So how could she let him go? Alex may not have been totally truthful with her, but it wasn’t because he’d wanted to hurt her. It was because he was also defending his mother’s honor in his quest to get her ring back.
If Brianne couldn’t understand and accept that, then Alex was the one who should doubt
her
feelings for him.
And she loved him. She had no doubts about that. As she’d told him, he was her silver lining in the dark cloud of pain she had experienced with Carter.
Brianne made a quick U-turn, hoping to retrace the path she’d traveled. She was going back to Carter’s house for the man she loved.
And for one other reason.
Tracy.
She hadn’t given her former friend a piece of her mind. Brianne might be over Carter—and as far as she was concerned, he and Tracy deserved each other—but Tracy also deserved a good verbal lashing before Brianne moved on.
She navigated the streets, feeling relief when she realized that she was indeed going the right way.
Minutes later, she pulled into the driveway behind Tracy’s car.
It was time that Brianne said her piece. Get the closure she needed.
And then leave with the man she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Brianne raised her hand to knock the door, but before she could, it opened.
Carter faced her. And then he smiled.
“Brianne, you’re back. Your boyfriend will be pleased.”
Brianne glared at him. “You’re not serious. You’re not seriously
jealous.
”
“It wasn’t like I didn’t care about you.” Carter’s eyes traveled over her body. “I’ve got to say, you look great.”
Brianne felt ill under Carter’s gaze. She pushed past him and walked into the house. “I have nothing more to say to you. But I do have a few words for Tracy.”
As Brianne breezed into the house, she noticed Alex sitting on the sofa.
And Tracy holding a gun.
A wave of fear washed over her.
“Join the party,” Carter said, and she heard him lock the door.
Oh, God, no.
“Go on,” Carter said. “Take a seat beside your boyfriend. Do it, or Tracy will shoot him.”
Brianne’s chest began to hurt. She didn’t want to step into the living room. But if she didn’t, Tracy would kill Alex.
Alex looked at her. Regret swelled inside of her. God, if she hadn’t lost track of the truth, if she hadn’t fled the house with the need to think, this likely wouldn’t have happened.
“Go!” Carter yelled. He grabbed hold of her and dragged her into the living room, where he pushed her onto the sofa beside Alex.
In Alex’s eyes, Brianne saw the regret that she felt.
And then she got angry. How dare Carter and Tracy deceive her and now want to kill her and Alex to keep covering up their dirty deception?
“So this is how it ends?” Brianne said defiantly. “It wasn’t bad enough that you stole my man, Tracy. Now you’re going to put a bullet in me?”
Tracy didn’t speak. She looked terrified. Which made Brianne wonder if she would be able to pull the trigger…
“Fine, you’re going to kill me,” Brianne went on. “Answer one thing for me. When did you two hook up? When did you start sleeping with my boyfriend?”
“It’s not like you think,” Tracy said, her voice low.
“No?” Brianne challenged. “Then tell me how it is.
Because there was a time I considered you my best friend. Now you want to kill me?” Brianne hoped that by continuing to stress the reality of what Tracy was about to do, Tracy would see that she
couldn’t
commit murder. “Will you look me in the eye and pull the trigger? Is that who you’ve become?”
“Just be quiet,” Tracy said meekly, her eyes flitting in Carter’s direction. “Be quiet and everything will be fine.”
Carter sat on the chair opposite where Alex and Brianne were seated. He reached into the breast pocket of his shirt and withdrew a cigarette. “By now, you should realize that we’ll do whatever’s necessary.”
“I spent three years of hell grieving you,” Brianne said, turning her attention to Carter. “Three years believing that you loved me and wanted a life with me. And yet here you are in Florida, with Tracy. When did it start? When did you start sleeping with my—” Brianne stopped abruptly. Suddenly, she knew. She knew exactly when it had happened.
“That night,” she said, standing. “When we’d all gone to dinner. And Tracy called to say she had a flat tire, and then you went back to help her after you dropped me home…”
“It wasn’t planned,” Carter said.
“She was my best friend!”
“We just…we clicked.”
“Then why didn’t you break up with me? Why did you
propose
to me?”
“We didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Right. You spared me so much pain.”
Carter didn’t say anything. Just sat silent on his expensive armchair.
