter than you give her credit for. Aren’t you, Brianne?”
“I am,” Brianne agreed, her gaze on Alex.
Alex felt a stab of pain. “Brianne—”
Her gaze moved swiftly to Carter. “Smarter than
you
give me credit for. Obviously you had your plans to disappear. Your store was robbed while you and Alex were on that mountain. That was planned ahead of time. So spare me any more of your lies.” She paused. “And if Alex hit you, it was because you deserved it. It’s clear he was defending my honor.”
Relief washed over Alex. Brianne saw the truth. Thank God. “Yes, Brianne. That’s exactly right. I was defending your honor.”
“But I’m not sure Carter isn’t partially right,” she went on.
“What?” Alex asked, stunned.
“I’m not sure I can trust…trust what’s happened between us. Trust that what we experienced wasn’t about…revenge.”
“That’s not true,” Alex protested.
“It was all about revenge,” Carter said, egging her on.
“I have to think.” Brianne turned and sprang for the door.
Alex started after her and caught hold of her upper arm before she could step outside. “Don’t believe Carter. Nothing that happened between us was about revenge.”
Brianne’s eyes misted with tears. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes!”
“Well I’m not.”
Suddenly Carter was there, standing beside Alex. “Brianne,” he began softly. “I’m sorry about…everything. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just…”
Brianne violently jerked her arm from Alex’s grasp and ran outside.
“I may not have Brianne, but it looks like you don’t have her either,” Carter said smugly.
Alex whirled around to face Carter and saw the self-satisfied expression on his face. And he knew that Carter was goading him.
“I wanted to find you, see for myself if you were really alive. Now that I know you are, I feel sorry for you. Because you’re pathetic. You have to live with your conscience. You hurt me, you hurt Brianne, your family. You have to live with that.”
“I had debts, Alex. A loan shark after me. I—I had to do what I did. It was the only way.”
In his voice, Alex heard the first inkling of remorse.
“There was another way,” Alex countered.
“It wasn’t my plan to hurt you.”
The sound of a car engine roaring to life made Alex spin around. Brianne was behind the wheel of the Navigator.
Alex looked at his jeans’ pocket, where he’d stuck the car key. It was gone.
He charged outside. “Brianne!” Alex yelled. “Brianne, stop!”
She backed out of the driveway like a bat out of hell.
Alex turned back into the house. Carter was suddenly not there. He stalked toward Tracy, saying, “Give me the car key. I’ve got to get to Brianne.”
That’s when Carter emerged from a bedroom—with a gun. Directed at Alex. “I don’t think so, man.”
“Carter, what are you doing?”
“Sorry, man. But I can’t let you leave.”
Chapter 20
I
t was all about payback.
That was all Brianne could think as she drove erratically through the residential neighborhood.
Alex had used her—not just to find Carter, but to get back at the friend who had hurt him.
The tears fell. They wouldn’t stop.
Brianne kept hearing Carter’s words, seeing the smug look on his face when he’d said with confidence that he’d known Alex would pursue her. She had been dumb enough to believe that Carter loved her. Had she also been dumb enough to believe that Alex’s sweet words had been about a genuine connection, when in fact all she was to him was a pawn in his game to get back at Carter?
Brianne didn’t want to believe it—how could she?—but she also knew that what she wanted and reality didn’t always equate to the same thing.
She had wanted to believe that Carter loved her, that he
had died loving her and looking forward to a life with her. But the truth was, Carter hadn’t loved her at all. All the while he’d been seeing Tracy, too, carrying on two different lives.
The knowledge hurt. But strangely, she felt more pain at the thought that what she and Alex had shared had been born of his desire to get back at Carter.
The way he’d made love to her, had held her, had brought her the greatest sexual satisfaction she had ever experienced…could it all have been a lie?
It didn’t feel like a lie, but clearly she couldn’t trust her judgment. She had been a bad judge of character where Carter had been concerned. How could she trust what she felt in her heart about Alex?
Regardless of what she had come to feel for Alex—and perhaps what he had come to feel for her—maybe it was simply best to put both him and Carter behind her. Could she ever have a future with Alex without reliving Carter’s deception over and over again in her mind?
After driving around for ten minutes, thinking everything through and examining her feelings, Brianne had a moment of clarity. It was the fight Alex had had with Carter on the mountain that solidified it.
Alex loved her. He had proven that long before she ever knew he cared for her—by defending her honor on the mountain with Carter. Their passion, their love, was real. That was something she knew in her heart with far more certainty than she had ever known anything.