“Nathan,” Kyle laughed.
Nathan’s head snapped up from his thoughts. “I’m … nervous,” he confessed.
All of the men smiled or shook their heads. “This woman must be something,” Freddy said. “You say she looks like Anastacia Stone?” he asked Kyle. When Kyle lightly chuckled and nodded in reply, Freddy arched an eyebrow. “Well damn. I better fix myself up, too.”
They watched Freddy spruce himself up with amusement.
“Seriously, guys,” Nathan said. “I feel like I’ve been stress eating and shit. All of that fucking Russian cuisine goes straight to my ass. I was in good shape last time I saw her.”
“I’m sorry,” Mickey said, holding up one finger in the air to get their attention, “but did you just say
cuisine
?”
Lucca, Kyle, Freddy, and Dante had to turn away from Nathan to quiet their laughter.
Nathan glared at the asshole. “I’m fucking serious! Wanting to look good for my wife doesn’t make me a bitch!”
“Stop this,
brat,
please. I can’t take it,” Freddy laughed. “There are times when you make me forget you are an underboss.”
“I can’t stop! I’m fucking nervous. I haven’t seen her in weeks, and I’m pretty sure I look like shit. Not to mention I haven’t showered since yesterday morning.”
“I’m sure Carter has seen and smelled you in worse states than this,” Lucca said through a chuckle.
Nathan couldn’t deny the truth in Lucca’s words. He and Carter were married. They’d seen the good, the bad, and the ugly that the other had to offer, yet somehow it didn’t affect the attraction they felt for one another in the slightest. Nathan wasn’t the sexiest, nor the freshest after a workout, but according to Carter he was the sexiest man on earth when he was covered in sweat.
“You don’t smell bad, Nathan,” Dante stated. “If you did, I would have told you. You’re the cleanest person I know.”
“Jesus Christ, Russian, you sound like a woman,” Freddy said in exasperation. “Open the door so that I can meet this woman that has you by the balls.”
The guys snickered and Nathan shot Freddy a fierce glare before turning back to the door. He twisted the knob, finding that the door was already unlocked. When they walked in the house, the unmistakable smell of Carter’s cooking was thick in the air. She was cooking his favorite meal; he’d know that smell anywhere. Sirloin steak and pasta with her famous homemade cream sauce. He could’ve sworn he’d also smelled a roasted chicken, too—he knew she would couple that with a fresh vegetable salad—and he detected a small hint of a sweet dessert in the background of the overwhelming scent of the main course dishes. It smelled like she was cooking for an army.
“Damn,” Freddy whispered from beside Nathan. “It smells like your wife is expecting company.”
Nathan frowned. She didn’t know anyone in the town near this land. Plus, there were only a few houses nearby, and those were about five miles away. Nathan had bought out the land years ago and made this home secluded so he could have his privacy during his time away every year.
Nathan’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard deep laughter coming from his kitchen.
“What the fuck,” he snapped through clenched teeth.
The intense rage was instant. What the fuck was another man doing in his house? And where the hell was his wife?
“Who the hell is here, Nathan?”
Nathan didn’t know who asked the question, nor did he care; he’d already pulled out his gun and was now storming toward the kitchen. Whoever it was had about five seconds to tell him were Carter was, and then Nathan was going to put a bullet through his head.
As Nathan neared the kitchen, the laughing and talking became louder. It sounded like two goddamn men were in his house! When he’d gotten close enough to the kitchen to hear the voices, he stopped to listen to what the men were saying.
“I swear to God, if she makes steak and pasta one more night, I’m going to lose it. I’m glad you convinced her to make chicken with it this time.”
The first man had a deep voice, and was definitely of English origin.
“Leave her alone, she’s hoping that tonight is the night,” a deeper, lightly-accented voice said. “Although I’m going to castrate the boy when I see him, we should be sensitive to your sister. She did save both of us from that prison.”
Sister?
“Yes, I know. But what if this guy is dead? We’re sitting around here waiting for some dead guy when we could be on our way to Anastacia. I don’t think I can wait too much longer. I want to meet her. I have so many questions.”
“I know you do, and she will answer them. We will get to her soon enough. I have a few words for her myself. However, that time will come. For now we need to be patient with Carter, and hope for the best for her …”
“Which would be?” the English-accented man asked with amusement in his tone.
The other man sighed. “It’s not that I don’t like the boy. When I was around him, he was an okay kid. He had his issues, but what boy wouldn’t after enduring what he had? I just know that even in his teens, Nathan Salerno played women, and they fell for it. He’s a pretty boy like his father. He’ll just play around with her like Angelo Salerno played around with her mother. It’s a never ending cycle. They love them, but they aren’t willing to give up anything to be with them for real. Anastacia was only good enough to be Angelo Salerno’s secret. He used her, took money from her, treated her like shit, and then hated after she left him without a word. How does Carter know that Nathan Salerno isn’t doing the same thing to her? Using her? Carter is smart, a math and business genius, stunningly beautiful and
naïve
. She lived a sheltered life. She knows nothing about men. Nathan Salerno could leave her as soon as he finds some other woman that he finds worthy to be in the spot light. Then who will she run to for comfort while she picks up the pieces of her broken heart? Me. I mean, of course I’ll be there for her because she is my baby girl. But I wish she would just listen to me now instead of wait until the boy disappoints her. Anastacia didn’t listen to me when it came to a Salerno, and she ended up hurt, too.”
Nathan momentarily stood, stunned and shocked into silence, before he dropped the gun numbly to his side and walked into the kitchen with his mouth agape.
A man—standing about six foot two—stood in front of the sink washing his hands, and his back faced toward Nathan. Regardless, Nathan knew exactly who the man was … he just couldn’t believe it.
“Holy shit” Nathan said in a breathy whisper.
In that moment, the man turned to face him. Nathan should have been on guard because he knew this couldn’t be possible. Ghost weren’t real, and he didn’t believe in them—never had and never would—but, then how the hell would he explain what he was seeing now? Silas, it could be Silas. No, