Dangerous Beauty: Part One: Destiny (29 page)

“Ahh!”

Carter heard a man howl in pain, but she didn’t hear a gun go off. She opened her eyes and saw Nathan looking in the direction behind her with wide eyes and his mouth agape. Carter turned her head to the direction of the emergency exit and saw a woman resembling herself running quickly for Mitchell, who was staring at a knife stuck in his hand in shock, his gun on the floor in front of him.

Mother?

Anastacia rushed straight for Mitchell, and tackled him to the floor. She straddled his plump body, and before he could do anything to stop her, she pushed a large gold knife slowly into his throat. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Mitchell. You will never take her away from me again.” Her tone was cold, as she looked into Mitchell’s wide horror filled eyes.

The sound of Mitchell’s throat filling with blood filled the room. Anastacia let go of the knife and removed two small knives from a holster on her side. She flipped the knives in each hand and stuck them in each of Mitchell’s eyes.

Carter sighed with relief, and let her head fall back. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” she cried softly over and over again. She knew she should be shocked right now, but all she could do was be thankful that Nathan was still alive.

Carter felt hands untying her restraints. She knew it was her mother because the hands were much smaller than Nathan’s. Carter didn’t care who it was she just needed to get out of this damn chair. She lifted her head and stared into her mother’s hazel eyes. They were right, their eyes were identical.

“Mo-mom,” Carter whispered. “Mom,” Carter sobbed and whined deliriously.

Anastacia leaned forward and wiped the tears from Carter’s face. “Shh. Don’t cry Carterina, mama is here. I’m sorry it took me so long,” Anastacia cooed. She placed her hand on the back of Carter’s head and kissed her forehead lovingly. She heard Carter’s labored breathing and felt something warm cover her hand and she frowned. Anastacia removed her hands from Carter’s head, and her breath caught in her throat. Blood covered her hand. “Nathan, get over here, now!” Anastacia looked into Carter’s eyes. They were hazy, unfocused, and heavy.

Nathan snapped out of his shock and ran over to Carter and Anastacia. “What is…” his words died off when he saw the blood covering Anastacia’s hands. He fell to his knees next to Carter and took off his shirt. He applied pressure to her wound and brought her to his chest, holding her in his arms. “Oh God Carter, stay awake, honey. I’m going to get you to a hospital, stay awake,” he said frantically. Careful not to move her head too much, Nathan stood up with her in his arms and ran toward the elevator.

Carter looked up at Nathan with heavy eyes and smiled. He was alive, but she didn’t know how much longer she would be. She touched his face lovingly, “I love you, Nathan Salerno,” she whispered feeling darkness taking over. She touched the back of her head and saw the blood that covered her fingertips. Tears filled her eyes. “I’m bleeding” she cried.

“No, baby, don’t look at that.” He placed her blood covered fingers on his face. “Look at me, honey, and stay awake. Do you hear me? Don’t fall asleep” he said as he frantically pressed the elevator button.

“I love you so much, Nathan,” she whispered as tears began to fall from her eyes.

“I love you too, baby,” Nathan said feeling tears falling from his eyes. “But you have to stay awake. Let’s talk about something, anything. What about the wedding? Let’s talk about the wedding.” he looked down at Carter. Her eyes were closed. “No, no, no, no, no, no, open your eyes for me, baby.” Her eyes peeked open. “Stay with me, honey, please,” he begged as he pressed the button for the elevator again wondering what the hell was taking it so long.

“I can’t anymore, it hurts too much now,” she whispered.

“Yes you can! I need you to be strong for me.”

Carter smiled weakly. “My, bubby” she whispered “I love you…”

“Carter, please” Nathan begged desperately “I can’t…Carter?” Nathan looked down at Carter. Her eyes were closed “Carter wake up, baby,” he cried. “Wake up, Carter, please. Let me see your eyes, honey.”

Nathan began to panic. He touched her face, softly. “Carter, I’m begging you, baby, open your eyes! Carter, please! Carter! Honey, open your eyes! Carter, wake up!”

Born and raised in Missouri, I am a dreamer. I am in my 20’s and have a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. My dream is to one day make a mark in this world. I want to do something that I will be remembered for, be someone people can respect. I have a big heart, and even bigger smile. A perfect evening for me would include a glass of wine, chocolate, and a romance novel on my kindle.  I love to read a good story. I have an overactive imagination and enjoy putting together a good story with raw emotion and shocking secrets. Dangerous Beauty is the first novel I have ever written and I hope to write many more in the future.

If you enjoyed this book, please recommend it to your friends and write a review. If you would like to be the first to know about upcoming releases, contests, and more, send me an email at [email protected] with “subscribe” as the subject. Feel free to email any other comments or questions too. I love to hear from my readers. You can also find out more about me and find out about future releases at MichelleHLuvs.com.

