Deadly Deception - By Andrea Johnson Beck Page 0,41

him but she was unsuccessful. He neared the frame of the door while Anne watched him peer up and down the corridor, then step out to the right. As the blood raced through her veins at Mach speed, her nerves became numb, and her skin tingled with pinpricks of anxiety. The air lay silent; it was abruptly interrupted by the sounds of shuffling feet, followed by two ear-splitting gun shots. Trying to stir the words from her mouth, Anne shouted for Adam. Illuminated by a bolt of lightning, a sinister shadow appeared in the opening to the office.

“No!” Anne shrieked to the malevolent being that stood before her, hearing the click of the gun as Carter aimed at her chest. She closed her eyes and inhaled her last obtainable breath.

CHAPTER 15

Carter appeared closer to her. He lowered the gun to his side and stepped beside her.

“I knew you’d come.”

“Who are you?” Disdain dripped from her lips.

“I know this must appear disconcerting, but it’s just business, Anneliese. That’s it.”

She moved a few feet from him and toward the corner of the room.

“You promised him you wouldn’t kill us if he did what you asked.”

“Well, you should know by now I can’t be trusted, and lying is like breathing for me.”

“Why Sam then?”

“He pissed our money away on some worthless whore he met at a club in Hong Kong, begged me to get them out of China because her boss was after them. He owed him money too. I made a profitable deal with her boss.”

Carter yanked the papers from her clutched hand and tossed them on the floor. Anne watched the damning evidence flutter around her feet.

“What about Adam?”

Carter chuckled and took two steps toward her. Anne slid her back against the wall, slowly inching to the door.

“Adam, Adam, Adam. Well, when he started working for Richard, he didn’t know what he was getting himself into. At first he just sat on the sidelines and took notes, but after he saw the money he could make, greed set in, and the hunger to be number one, to be the big shot. I will say, he had a few lucrative plans, but you can’t win ‘em all.”

He motioned toward the black walkway where Adam’s body was lying, fading away from the gunshot wounds Carter had bestowed upon him minutes earlier. Bile began rising in Anne’s throat. She wanted to run to him, scream at his still body for all the hell he put her through, but also that she needed him and loved him. She wanted to beg him to live, to fight for them. She didn’t want to go against Carter alone but it looked like she was going to have to.

Pushing down every ounce of emotion was torture but necessary. Turning from Adam’s dying form, her hooded gaze locked onto Carter.

“You owed the Montgomerys money. That’s why they wanted him to kill you,” Anne alleged. Carter once again laughed with malice.

“They never asked him to kill me. I lied because I knew you two were conspiring together. Granted they wanted me dead, thanks to Adam and his shit scheme in Chicago. When the investment went sour I had to get out of there but Adam, oh, he decided that he would hide his millions and then snitch to the feds. Thought they could protect him,” he smirked. “Guess not.”

“Carter, we weren’t scheming together on anything. I had no idea this was going on, and I would never be part of something like this! That is blood money!”

Anne’s tears evaporated from the heat that radiated from her face.

“You think I’m going to believe for one minute that he didn’t say anything to you about his hidden wealth? That you weren’t luring me out of hiding so you could take my share and then the Montgomerys would finally end me once and for all?”

“What the hell are talking about?”

Every thunderous crack vibrated the wall Anne was leaning against, pulsating through her from the inside out. Carter’s glare was maddening. He darted toward her. Inches from the door frame, Carter leaped to Anne, pinning her tautly against the wall. His hot breath was unyielding alongside her neck; her heart thumped through her veins, almost throbbing as he pressed his weight into her.

“My Anneliese, we could have taken over the world, just the two of us, but you ruined it. I come back and see that you’re on his side, loving him, trusting him. Do you know how that made me feel?” Carter hissed.