“Good,” Michael said. “You’re turning on me too? The only friend I have in the world. My own brother.”
Carter stood between Michael and their father, who looked ready to punch anyone he could. “I’m not turning on you. This isn’t just about you ruining Mom’s reputation. The press is having an orgy out there. Do you have any idea what they’re going to do with this? They all know Elisha is part of the deal. We have investors.”
“We?” Michael laughed. “You don’t work at Chase Beauty, asshole. Who is this we you’re talking about?”
“Just shut the fuck up,” Carter said. “Shut up and go home.”
“There’s going to be a price to pay for this,” Steven warned. “I was clearly a fool to trust you again. I should have put an end to that deal when I first found out about your affair with that woman.”
“Yeah,” Michael said. “That sounds fair. My sleeping with Elisha is the end of the world, while Carter can fuck Avery all he wants and nobody gives a damn.”
Avery gasped as she looked up. Her eyes went straight to Anthony who looked completely shocked.
Carter’s fist connected with Michael’s jaw in an instant and Michael fell to the ground as fast as a sack of dirt. “You son of a bitch!”
“What?” Michael said, putting his hand on his throbbing jaw. “Everyone knows you’re sleeping together and you’re still the prize of the family. How is it fair that I get treated differently?”
“Avery.” Anthony said her name as more of a question than anything. He made no attempt to hide the utter destruction on his face.
Avery felt a sting in her heart at the betrayed look on her husband’s face. “Anthony, please.”
“Dammit!” His eyes went cold to her before he turned and stormed out of the room.
Avery couldn’t believe this was happening. She turned to Kimberly. “I have to go.”
“No, you don’t,” Carter said, his anger only compounding at the sight of her compassion for her husband. “It’s out now.”
He reached out for her as she passed him, but she slapped his hands away and ran out. She couldn’t think of Carter, Kimberly, or even herself. Anthony was all that mattered now. She had to find her husband.
Carter started after her, but his father called his name.
“No,” Steven said. “This family comes first, Carter. You can deal with her later.”
Carter felt a second of hope as the door opened again, but it wasn’t Avery. It was his mother, and as she stood in the doorway with her eyes tearing up and flashbulbs going off behind her, Carter knew he had to stay.
13
It was six in the morning when Anthony finally appeared in the driveway to his home. He’d been gone all night. Avery had been so scared he wouldn’t come back.
After rushing out of the museum, Anthony quickly jumped into a cab before she could stop him. Avery caught the next cab home, calling Anthony’s cell over and over again, crying over the phone how sorry she was and how she could explain it all.
How would she explain it? She didn’t know and it didn’t matter, but she was at home, sitting alone in the darkness of her living room, when he finally answered her call. She said anything she thought would bring him home. She took all his insults. He repeated all the things that she knew already. He had done so much, given up so much for her. He hung up on her several times. She called him back. He didn’t answer. She called again. He picked up, called her names and she begged him to come home. That was five hours ago, and Avery hadn’t done anything except wait. While she waited, she contemplated what she could do; what she should do. In all her selfishness, she hadn’t yet played this conversation out in her mind. She was stupid to think nothing would happen before she wanted it to. But that was only indicative of where she had been this last month. She had answered her heart, but abandoned everything else in exchange. There was often a price to pay for doing that and usually that price was paid by the most innocent involved.
While Avery had been trying to reach Anthony over and over again, Carter had been trying to reach her. She never picked up. He’d left her messages, but she refused to listen to any of them. She wasn’t mad at him in the sense that he was to blame, but she was angry that he hadn’t controlled Michael better. Part of her believed that Carter wanted the truth to come out.
She couldn’t think of Carter or herself. As Anthony made his way sloppily up the stairs to their front door, she knew that she had to do whatever it took to ease his pain.
He didn’t look at her as he passed her by and went into the foyer. He tossed his keys in the direction of the console table, but they slammed against the wall and fell to the floor. Avery followed him to the dining room, a room they rarely used. They either ate in the living room or at the kitchen table. Maybe it was the best place to talk. It was the least emotional room in the house.
“I guess I’m not gonna get that job at UCLA.” Anthony sat at the head of the table with his head down as Avery sat next to him.
She slid her chair close to him and placed her hand on top of his. He ripped it away and she didn’t say anything.
“I don’t want to hear any more apologies.” Anthony looked up, showing red, tired eyes.
“Anthony, I only want you to know how sorry I am that you were hurt like this.”
Anthony laughed. “You say that like you weren’t involved in it.”
“I meant that . . .”
“You meant that this wasn’t the way you wanted me to find out,” he said. “So what exactly was the way you wanted me to find out? Or did you plan on making a fool out of me forever?”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt you,” she said. “Things happened after that plane accident and I know there is no excuse, but I wasn’t . . . It wasn’t as if I didn’t care.”
“But not enough. You didn’t care enough to stay away from him.”
Avery turned her head away, unable to answer.
“Do you love him?” he asked.
She felt the pain of that question sear through her. She should tell him the truth and say she did love Carter, but how could she hurt him more? “I love you. You’re my husband and I love you.”
