Next to his cousins' graves was Danielle's. He was sorry he missed the funeral just so he could spit on her corpse. She had deliberately started the fire that had killed his cousins and her own parents. Oh, no one could prove it, but everyone knew it was her fault—hers and Luigi's, the contractor she had been shacking up with in the old Victorian.
Though Carter was forcing himself to wake up early, he couldn't fall asleep at night. In the evenings, he would go out, trying to distract himself. At first, he tried going to one of the bars in the area, but they were super fancy, and the clientele skewed much older than Carter. Instead, he would drive around the town late at night or stay up and cyberstalk Allie.
A few days before he was scheduled to be in New York City, Carter tagged along with his mother while she went to oversee the renovation of her house.
"It's coming along nicely," she said.
Several of the rooms were gutted, and they walked into what remained of the kitchen.
"It really needed to be reconfigured," she said. "It was the first room I designed right after Mark was born. I didn't exactly know what I needed then. The new theme for the home is going to be modern French."
"It will be beautiful," Carter said, looking around. "It's good you aren't living here during the renovation."
"Of course," she said.
He knew she was thinking of the fire.
"Why does Dad hate me so much?" Carter asked Nancy.
"Your father doesn't hate you," Nancy said. "He's just flustered. The last few years have been hard on him."
"They've been hard on everyone," Carter replied.
"I know. Come with me to the club for lunch! I'm so happy to finally have you all to myself! We'll meet your father and Harris there. Harris needs to leave the house. He's driving Stefan up a wall."
When they arrived at the club, Nancy told him, "We have to sit in the bar. They're still patching up from the incident last year."
Grant had saved the diners when would-be hostage takers had stormed the clubhouse. Several of the large historic windows had been broken, the plaster ceiling had been destroyed, and there had been bullet holes everywhere.
"It's a historic building," Nancy explained, "and it has been a trial being granted approval to start the work. It's turning out nicely, though. I had a tour with the board the other day."
Harris and Jack were already seated in the bar room when Carter and Nancy walked in.
After they were seated, Nancy asked, "What would you like, Harris?"
"I wish my favorite son were here. He can't even make time for his own father," his grandfather grumbled.
"Walter is busy running the company," Jack said.
"I thought it wasyourcompany," Harris said. "Oh, right. Walter snatched it right out from under you."
Jack gripped his water glass tightly.
"He had to," Harris said, patting Jack's hand. "You didn't have the wherewithal to make the company successful. Walter did, and now you're a billionaire. You should be thankful for Walter. He is such a phenomenal son. He's someone you can be proud of."
"He took the company in a direction I had no intention of going, but yes, I suppose he was successful," Jack said bitterly.
"And Carter is just like him," Harris said. "I expect great things from you, my boy."
Carter nodded. He felt a little bad for his father. He sipped his drink that the waiter brought, hoping his grandfather would go to a different subject.
"Where are all the young women?" Harris said, looking around. "Carter! You need to invite your friends over."
"They're all busy," Carter replied.
"Have you tried this new dating app?" Harris asked, pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket. "You just swipe on the people you like."
"No one is going to swipe you," Carter scoffed.
