Carter shook his head and turned to look out of the window. “It must really bug the shit out of you that I have the biggest share-holding in the company you were primed to take over, huh?”

“Not as much as it must bug the shit out of you that we have control over your money every month.” Carter’s head snapped back to Austin, whose face was pinched and hard. He sat forward. “I’d bear that in mind before you start with your sanctimonious bullshit, Carter. I kept your ass out of prison once; I can sure as hell get it back in there.”

Carter became very still. “You threatening me, Ford?”

“No,” Austin replied, “just reminding you that you’re not the only one with a set of cards to play.”

Carter was silent for a considerable amount of time before he continued in a low, even voice. “The money I receive, I have every right to claim. It’s mine. In fact, I should get more—”

“You would, if you didn’t have a criminal record.”

Carter hid the flinch of rage that pricked at his throat when Austin interrupted him. In truth, Carter couldn’t have given two shits about the money. He never had. What he cared about was that he was the rightful owner of the shares of which Austin spoke. Adam, who placed a very formal-looking document in front of Carter, broke the game of stare-down between Carter and Austin.

“You haven’t brought any legal representation,” Adam said pointedly. “It would be better if—”

“I can read, Adam. Just explain what it says and cut to the chase,” Carter barked, making his cousin flinch. “My lawyer can peruse that shit at his leisure.”

Adam fiddled with his cuffs and exhaled. “Upon dilution of your current shares, the money you receive monthly would be tripled. For life,” he said. “Instead of paying for an acquisition with shares, we’re offering you new shares in the firm. Shares worth in the region of five million—”

Carter snorted in derision. “Five million? Are you shitting me?”

He looked incredulously from Adam to Austin and back again. Both men remained silent. Carter rubbed his face in disbelief, aching for a smoke. “We all know the shares I own are in excess of five hundred million,” he scoffed. “I was expecting to be impressed with your offer, not insulted.” Carter pushed the papers across Austin’s desk and slammed back in his seat. “Try again.”

Austin visibly bristled and took a deep breath that made his shoulders lift. “For someone who claims to not give a shit about the business, you sure seem to be protective and knowledgeable about it all.”

“Austin,” Carter fumed. “There is a huge fucking difference between not giving a shit and not appreciating being handled and played by an asshole who thinks he’s God’s gift because he wears an expensive suit. I went to prison, not fucking dunce school. Your offer is shit. You know it. I know it. So, like I said, try again.”

The silence was deafening. “Fine,” Austin murmured. “I’ll get my law team and finance team to reevaluate, and we’ll get back to you.”

“Can’t wait,” Carter retorted. “May I be excused?” he asked with his hands on the arms of his chair.

Austin didn’t answer but dipped his chin minutely, his stare fierce and angry.

“Thank fuck,” Carter grumbled. “I have a literature session to get to.”

As Carter stood, he noticed both his cousins react instantly to his words. Adam, who was still standing to Carter’s left, shifted nervously, while Austin rubbed his palms together.

“Oh yes,” Austin said as Carter began walking across the office. “How is Kat?”

Carter froze with his hand on the door and gripped the cold steel in his fist. The question hung around the room like a putrid smell. It was, to anyone who didn’t know better, a simple, polite question. To Carter, the question reeked of a possessiveness that nobody but him had any right to feel. How the fuck did he know Kat?

Carter’s heart pinched. He turned slowly, attempting to keep his expression neutral. Still, as soon as his eyes met Austin’s, Carter knew he was on thin ice. Asshole knew. What exactly wasn’t clear, but he knew something. Carter’s eyes darted to Adam, who was now apparently fascinated with his shoes.

Carter took a breath. “Kat,” he replied through a tight throat, “is just fine.”

Like a snake ready to strike, Austin smiled. “Oh, good,” he said with too much enthusiasm. “I was hoping she was.”

“Were you?” Carter seethed. His right eye twitched and his nostrils flared.

“Absolutely,” Austin replied, standing from his seat. He moved around his desk. “Oh, didn’t you know? Adam’s engaged to Beth, who’s known Kat for years. We’re friends, Kat and I. I knew she had family to see in DC and Chicago, so I haven’t seen her since her birthday party.”

Carter swallowed and bit his tongue so hard he could taste blood. “Birthday party?”

It was then that Carter noticed the absence of Austin’s wedding ring.

“Oh, yeah,” Austin answered. “We had dinner. Then I drove her home. We had a great time.” He fucking grinned. “She loved my gift. She’s a great girl. Beautiful, too, but I guess … you know that.”

Carter shook with ferocious violence.

Austin and Kat had dinner? She’d been with him. In his car. Alone? Had she invited him up to her apartment? Did that mean they’d …?

Bile rose in his throat at the same time an agonizing pain hacked through him.

Austin continued. “I’m planning to take her out again, you know, go on a date and get her mind off work and less important matters.” Austin gestured toward Carter and grinned. “Like her students.”

Through the furious red haze, Carter could see the son of a bitch was goading him, taunting him, like a kid with a stick through the bars of the lion’s cage, waiting for the inevitable snap, wanting him to lash out and play right into Austin’s greedy fucking hands.

Sure enough, the rope of sanity Carter was holding on to within himself was thinning rapidly, while the grip he had on it was tenuous at best. He wanted nothing more than to grab Austin by his neck, rip off his balls with his bare hands, and throw him out of his office window.

But then, where would that leave him? Where would that leave Kat? His ass would be sent back to prison quicker than he could say, Fuck you, Ford. Parole would be a thing of the past. He and Kat would be a thing of the past.

With Herculean effort, and with the image of his Peaches the night before, writhing and begging for him as he fucked her in his bed, Carter took a huge breath.

“Well, Austin,” he said through clenched teeth, “I’ll be sure to let Kat know you were asking about her.”

Austin was instantly perplexed. Carter turned back toward the door.

“But I wouldn’t hold your breath for that phone call,” Carter added, glaring over his shoulder at his cousin.

“Oh, really?” Austin spat, no longer hiding the aggressive jealousy in his voice. “And why’s that?”

“Well, as you pointed out, she’s busy with her students. And with me”—he glanced down at his own crotch before looking back at Austin with a smug-ass grin on his face—“her hands are always full.”

Without waiting for a response, Carter yanked the office door open, causing the hinges to squeal in protest. The inevitable slam behind him was all that Carter heard as he stormed through the lobby, past the raven-haired bitch at her desk, while lighting a cigarette and flipping a finger at the No Smoking sign above the WCS exit.

* * *

As the clock struck five after four, Kat found herself alone in the reading room of the library, playing on her newly purchased iPhone. She’d had a free couple of hours between leaving Arthur Kill and her session with Carter, and had managed to make it home to upload all that she needed onto it. She couldn’t live without her music. Not for another day.

She’d been more than a little hesitant about putting the rescued SIM card from her old phone into it, and as the phone began to beep incessantly with missed calls, voice mail messages, e-mails, and texts, she suddenly realized why. She scrolled through them slowly. Beth’s name, her mother’s, Ben’s, Adam’s, Austin’s, and Carter’s all made appearances. After listening to the fifth voice mail from her mother, she deleted the remaining six, not wanting or needing to hear her abhorrence one more time.