Destroying Carter
Page 22
“Aww, shit. His mother?”
“Yeah, and it’s fucked up, but it’s what led us down this road. If it would’ve been anybody else who found the body, they may not have called the police at all, which is what Clarence was banking on. He was just wrong.”
“Wow. I’m still in shock from all of this.”
“I know. It’s a lot to take in. You really have your uncle to thank for all of this. He was the one who decided to bring you and your girlfriend to the airstrip that night. We’d already spoken to him by then and told him about the murder charges against him, and he decided to help us instead of letting you die. He set the whole thing up. He worked it perfectly, actually. He got you and Lily to the airstrip, and even though it was a risk, he led your father there as well. Then, he managed to get the heads of the Russian family and every other significant player to the same location. He knew they’d bite if he told them that he’d give them extra drugs and money under the table. Gangsters are always willing to go the extra mile for the money. I think he waited until the last possible minute to say the code phrase, but he was still able to pull it off.”
“Code phrase?
“Yeah. We were outside the whole time, with the place surrounded, waiting for him to say the code phrase, I’m sorry, Senior, which let us know that everybody was there and it was time for us to ambush the place before shit got out of hand. He was brave. It took a lot of heart to watch you getting beat up while he waited for everybody to show up. It all worked out in the end, though. He gave us everything we needed to end The Family for good. Getting them all to meet in the same place that they were keeping the heroin was pretty genius. He gave us everything to save you, including the locations of where Senior was forcing you to stash his drugs. We’ve confiscated all the drugs from the Red Chip and Royal Flush warehouses as well.”
“Geez. Okay, so what does he get out of the deal? There’s no way he did all this for nothing. You must’ve offered him something.”
“Well, yes. Aside from not arresting you for being a witness to the Malone murder without reporting it, we promised to help to reduce his sentence. He’ll probably get less time for aiding the police, but it won’t be much. He’s just got too much against him. I think the most important thing for him, though, was making sure that you were out safely. He wanted you to be able to live your life without all the family drama. I know it might be hard to believe, but he did it for you. He gave himself up, and he gave The Family up, to save you. You should be grateful, because these things don’t always turn out this way. Sometimes people don’t give a fuck and are willing to let everybody burn.”
“I can’t believe it. I never would’ve expected that.”
“Clarence gave us everything. We’ve got Clarence, Anthony, and Kelvin Senior for a whole crap load of extortion and money laundering, along with drug importation and intent to sell. Plus a few weapons charges. The big one, though, is that Clarence also decided to tell us about a few other murders that have been ordered or carried out by your father and other members of The Family over the years. So, when I say he gave us everything, I really mean it. Your uncle has decided to testify against your father, and will more than likely have to be put in protective custody, even while he’s in prison. This kind of thing is definitely enough to get him killed. He went all out, and you’ll never have to testify because of it. He’s provided us with enough information so that we won’t need you to stand up in front of a jury. Your life can start fresh. You’ll have no lingering effects of the Carter family. Everything that was holding you back will now be out of your way. My advice is that you use this opportunity to make something good happen for you and your woman. Start anew, and be happy.”
“Wow. I don’t even know what to say.”
“Well, don’t say anything yet. There’s something else. Clarence also confessed to having planted drugs at Michael Carter’s house. He says your father ordered him to do it. I know that this is way overdue—about six months to be exact—but Clarence’s admission clears Mikey of any wrongdoing. It may take a few days for me to get the charges dropped and for the paperwork to go through, but your uncle, Mikey, will be released from Metropolitan Correctional Center. He’ll be a free man.”
“Oh my god! Are you serious? Uncle Clarence did that?”
“Yes, he did. I have to admit, when it all came down to it, I was very impressed with how honest he was. I was impressed with how much he loves you. It was like he needed to get a weight off of his very large shoulders. Once he opened up about one thing, he just didn’t want to stop. He wanted everything out in the open, and he wanted you and Mikey to be good to go.”
“Damn. This is unbelievable. I just… I just can’t believe it all. I never expected this. It’s actually all over. It’s over, and I’m free. I’m free to just live my life. Wow. When can he receive visitors?”
“Well, that won’t be for a little while. Once we get him settled, you’ll probably be able to see him on a limited basis before the trial begins. I really can’t guarantee you anything until after sentencing, though, which could be a while.”
