“Fine. But only if I decide the truth might hurt her.”
“It will. I told you he crossed a line.” She enters the kitchen, taking a seat opposite Carter. “The night I ran, I woke up and found him in my bed... masturbating.”
Rage claws my chest, the images her words paint tearing into me like the rusty-toothed blade Broadway inserted into Vincent’s neck. I take a step toward her, itching to pull her into my arms, but she holds up a hand, stopping me.
“Hejerked offin your bed?” Koby asks, disbelief layering his tone. “You’ll have to elaborate.”
“You want to know what his dick looks like?” she snaps, defensive under the scrutiny. “He was drunk—”
“Being drunk doesn’t excuse jacking off over his stepdaughter,” Broadway pipes in.
“No, it doesn’t, but the blame is on me.” Bianca sighs, briefly hiding her face in her hands. “At least a bit. I should’ve left sooner. He’d been inappropriate when he was sober as well. He called me sweetheart, held my hand. One time he tucked me in when he thought I was asleep, brushed my hair over my ear. He kept saying I reminded him of his wife...”
Broadway makes a gagging sound. “That sick son of a bitch. Not to ruffle any feathers, Carter, but didn’t he used to say the same thing about Hailey?”
“Don’t,” Carter snaps in a low, threatening growl. The mere suggestion of Hailey not being one hundred percent safe or comfortable, even if it’s ancient history, sends this man over the edge. “Don’t fucking insinuate anything.”
Broadway straightens his spine. “Sorry, Boss. I’m sure she would’ve told you if—”
“Hedidn’ttouch her,” Carter insists, rolling his shoulders as if to soothe the tension knotting his muscles. “No, this is a new item on Charles Vaughn’s list of fuck-ups.”
“I pushed him off the bed, grabbed my bag, and ran,” Bianca adds. “I didn’t know where I was going until I walked into the bus station.”
Koby exhales sharply, shaking his head. “That bastard’s losing it,” he mutters. “How much lower can he stoop?”
“It’s sick but it makes sense,” Broadway admits. “Vaughn’s been making one mistake after another since he lost his wife. He’s been trying to fill the void but keeps failing.”
“If he thinks he can replace her with you, he’ll try to grab you again,” Carter says. “You should’ve told me sooner. He’s obviously unstable. Unstable men are fucking dangerous.”
“It’s embarrassing,” she whispers.
“Why?” I ask, frowning. “You did nothing wrong.”
“I should’ve left sooner but it... it was crazy to even suspect he might be into me. He’s twice my age. I’m hisstepdaughter. I didn’t have a normal father, so I kept telling myself that’s how dads act. They’re protective, they—Ugh, I was an idiot.”
“You weren’t,” I insist, crouching beside her, my hands on her thighs. “He abused your trust. That’s not on you.”
She looks like she’s about to argue some more, but Carter beats her to the punch. “There’ll be a rotation of men outside. Two at all times.”
“What’s the plan for Vaughn?” I ask.
I already have a plan. A very simple one: kill the fucker.
Carter’s jaw tightens, eyes narrowing as if he can hear my thoughts and doesn’t approve.
“He needs to be contained,” I press. “You know that. He’s losing his shit. Who know what he might try next?”
“You know I can’t kill him.”
The words hang in the air, the glaringly obvious reason left unsaid: Hailey. Despite everything Vaughn’s done, everything he still might do, Carter won’t issue a kill order on his future father-in-law. It’d hurt Hailey, which is the one thing Carter won’t ever entertain.
Broadway shifts against the counter. “You’re not thinking about letting him off the hook, are you? The man’s unhinged. You heard what Bianca said.”
“Nothing would give me more pleasure than putting a bullet in Vaughn’s head, Broadway, but that’s not happening. He’s unhinged because he’s grieving. He needs help, not an execution.”
Broadway’s eyes damn near bulge out of their sockets. There’s more at the tip of his tongue, I can tell, but he swallows his opinions. Pushing Carter when Hailey’s at the heart of this mess is not a good idea.
“We don’t need to kill him,” I say, navigating the minefield of Carter’s emotions. “But we need to contain him. Catch him. Bring him in. Lock him up. He’s a liability.”
