As he walked back to the penthouse in the chilly evening, Carter felt more and more alarmed as he sobered up. Had he really said those hurtful things to Allie?
"What were you thinking?" he yelled out to himself.
"Woman troubles?" an old man who was smoking on his front stoop said to him.
"Of course," Carter said.
"People think flowers are good, but pizza and wine are the way to go," the man offered.
"Thanks," Carter said weakly. "I'll keep that in mind."
He didn't think pizza and alcohol were going to cut it. He couldn't face Allie the next day, plus he felt sick from his binge drinking.
Grant didn't want to babysit him, so he packed him in a car back to New Cardiff.
"What's the matter?" Nancy said to him when he arrived, leading him to the table, where a steaming bowl of soup waited for him.
"Allie," he said after a moment.
Nancy gave him a sympathetic look as Walter and Jack walked into the sunroom.
"Sometimes when two people experience a traumatic event together, it can either bring them closer together or push them way apart," Walter told him, patting him on the shoulder.
"Allie doesn't strike me as the type of person to get too shook up about a kidnapping," Nancy said. "Something else must have happened."
Carter stirred his soup around.
"I'm sure she'll come around," Jack said blandly.
Walter looked at Jack. "What did you do?"
"Nothing," he said, holding up his hands.
"Jack!" Nancy said threateningly.
Carter raised his head to look at his father. "You always try to ruin my life," he said slowly.
"I only told her the truth, that she isn't good enough for you and that you deserve someone better, Carter. She's ruining your life. Stacy, her violent ex-boyfriend and his brother, the car accident."
His father looked startled as Carter barked out a laugh.
"That was me," Carter said to Jack's inquisitive look. "I was driving, and I asked her to take the blame—paid her to take the blame."
"Oh," Jack said, his face falling, "I—"
"Why didn't Allie tell us?" Walter exclaimed. "We were so awful to her that night. I think I threatened to hurt her!"
"I asked her not to," Carter said. "It was me. All of this was me. I told her to behave that way. I went to talk to Stacy. I left her alone. I found the embezzlement scheme and didn't do enough to mitigate any potential fallout. I let you all think she was the bad influence, when really, I screwed up and she covered for me."
"Carter, I…"
"I don’t care," Carter said, not looking at his father. "I don’t care what you think of me. I don’t care that you are disappointed in me. I’ll never be what you want, so it doesn’t matter. But the way you all treated Allie, especially you, Dad, is really unforgivable. So I quit. I’m done. Burn my inheritance. I don’t care. I don't want to be part of this family anymore."
Carter walked upstairs to grab his bag. As he took out several items Kate had packed that he didn't think he would need, Walter knocked on the door of his suite and let himself in.
"Carter, stop," he said, taking the bag from him. "I care about you. We all care about you."
"Allie doesn't want to be with me," Carter mumbled.
