Carrie sucked in a breath and didn’t dare to move. It was coming, she thought. He was going to let it slip what he’d done. If the recording could just pick up the sound through her jeans and shirt, he’d get trapped behind bars no matter what he did to her now.
“What do you want?” Jace’s voice was pure steel.
“You know what I want.” Walter tightened his grip, causing Carrie to choke as his thick arm pressed into her neck. “I want your assets. You wouldn’t have them if it wasn’t for me.”
“You may have given me an early loan, but I built this all myself.”
“I know all about your gambling, son. Not everything you got was due to hard work.”
“Don’t you dare call me son.”
Sarah shifted out of the corner of Carrie’s eye. She’d been standing out of the way, still and silent during the entire exchange. Walter was so focused on Jace that Carrie didn’t think he’d notice, but he swung toward her with a roar that caused Carrie’s veins to freeze.
“Stay there!” Walter’s hand shook as it held the gun against Carrie’s neck. Her ears began to ring as her body trembled. She closed her eyes and tried to remember how to breathe, but images of death flashed on the backs of her eyelids.
“And now you can see my problem,” Walter said, his lips close to her ear. “You all know the truth about what I’ve done, and I can see now you’re going to keep fighting me on this. How do I know you didn’t make copies of everything?”
“The truth?” Carrie whispered, still squeezing her eyes tight. “You mean about how you had Anders Holland killed so you could frame Jace for it?”
“It would have worked if you all hadn’t kept poking at it,” he said. “And I can see now you won’t stop, not as long as Carrie Simmons is still in the picture.”
“Don’t you dare to anything to hurt Carrie,” Jace said, his voice catching. Her eyes flew open to see him moving toward her, and she’d never seen him look more frantic in his life. His steel wall had fallen away to reveal a broken and terrified man, vulnerability written all over his face. She wished she could reach out and put him back together, because right now, she knew this was exactly what Walter Holt wanted to see.
“You won’t stop fighting me as long as she’s alive,” Walter said, dragging the gun from Carrie’s neck to her skull. “And when the cops find your paramour killed in cold blood in your penthouse, there’ll be nothing to stop you from being locked up once and for all.”
Sarah gasped. “You can’t do that. I’ve seen the whole thing.”
Shut up, Sarah. Don’t give him a reason to kill you, too.
Walter barked out a laugh. “No one will believe you.”
“I’ll do anything you want,” Jace said, holding his hands up and opening them wide. “Anything. I’ll sign over all my assets to you if that’s what it’ll take. Just let Carrie go.”
“You think I’ll trust you after everything you’ve done against me?” Walter shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
Jace’s face crumbled, but after several silent seconds, a new resolve lit his eyes. “Then just shoot me instead. You want me out of the way? Fine. Here I am. You don’t need to send me to jail to get my assets when you can take me out right here and now.”
“Jace!” Carrie cried out, her heart lurching into her throat. He couldn’t be serious. She wouldn’t let him do this for her.
But Walter was pushing Carrie to the floor and lifting the gun right at Jace’s heart. “What an excellent alternative.”
“Run, Carrie,” Jace whispered. Before she could blink, the bullet hit his chest.
Jace awoke to bright lights and whirring machines. His entire body ached, his head pounding as if it’d been hit by a hammer a hundred times. Groaning, he peeled open his eyes and twisted his head to find Carrie hunched over on his bed, her eyes closed and her cheeks wet. He glanced down at the heavy bandages on his chest and the IV running into his arm, the scent of disinfectant hanging heavy in the air.
“Carrie?” he asked quietly, not wanting to wake her but yearning to see her gorgeous eyes. He had no idea what had happened after the gunshot went off, but all that mattered now was that she was safe.
Carrie shot up, eyes wide and red. She gasped and clutched his hand just as tears bubbled down her cheeks. Even in this state, she was the most gorgeous thing he’d ever laid eyes on. “Jace. Oh, thank god. I was scared you’d never wake up. The doctors said…it doesn’t matter.”
“What the hell happened?” he asked, groaning as he shifted to face her. He might have ached all over, but his body still begged to shift as close to her as he could possibly get.