But what could he really say? The very reason Tracy and Brianne had fallen out of favor was because Tracy had
always been consumed with material things. She probably wouldn’t care if Carter had robbed or killed to earn cash, as long as she could drive a luxury car and wear the latest designer clothes.
“Carter.” Alex raised his hands slowly. “Give me back my mother’s ring, and we’ll leave. We’ll forget we ever saw you.”
“You think I’m stupid?” There was an eerie quality to Carter’s voice. “I let you leave, and you go straight to the cops.”
“We won’t,” Alex stressed.
“I’m alive,” Carter said. “And yet Tracy collected insurance money two years after my death, after petitioning the court to declare her husband dead.”
“Her—her husband?” Brianne asked. The words shouldn’t have shocked her, but they did.
“Yes, Brianne,” Carter said testily. “We got married. Secretly, before my trip to the Rockies. I needed her not only to be the beneficiary of my life insurance policy, but my wife so she could have authority over my estate.”
“And once she settled your life insurance policy and estate, you were both able to change your identities,” Alex hypothesized.
“You’re the only people standing in our way,” Carter said, his voice cold. “And even if Brianne is ready to wash her hands of me, I know you’re not, Alex. You’ll turn me in for fraud. And I’m sorry, but I can’t go to jail.”
Brianne stared at Carter, seeing a man she didn’t know. But had she ever truly known him?
“You’ll never get away with this,” Brianne said. “My sister knows I came down here to find you. If I end up dead, she’ll leave no stone unturned until you’re in a jail cell.”
“I disappeared once. I can do it again.”
Brianne faced Tracy. “Are you really going to kill me?”
Tracy didn’t reply.
“You kill me, and you have to go on the run somewhere, always looking over your shoulder. Is he worth it?”
Tracy’s bottom lip trembled, and Brianne knew she was getting through to her. But she also knew that Carter controlled Tracy ruthlessly. For him to be sitting so calmly smoking a cigarette while
she
held the gun made it clear he believed she would do whatever he wanted her to.
“Do you really want to go to jail for murder, Tracy? Because that’s what will—”
“Shut up!” Tracy yelled. She looked like she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
No, Tracy didn’t want to do this. She was simply following Carter’s orders. But would she go as far as to pull the trigger, or would she do the right thing?
Brianne tried a softer approach. “Tracy, you don’t want to do this.”
One tear made its way down her cheek. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. And I…I never meant to hurt you. But Carter—he made me promises—”
“Shut up, Tracy,” Carter said, his tone warning.
“This wasn’t the life I expected, always looking over our shoulders,” she went on.
“It’s not too late to change that.” This from Alex.
“Yo, Alex—shut up!”
“You know, Carter, if you want to kill me, you’re gonna have to man up and kill me.” Alex stood, and Tracy took a step backward. “You take the gun and you shoot me. Me—the guy who was your best friend since eighth grade.”
“You’ll go down with him either way, Tracy,” Brianne said, hoping that Tracy wouldn’t hand the gun to Carter but do the right thing and call the police. “You’ll go down for a man who doesn’t know how to love anyone but himself.”
“I love her,” Carter said, lurching to his feet. “I always have.”
The words shouldn’t have hurt Brianne, but they did. Because it was clear now that Carter had never loved
her.
Oh, he may have liked her, but his heart had obviously been with Tracy.
A woman he could control.
“I’m sure your love will be a bright comfort to Tracy when she’s staring at the walls of her jail cell,” Brianne said.
Tracy’s eyes grew wide with horror. It was clear the idea of going to jail was scaring her to death.
Carter stalked toward Brianne. “Enough of your mouth, Brianne. Shut up already.”
“When I got here, you told me you never wanted to hurt me,” Brianne said simply.
“That’s the truth,” Carter said.
“And yet you want to kill me now.” Her eyes misted, but she didn’t turn her head. She continued to hold his gaze. She wanted him to see her pain. To see what it looked like to hurt someone who had given you their total trust and love.
And whatever happened, happened. This was the last time she wanted to get emotional over Carter. Clearly, he didn’t deserve any of her tears.