“But you fuck him,” he said. “You love me but you fuck him.”
“It was a mistake.” Avery felt sick at his words.
“A mistake?” Anthony slammed his fist on the table as he shot up from his chair.
Avery flinched and backed her chair up. When she looked up at him, he looked as if he wanted to hit her.
“You can’t be honest about anything, can you?” he asked. “I saw the way you looked at him. You wanted to be with him again. You were just waiting for something to happen so you could blame it on that instead of yourself.”
Maybe he was right, Avery thought. Maybe in her heart she knew that there was no denying what was between her and Carter, but none of that mattered now.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked. “I’ll do anything.”
“I want you to tell me it’s all a lie.” Anthony paced the room as his anger seemed to morph into anxiety. “That this is not my nightmare coming true. That I didn’t make all these sacrifices for nothing. I gave up everything for you!”
“I know.” Avery tried to control her tears. She had no right to cry, but she wanted to badly. “And I can’t undo what I’ve done to us, but I will do whatever I can to fix it.”
He stood in the corner next to the painting Nikki had given them as a wedding present. Avery had no idea what he was thinking, but it looked to her as if he was setting emotion aside and achieving some sort of clarity. That was either good or bad for her.
“You want my forgiveness?” he asked quietly.
“I’m begging for your forgiveness,” Avery answered.
“I knew this was going to happen when we moved here.” Anthony turned to look out the window to the backyard. “Hell, I knew it before. When we were in Florida, you talked about him like he was a scourge on your life, but I could see in your eyes that you s
till loved him.”
“Nothing I said to you in Florida was a lie,” Avery said. “I fell in love with you and I wanted this to be forever.”
“But when we got here, I knew that no matter how much of an asshole Carter was, there wasn’t a chance in hell I could compete with him.”
“It was never a competition,” Avery said. “It wasn’t about that.”
“Do me a favor, Avery, and stop lying. Have at least that much respect for me.”
Avery believed in her heart that there wasn’t a competition, but she wasn’t going to second-guess him. She was clearly wrong. “I know things have been hard on you since we moved here and I’ve made them harder. I want to fix it. I know I can. I made a vow to you and God and I will fix it.”
“It doesn’t matter what you do,” Anthony said, turning around. The look on his face was one of simplicity and decisiveness. He had made up his mind about something. “As long as Carter is around, you’ll want him more than you’ll want me.”
“No,” Avery protested.
“And no matter what you promise,” he said, “he’ll never stop. He has no morals.”
Avery suddenly realized what he was going to say and she felt a tightening in her chest. It wasn’t possible.
“So we’ll have to leave,” Anthony said. “I’m going to move back to Coral Gables right away. I’ll stay at a hotel until I can get a place.”
“Anthony, we can’t just . . .”
“You can get things finished around here, but I want you to join me by the end of the week.” He had returned to the even-tempered professor again, speaking in pure logic. “We have to look for an apartment.”
“Anthony, wait!” Avery stood up, determined to make him understand. “You’re forgetting something.”
“The gallery? Your mother and Nina can handle that. You can put your sister to work. She clearly needs the structure.” Anthony started for the hallway.
Avery rushed after him. “I’m talking about Connor.”
“I’m not forgetting her.” Anthony stood on the stairs, about five steps up. “Of course she’ll come with you. You can get your mother to handle selling the house, can’t you?”
Avery wondered if he was thinking clearly after all. “Carter won’t let me do it.”
Anthony’s expression darkened. “You’ll do it anyway. You’re her mother and you’ve already signed an agreement that she stays with you.”
“But that was when I promised to live in L.A. We’ve discussed this many times. Neither Carter nor anyone in that family will let me take Connor to another state.”
Anthony was clearly unsympathetic. “Do you want our marriage to work?”
“Of course I do.” Avery wondered if he had any understanding of how hard it would be to do what he wanted.
“I’m not suggesting this will be pretty,” Anthony said, “but you should have thought about that before you fucked him.”
Avery bristled at his harsh language, but kept her composure. “I can’t lose my baby.”
“Then don’t,” he said. “Do whatever you have to do and I’ll help you, but if you want our marriage to work, this is what has to be done. I’ve given up everything for you and I’m getting some of it back. It’s always been about you, Avery. That’s why you thought you had a right to do this with him in the first place.”
“I never thought I had a right,” she argued. “But this isn’t about me. It’s about Connor. We lied to them, Anthony. We forged documents and tried to keep her away from Carter. If they bring that to court, with the power of their name and money, I’ll lose her. And if I lose her, I’ll die.”
“He owes you this, Avery.” Anthony looked at her with pity in his eyes. “Look at what he’s made you into. Would you ever have thought you would cheat on me? I don’t recognize you. Moving back to Florida isn’t just about getting our marriage back. It’s about you getting yourself back.”
Avery didn’t respond as Anthony turned and headed upstairs. There was nothing left to say.
