“Let her go, or I’m going public with you rigging games,” Cole continued. “I’ve got everything I need.”
Carter’s laugh was ugly and dismissive. “Public? Cole, you’ve got no idea what you’ve walked into.” His shoe pressed against my shoulder, rolling me onto my back. Pain lanced through my chest. “But please, continue. Tell me how you think this ends.”
“It ends with you in prison.” Cole’s voice was steady, but I could hear the fear underneath. “You’ve fucked over a lot of people in your life, Father, and they’re all going to want a piece of you. I’ve got everything I need to prove it.”
“Do you?” Carter stepped away from me, and, selfishly, I sighed with relief. I blinked and made out Cole standing near his father’s desk, hands clenched, face dark with rage. Our eyes met, but I couldn’t read a thing in his expression.
Why had he come? Stupid, so fucking stupid. I’d traded myself for my father, and now, Cole was going to die too. Everything I touched turned to ash, and everyone I’d tried to protect just ended up in more danger.
My valve clicked wrong again, and I gasped, clawing at the carpet. How long did I have before it failed completely? Fuck. I needed to do something, anything, to distract Carter so Cole could get away, but my body wouldn’t cooperate, my limbs heavy and unresponsive.
Why hadn’t he just let me trade myself for my father and let this go? He was going to lose everything.
“Why haven’t you used that evidence,son?” The word was bitter, poison as it came out. “Why did you come here alone, without it, without any backup?”
“Because you have Eva!” The rawness in Cole’s voice echoed in my chest, aching. “Because I know you, and I know you want me to watch while you hurt her.”
I opened my mouth to speak but couldn’t force air out of my chest.Fuck! Walk away, Cole!
I forced myself up onto my elbows, every muscle screaming. Carter’s shoe had left a bruise blooming across my ribs. My vision swam, but I could see Cole’s face now—pale, determined, furious, with an edge of terror turning him unhinged.
For me. He was terrifiedfor me.
Cole had come alone, walked into his father’s trap, sacrificed everything—for me. Me, who never asked for help. Me, who’d agreed to spy on him so his father could destroy him. Me, who constantly pushed him away.
He’d come for me. Despite everything, he’d come.
“Now you’re learning,” Carter said, his smile vicious. “Yes, I want you to watch. I want you to see the consequences of betrayal, when you chose this fucking nobody over everything I built, everything I was ready to give you.”
He circled his desk. “Do you know what’s happening right now, son? While you’re here playing hero?”
Cole’s jaw clenched.
“Every building in your name is being sold. The money’s moving offshore into accounts that can’t be traced to me.” Carter’s smile widened. “But they can be traced to you.”
The pit in the bottom of my stomach deepened.No no no no no.
“The fixed games? Phone calls from an account in your name. The betting operations? Instructions with your signature on it. Everything points back to Cole Carter, a promising athlete who got greedy.”
“You’re insane,” Cole breathed. “All this because of some bad bets?”
“Half a billion dollars in bad bets, in businesses betting on betting, in deals canceled because I couldn’t comethrough for something so fucking petty,” Jed snarled. “I intend to survive this, and that means you can’t.”
“You’re insane,” Cole breathed.
“No,” Jed said. “I’m smart. By tomorrow morning, I’ll be on a plane to a country without extradition, and you’ll be here, under arrest.”
The pieces came together in my fuzzy brain. Jed thought he could escape the consequences of his actions by starting over somewhere new with millions in stolen money, leaving his dead son to take the fall.
“You won’t get away with this,” Cole snarled.
“I already have.” Carter smiled. “The only question is whether you watch her die, or if I’m merciful and kill you first.”
“Let her go,” Cole said again. “She’s nothing to you.”
“She is, indeed, nothing,” Carter agreed.
Fuck you,I wanted to snarl. I’d survived poverty, a failing heart, and months of Carter’s blackmail. I’d protected my father. I’d given upeverything. And this monster thought I was nothing?