After several beats, she turned to Alex. “But every cloud has its silver lining. Your deception brought me and Alex together. And if all we have is a few minutes left… Alex, I want you to know that you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. If we die right now, I don’t regret
coming down here with you. Because I’d rather die having experienced true love for five minutes than spend eighty years never finding it.”
All the air left Alex’s lungs in a rush. When Brianne had returned, he’d been hopeful that it meant she no longer had any doubts about his feelings for her. But he’d been very aware that she simply might have returned out of obligation—so that she didn’t leave him stranded in Orlando. He hadn’t been able to gauge the expression on her face, and the danger of the situation had taken precedence over whatever she was feeling. They had shared a couple looks, but he hadn’t known what was in her heart.
Now he knew. And despite the very real danger they were facing, happiness filled him like the warm glow of a fire.
“I feel the same way,” he told her, and saw her eyes mist with tears. “No matter what happens, this short time with you has been worth it.”
“I’m sorry that I doubted you for even one second,” Brianne said, her voice cracking. “Doubted us.”
“How very touching,” Carter scoffed.
Alex once again faced his former friend. “It’s not too late to rethink this.” He spoke gently, trying to get through to the man he believed had once loved him as a brother. “You committed fraud, but you won’t get anywhere near the jail time for that as you’ll get for killing us.”
Carter seemed to consider the words. Looking conflicted, he began to pace the floor. But after several seconds, he stopped and faced Tracy. “Shoot them,” he ordered.
Alex looked at Tracy, whose hands seemed to be trembling. Could he take the chance right now, jump her? Or would the gun go off as he fought to get it from her? He would take the chance of himself getting hurt, but no way did he want to put Brianne at risk.
He decided to stay put and eye her carefully. He would bet his last dollar that she wouldn’t pull the trigger. She wasn’t a killer.
“Do it,” Carter said. “We talked about this, and you told me you could do this if it came down to it. Well, it’s them or it’s us. I’m the one who took all the risk, setting up a life where we’d be set forever. It’s time you get your hands dirty.”
So that’s what Carter’s plan was,
Alex thought. To let Tracy do his dirty work. Who knew—maybe he would try to blame Tracy for the devious murder plot if they were ever caught.
The bastard.
“You can’t do it,” Alex said to Carter, and he couldn’t help a self-satisfied chuckle. “You can’t look at me and kill me.”
Carter didn’t meet Alex’s gaze. He looked at Tracy and ordered, “Do it already.”
Tracy raised the gun higher, and Alex braced himself to make a move. But then she did something that startled Alex. Still holding the gun high, she worked the ring off of her finger and tossed it to Alex. Then, slowly, she turned the gun away from him.
And leveled it at Carter.
“Tracy,” Carter began slowly, surprise registering on his face. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t live like this anymore,” she said, beginning to softly cry. “I’m not going to jail, Carter.”
“Babe,” he said. “Give me the gun.”
“Don’t give it to him,” Alex said. “You’re doing the right thing.”
“Give me the gun,” Carter repeated and took a tentative step toward her.
“Stop!” she yelled. “Don’t come any closer.”
“You—you’re not going to
shoot
me?” Carter couldn’t have sounded more surprised.
She looked toward Alex. “Alex, Brianne. Go on. Get out of here.”
“Damn it, Tracy. What the hell are you doing?”
“Shut up!” she yelled at Carter. “And you’d better stay where you are, or I
will
shoot you.”
Carter couldn’t have looked more flummoxed. “For God’s sake, Tracy—”
“You think I don’t know about Melanie?” she said suddenly, surprising them all. “That you’ve been sleeping with her?”
Carter’s mouth fell open, but he didn’t say a word. Not for several seconds. Then, lamely, he said, “She was just a fling.”
Tracy began to cry harder. “After everything, Carter—all that I sacrificed…how could you?”
“You’re the one I love,” Carter explained. “Look at every thing I did so we could be together.”
Alex took a tentative step toward Tracy, knowing that this was the time to gain control. He trusted that Tracy wouldn’t shoot him, but he didn’t trust Carter not to take the gun from her.
But Carter saw Alex move and lunged at him, growling as he did. Alex wasn’t fast enough to jump out of the way, and Carter’s shoulder plowed into his solar plexus, knocking him over a nearby ottoman.