To my mother, my number one fan, I love you. Thank you for your support, love, and encouragement.

To my Grandmother, thank you for loving me, for praying with me, and for believing in me. You are truly a beautiful person my beautiful Grammy Buns.

To Celeste, Latricia, and Tim-esha. You guys are totally awesome at being my sister’s. Even though you guys are super unpredictable, crazy, and give me many, many premature  gray hairs, I love you!

To my Father, thank you for always making me feel like a rock star whenever you brag about how cool I am to your brothers and sisters.

To my baby nephews Ethan and Aydan…Just met you and I already love you…

To Dewy Moss LLP. Thank you for giving me a chance, a platform, a place to live out my dream of being an author. I’m excited about this journey. Thank you for signing me and believing in my story. You guys are Awesome!

Lastly I would like to thank my overactive imagination. Many people in my life wondered how a goofy, bubbly good girl like me actually managed to create characters that differ so greatly from me. Well, I owe that to my overactive imagination. I’m always dreaming up good stories, or awesome TV show ideas, and I never took the time to appreciate it until now.

Carter opened her eyes.

Everything was blurry and it was bright as hell in this room. She tried to lift her hand up so she could cover her eyes, but it wouldn’t move. It was as if something heavy was weighing it down. Her second effort to move was successful, and she pulled lose from the weight. She shielded her eyes and sat up in the extremely comfortable bed, blinking, trying to figure out where the hell she was. She looked around the room. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t her room. As Carter pushed the comforter down from her body she caught a glimpse of her hand. There was an IV in her right hand, and next to the bed there was medical equipment!

What the hell?

She noticed a flash of light reflected off of her left hand. She lifted her hand and stared at the huge diamond ring on her finger. Carter frowned and blinked rapidly, “What is this?” she whispered. “Where-

She stopped talking to herself when the door burst opened. Relief rushed through Carter at the sight of a familiar face.

“Carter!” Kyle yelled as he ran to her and pulled her into his arms.

Carter held on to him tighter than she had ever held on to a person in her life and cried, “Kyle I don’t know what’s going on,” she cried. “Please take me away from here, please”.

Kyle pulled back from her and cupped her face. A tear fell from his beautiful blue eyes and Carter shot up on her knees and held his face with both of her hands. “Kyle what’s wrong?” she asked, panicking at the site of his tears. She had never seen him cry before.

“Nothing angel, nothing’s wrong anymore” he said softly as he tenderly stroked her hair.

“What’s going on?” She asked hoping Kyle didn’t betray her. “I don’t know where I am? Help me, please. I thought…I thought we cared for each other. I need you to tell me why I’m here. You’re the only person I trust,” she moved closer to him. “You’re my best friend,” she said softly hoping to God he still was.

Kyle smiled, leaned forward, and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. “I love you Carter, you know that.”

Carter lovingly wiped the single tear from his face and looked in his eyes, seeing the honesty in his words. “You’re telling the truth”. She smiled, gave him a soft kiss on his lips, and then wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tight. “I love you too” she whispered “Please take me home Kyle”.

“You are home angel”.

Carter backed away a bit and frowned. Why was he saying that? “Kyle I live in Hope Beach, you know where I live. I’m just a damn waitress! I can’t afford a home like this,” she said getting irritated with him.

“Do you trust me Carter?”

“I…”

Kyle put his finger to her lips silencing her.

“You were hurt angel, very badly. You almost died, but you survived a very bad head injury.” Kyle took Carter’s hand and placed it on the back of her head softly. “Feel it Carter.”

Carter pushed her thick hair aside until she felt the evidence of her injury. She looked up at Kyle with wide confused eyes. Kyle took her hand from her wound and held it in his.

Carter frowned suddenly becoming serious. “What the hell happened to me? Who did this?”

“A dead man honey.”

“How did this dead man do this? How did I let this happen?”

“He caught you off guard baby,” Kyle said sadly. “We were all caught off guard by this.”

Carter frowned. “I-I can’t be caught off guard Kyle,” she lowered her eyes and frowned. “My father would never approve of such carelessness.”

Kyle cupped her face. “It was an unexpected event sweetheart. We all learned a lesson from it.”

Carter raised her eyes to his, he was still being honest. Thank God.

“There’s no need to be afraid now angel.” Kyle tucked her hair behind her ear.

She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and frowned. “I’m not afraid” she lied firmly. She was scared shitless, but she hated being told she was afraid of something. She shook off what she could of her fear and continued to search for clarity.  “I have on a ring,” she continued, “You said this is my house. Are—” she placed her hand on his chest and looked into his eyes “Am I your wife Kyle? Did we get married?” she asked him meekly.

Carter wasn’t opposed to being Kyle’s wife, she loves him. She could see how their love for one another could easily become romantic. It may take her some time, but she was sure she’d remember eventually.