Getting herself back? Avery didn’t know what that meant, because though she knew what Anthony thought it meant, her heart continued to tell her that getting back to herself meant being with Carter.
No matter how painful it would be, Avery knew she could give Carter up. She could move to Florida and still want him, ache for him, and dream of being with him. She could live with that torture because she had made her bed. But she couldn’t and wouldn’t live without her baby. That was too high a price to pay for anyone—Anthony or Carter.
No one was going to take Connor away from her.
Haley was determined to stay in her room all day. After the fiasco at the ball last night, both of her parents had gone nuts and continued to be walking volcanoes. Whatever had happened in that room that night, it was certainly more than two idiots fighting over her brother. There was poison throughout the house and she didn’t want anything to do with it.
So when her mother knocked on her bedroom door before trying to open it, Haley got a bad feeling in her stomach.
“Haley.” Janet called out her daughter’s name in that same smooth, controlled tone that told everyone that she was about to take control of a volatile situation. “Let me in. I’m not going to tell you again.”
Haley hopped off her bed and kicked the clothes on her floor out of the way as she walked to the door. “Whatever is going on, it doesn’t have anything to do with me, so just leave me out of it and go away.”
“Haley, I have no time for your bullshit today. Open this damn door, now!”
Haley didn’t hesitate to open the door now. Her mother found cursing low class, and whenever she was reduced to it, it meant that she had reached the end of her own civility and all hell was about to break loose.
Haley opened the door slightly and blocked the entry with her body.
Her mother did not look good. Even in the worst of times, Janet always looked perfect. Image was everything and appearances were her specialty. She maintained her dignified look and immaculate manners under circumstances when the average woman would be unable to hold it together.
But not today. She looked tired, and Haley wondered if her mother would start drinking again. She wasn’t an alcoholic, but she had had an episode with valium that had gone too far and she had sworn off all potentially addictive substances.
“What is it?” Haley asked.
“Detective Jackson called this morning.” Janet barely had a mind to deal with her real problems. The last thing she needed to hear was that Haley was inviting more danger her way. “He told me everything.”
“That asshole.” Haley rolled her eyes. “Well, those files were only copies and he didn’t have a right to have them anyway.”
“Do you have information that can help the case?”
“Don’t you have something better to do than harass me?” Haley regretted her words as soon as she said them. Her mother was about to smack her in the face. “Sorry. Look, I just don’t want to get involved anymore. I thought that was what you’d want.”
“I told him you would meet him at the station tomorrow afternoon at two o’clock and give him, and the FBI, any information you have. Kenya Austin will meet you there as your lawyer.”
“Is that what you told him?” Haley asked with a sarcastic grin.
Janet’s expression was gravely serious. “Taylor Jackson was in a car accident last night. Her brakes failed and her car was almost crushed. She could have been killed. Detective Jackson said it was confirmed that someone had tampered with her brakes.”
“But she’s not dead.” Haley said the words more as more a question than a statement.
“She’s scared, but fine.”
Haley didn’t bother to protest any further. “Will you come?”
“No.” Janet gave her daughter one last look to let her know that she meant business and from the expression on Haley’s face, the message was received.
“Dad, I can fix this,” Michael pleaded as he leaned over his father’s
desk in his home office. He’d expected to get a reaming when he showed up this afternoon, but he hadn’t imagined Steven would cancel the deal altogether.
“You can’t fix anything,” Steven said. “Look in a mirror. You’re a mess.”
Michael didn’t need to look in the mirror to know what he looked like. If it was even half of how he felt, he had to look like death. “Too much has been invested in this to just dump it.”
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Steven offered. “And I’m still canceling. If you . . .”
Steven stopped as Carter entered the room. “Where have you been?”
“I had things to take care of,” Carter said. He could feel Michael looking at him, but he ignored him. “I’m here now.”
“Well, thanks,” Steven said sarcastically. “So nice of you to come by.”
“I’m here!” Carter yelled.
Steven stared him down for several seconds before speaking again. “I was telling your brother, who at least had the respect to show up on time, that the publishing deal is dead. I’m not signing the contracts.”
Carter finally looked at Michael and, as angry as he was, his compassion for his brother was unavoidable. This had to destroy him. He had bet everything on this deal. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“You don’t think?” Steven asked. “Okay, Harvard lawyer. You tell me, what options do you think I have after last night’s fiasco? Have you read the papers?”
Carter nodded. “It’s ugly, but it’s not fatal. If you can talk to your investors and hold off on the deal for another six months, I think we can jump right back into it.”
“Six months?” Michael asked. “Elisha isn’t going to wait that long. Other bidders aren’t going to wait that long.”
“Do you think I give a shit what Elisha wants?” Steven asked. “You put all the contracts together, Carter. How much is pulling out going to cost compared to a six-month delay?”
Carter couldn’t provide those numbers right now. His mind was ten miles away in View Park. “I don’t know, Dad. There will be several thousand in penalties and possibly a few hundred thousand in restoration for money spent on labor to prepare the warehouse and everything to your specifications. They’ve done a lot of work.”
A Price to Pay Page 22