“Your father shot you.” Her face clouded over. “Sarah managed to drag me out of there before he could take us out, too, and we went straight to her cop friend downstairs. Walter was gone by the time we got back, but it didn’t take long for the police to track him down.”
“They arrested him?” Jace asked.
Carrie smiled so big her lips stretched across her entire face. “I managed to get it all on recording. He’s going to be locked up for a very, very long time. And all the charges against you have been dropped. We’re free, Jace.”
“Come here.” Jace strained to sit up, but Carrie gently pressed him back down on the bed. He didn’t want to listen, even though his aches and pains urged him not to move. The need for her was almost overwhelming.
“You need to rest, Jace. You took a bullet in your chest.”
“I need to kiss you, and my god, I need to bury myself deep inside your body.” Jace reached out and traced a finger down her neck. “I was scared to death I was going to lose you.”
“Rest now.” She smiled and dropped a kiss on his lips. “We’ll have plenty of time for that later.”
Carrie helped Jace through his penthouse door, his body leaning heavily onto hers. The hospital had finally released him into home care after another week recovering from his wound. He was lucky. They all were. And now they were finally back home.
Jace eased onto the couch, let out a deep sigh, and settled against the soft cushions. “I’ve never been happier to see this place. It’s been far too long since we had some private time together.”
“Easy tiger,” Carrie said as she moved toward the kitchen to get the mail that had been delivered in his absence. She grabbed the stack of envelopes and a small box that had arrived the day before. “We don’t want to rip your stitches.”
“Fuck my stitches.” His eyes went hot as she handed him his mail. “My cock sorely misses you.”
“These came for you.” She decided to change the subject, though she couldn’t help the smile that donned her lips. Jace’s appetite for her presence had only seemed to grow since the incident the week before. He never wanted her to leave his side, and she had to admit she was basking in the attention.
The only hours they’d been apart had been at his instruction, and she’d been so busy with the launch of her new law firm that the time had flown by. Now they were here, together. She still hadn’t moved in officially, but he’d been hinting that she should. There was nothing to keep them apart anymore. Everyone knew about their relationship. Her mother didn’t care. Walter Holt was behind bars, and his two helping hands had been found and caught right along with him. It was all finally over. Except for Carrie and Jace. She felt as if they had only just begun, and she couldn’t wait to see where their life together would lead.
Jace fingered the small box that had been hand-delivered the day before. “I wanted to do this differently, but I don’t think I can wait a single moment longer, Carrie.”
“What are you talking about?” Carrie cocked her head.
“Close your eyes,” he commanded, his face more serious now than she’d ever seen.
Confused, Carrie obeyed. She hoped he wasn’t planning on tearing off her clothes, because as much as her body yearned for him, she didn’t want to delay his recovery. They’d been told that “vigorous” activity was off-limits, and she planned to
enforce that between them as long as she could hold out…which she expected wouldn’t be very long…
After several long moments, Jace finally spoke again. “Okay, you can open them now.”
Carrie opened her eyes and gasped. Jace had lowered himself to the floor, one knee digging into the carpet while he held himself steady on the other. In his raised hand, he had a ring that sparkled from a tiny Tiffany’s box. Carrie’s heart began to race as her face warmed. There was no way this could be real. She had to be dreaming.
“Carrie Simmons,” Jace said with a deep breath, staring up at her with a look of adoration on his handsome face. “No other woman in the world has ever made me feel even a fraction of the love I feel for you. I never want to spend another day of my life without you in it. You are my heart, I want to spend the rest of my life in your arms. Will you marry me?”
Tears poured down Carrie’s face, and her smile was so big her cheeks ached. Heart soaring, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his mouth. After several long moments, she pulled away, gasping and breathless and full of so much life.
“Yes, yes, yes.” Her heart had never felt so full. “Yes, Jace Holt. I will marry you.”
Their lips came together again, and Carrie lost herself to Jace’s touch. He was hers, and she was his, and they could finally be together, fully and completely, the way they’d both always dreamed of.
THE END.
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