“I understand. I just want to tell him thank you. He needs to know that I’m grateful for all of this. I don’t forgive him for all of the shit that he and my father have put me and Lilliana through, but I’m definitely grateful to him for trying to fix it all. I just want to tell him that.”
“You’ll get your chance, just give it some time. Now, before you go, there’s one more thing that I need to give to you.”
“Give to me? What is it?”
“I know I’ve been sitting here telling you how your uncle went all out to save you, but there’s been a development that you have to be informed of. This will be harder to believe than anything else that I’ve told you, but it became official as of this morning.”
“Okay. What?”
“Here. Read these documents over.”
“Documents? What is all of this?”
“These are contracts and ownership papers.”
“Okay. What do I need them for?”
“Well, as of this morning, you’re the owner of the Royal Flush and Red Chip casinos.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Your father signed these this morning, transferring all ownership of both casinos over to you. When we told him the charges and evidence against him, he knew he wasn’t going to be getting out of prison. The truth is, he’ll probably die in jail. So, he had his lawyer draw up these documents for him, and he signed everything this morning. He didn’t want to sell his establishments to some random person, so he decided to pass them down to you. You own them both now, officially.”
“Oh my god. I can’t… I just don’t…”
“You’re gonna want to get a lawyer of your own, and an accountant to look these documents over, because that’s definitely not my job. Nonetheless, I think congratulations are in order. I know they did a lot to mess things up for you. They were caught up in their ways and definitely didn’t do things the way they should’ve, but in the end, they seem to have gotten at least one thing right. You. So, congratulations, Kelvin. You get to start your new life today.”
“There was a time that I didn’t think that we’d make it here,” I begin. “Everything had gotten so bad that I didn’t think all of this would ever be possible. In all honesty, I thought that everything would be taken away from us, and I’m so glad that I was wrong about that.
“We have a history that not many people are even aware of, but I like that. I like that we have a bond that nobody really, truly understands, except us. What we’ve been through is ours. It’s for us to know, and for us to appreciate and cherish together. Every part of it might not be something that makes us feel all giddy inside, but everything, in some way, is a testament to why we’re so strong together. It’s a testament to our love, and a part of our unique legacy. We don’t need anybody else to understand anything. We understand it because we lived through it, and were made stronger by it. What we’ve been
through has made us unbreakable.”
I feel so nervous. The look on Lilliana’s face is something that I’ll never forget. She’s so unbelievably beautiful. She doesn’t have to say anything else to me for me to know that she loves me. I feel it. Even now, without touching her, or hearing her say anymore words to me, I can feel her love. I can honestly say that I feel like the happiest man in the world, and it’s all because of her.
“I’m so thrilled that we were able to get through everything in our past,” I continue, just as I see a tear getting ready to roll down Lilliana’s face. “However, nothing makes me more excited than what waits in our future. It’s funny, because I see tears in your eyes now, and even I feel like crying, but the beauty of it is that now we can cry tears of joy. We have so much to be happy and thankful for. I’m so glad that my Uncle Mikey is here today, sitting between my awesome aunt, Lauren, and the most amazing mother a man could ever ask for. There was also a time that I didn’t think that he would ever be able to attend something like this, but he’s here, reunited with the love of his life, and that brings me so much joy. The fact that our closest friends are a part of this just makes it that much better. Seeing Lexy standing behind you with that big grin on her face, knowing that she’s probably trying to think of some smart ass comment to say right now, puts an immovable smile on my heart.”
“Ugh. Stop it, Kelvin. You’re already effing up my make-up,” Lexy says, sending a wave of laughter through the crowd.
“The fact that her husband, Michael, and Trey and Phillip are standing behind me, just makes me that much happier,” I continue, as I begin to feel tears of my own growing too big for me to hold them back. “Everything we ever wanted is coming to fruition today. When we leave here, we’ll be making a pit stop at our brand new house that we just bought together, where we’ll start our lives anew, with no bad memories creeping into our minds of where we used to live. We get a fresh start, in our own house, and the memories we create there will be all ours. It’s just me and you now, baby.
