ChapterThirteen
Ashley
We are eating takeout in silence in the kitchen when armed men burst through the front and back doors of the house. For fuck’s sake. What now? We barely have time to scramble off our stools before twenty guns are pointed at all our heads. Adrenaline courses through my veins, and butterflies run amok in my chest as I trade panicked expressions with Jase. Four men grab Ares and manhandle him to his knees as Rhett Carter saunters into the kitchen, looking like he hasn’t just scared the living daylights out of all of us.
“What the hell?” I scream at my father. “Was this really necessary?”
Ignoring me, he strides over to Ares, grabbing his chin and tipping his head up. Ares is thrashing against the arms holding him on the ground, trying to break free, uncaring there are five guns trained on him. “Where is your mother, and who helped her to escape?” Carter asks, gripping his chin tight.
“How the fuck would I know?” Ares hisses.
“I was very clear in my instructions,” he calmly replies, pulling a gun out and pointing it at Ares’s forehead. “I told you we play by my rules and my rules only. Now, I won’t ask again. Where is your mother?”
“Are you for real right now?” I ask, driving my elbow back into the stomach of the guy standing behind me. I have guns trained on me too, but no one is going to shoot me. Or any of us, for that matter.
This is all for show.
Carter needs us alive.
At least for now.
Pushing past the armed men, I make my way around the island and put myself in front of my father. “Let him go. This is ridiculous. If Hera has escaped, good for her, but we had nothing to do with it.” I plant my hands on my hips. “Unless you’ve forgotten how you ambushed us and held us prisoners for hours in the crypt? You brought us back here, and we’ve been hanging around the house all day.” I jut my lip out and challenge him with a stare. “Go check the cameras if you don’t believe us. My dad put them all over the place for my protection.” I glare at him, visualizing riddling his body with bullets and stabbing him all over.
It helps, a little.
The sperm donor stares me down, and I dish it back at him and then some. “You saw Ares’s reaction at the crypt. He knew none of this. Whatever you think he’s done, you’re wrong. Now let him go, or you’ll have an even bigger problem.” I fold my arms across my chest, I drill him with a look as I place my hand on Ares’s shoulder.
Carter repockets his gun and clears his throat a few seconds later. “Very well.” He looks up at his men. “Ransom, go check the cameras. The rest of you, fall back and wait for me outside.”
The house clears out quickly, and I will my frantically beating heart to slow down. That was a close call.
Ares rotates his neck as he stands, shooting daggers at dear old dad, and I would bet my inheritance he is imagining various ways to murder the motherfucker.
We can exchange ideas later.
“We might as well go over some arrangements while we wait for my man to verify the situation,” Carter says, moving over to the island unit and peering into the Chinese takeout cartons. “That stuff will rot your insides,” he says, looking over at me with a grimace. “Your body is a temple, Ashley. You should treat it as such.”
“It’s a bit late to be acting all parental.” I snatch the carton out from under his nose. “And I leave the body worshiping to my men.” I waggle my brows and grin as my gaze dances between Ares and Jase.
Jase flashes me a dazzling smile as I slide onto the stool beside him, leaning into his hot body. He presses his warm mouth to my ear. “I’m down for some worshiping after dinner.” He peers deep into my eyes in a way that almost hypnotizes me, and my heart beats faster as a throbbing ache takes up residence between my thighs. Jase has smoldering good looks that suck me in and mesmerize me. One heated look often has me melting at his feet.
“You can thank me any day now,” Carter says, snapping me out of my daze.
We all stare at him like he’s grown horns.
His dry chuckle rings out in the silent kitchen as he waggles his fingers between Jase and me. “You two lovebirds get to spend the rest of your lives together. You’re welcome.”
“I was never marrying Julia,” Jase says. “I would have found a way to marry Ash without your interference.”
“Don’t be ungrateful. It will only put me in a bad mood.”
Bree snorts before cracking up laughing. It’s infectious, and a few titters escape my lips. Bree’s grin widens when Carter narrows his eyes in her direction. He does not like to be made fun of, but his hands are tied. He needs us alive to do his dirty work, so he’ll have to suck it up.
I make a silent vow to rile him up any chance I get.
But I should probably tread carefully until we get Chad back. I don’t want him taking it out on him.
That thought sobers me up. “Was there a reason for your visit besides your ridiculous accusation?” Scooping up a large forkful of chicken fried rice, I stuff it in my mouth, knowing it will piss him off.