“So, Lilliana, I proudly vow to love you for the rest of my days. Until the day that I’m no longer breathing, I vow to cherish you, and appreciate you for the beautiful, honest, intelligent, perfect woman that you are. I vow to forever and always remain faithful to you. I vow to wipe your tears away when you’re crying, and to take care of you when you’re sick, and to be there whenever you need me. I vow to be your best friend, as you are mine. I vow to protect you with every fiber of my being. I vow to never give up on us, no matter how bad things may seem to be, I’ll always believe that there isn’t a thing in this world that can ever tear us apart. I vow to be yours, baby. I belonged to you the moment you laid those beautiful blue eyes on me two years ago, in Applebee’s. I belonged to you through all the drama with my father, and I’ll officially belong to you once this pastor finally says that I can kiss you. After this, you’re my wife, and I’m your husband, and you can rest assured that I’ll always be here to protect you. You never have to fear anything ever again. As long as I’m alive, you can always know that no matter what happens, and no matter how difficult things may seem… I got you.”
Where do I even begin with this book’s acknowledgements? Crap.
Well, let me start by saying that this has been an amazing journey. The Carter series was an amazing ride, and I’ve learned so much from writing it and becoming these characters. I’m glad that it’s over, because I’m ready to move on to some unbelievable stories that I have brewing in my head, but I will truly miss Kelvin, Lily, Lexy, and Senior. Every single one of them is a part of me, and I’ll never forget the way they’ve affected my life. I’ve learned so much from them, and I’ll use everything that I learned to become a better writer.
Now, I must admit that I had a hard time writing this book, at first. It took me a while to get into it for a lot of reasons that are really only known to me and my wife, but I had a great supporting cast behind the scenes, and some awesome fans who were there, telling me that they couldn’t wait to see how Kelvin and Lily’s story would end. So, I have to thank all of those people who were there, supporting me, but also being patient and waiting for me to get my shit together and start writing. I know I don’t have many fans (yet), but the ones I do have are effing amazing! I love all of you who’ve been here with me since Frozen Secrets, and I promise you that I’m just getting warmed up. Trust me!
So, I admitted that it took a while to get into writing this book, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to pull it off at all if it wasn’t for the most important person in my life. Isabel, you’re really the one who made this possible. I was struggling so much with getting motivated to write this story, and you sat there and listened to my vent about it, and complain about it, and cry about it, and you still had confidence in me that I could finish this series with a bang. We’ve bounced so many idea off of each other, I truly don’t think I could do this without you. You and I are on the verge of something so seriously huge, I can feel it in my bones. The people who like to read these acknowledgement sections will have to excuse my arrogance, but, I don’t think there’s anybody out there who can do this shit the way we do it. Together, we’re unstoppable. It might be taking them a while to notice, but the stories that we have will not go unnoticed forever. Especially yours. You’re absolutely brilliant, and I’m so thankful that I was the one who was lucky enough to lock you down forever. We were meant to be together, and now that we’ve finished these series’ off, it’s about to go down. You just wait and see. They ain’t ready, baby!
Lastly, I have to thank the people who have been staples in my writing process and have been in my corner since Kelvin was introduced to the world in January 2014. Tonya Nichols, Alisha May, Iris Taveras, and Kizeeta Williams, thank you all for helping me with another book, and giving me so much confidence at a time when I needed encouraging words. You all are great, and I appreciate you very much. Thank you.
I also have to shout out every member of Greer Street who is still out there pimping me and trying to spread my name around. Thank you so much. We’re about to be busy very soon.
I also have to give a special shout out to my cover designer, Robin Harper, and my formatter, Angela McLaurin. You two ladies are freaking unbelievable! You’ve made the inside and outside of every book of this series absolutely gorgeous, and I love showing off your work. Thank you both for always helping me and Isabel. I look forward to putting in more work with both of you for a long time!
So, you might be wondering what’s next. Now that the Carters are finally finished telling their story, where do I go from here? Well, I have the answer to that question. This series gave me the gift of finding my identity—my niche, if you will. It literally took me all three Carter books to find it, but I finally found it right after I wrote Becoming Carter, and I started to hone it while writing Destroying Carter. I know exactly who I am, and where I’m going from here. All the being discouraged is over, and I feel more confident than ever. The Carter series is not the end of something, it is truly the beginning of something serious! Now that I know how and what I’m supposed to be writing, it’s about to go down. My journey as a writer begins today. I know you all want to know what’s next, but I can show you better than I can tell you. So, keep your eyes open and stay tuned. I’m celebrating tonight, and I start writing my next chapter tomorrow. The trust words that I can say right now are, THE BEST IS YET TO COME…
Check out these other great titles from W.S. Greer
Claiming Carter (The Carter Series #1)
Becoming Carter (The Carter Series #2
Frozen Secrets (Detective Granger #1)
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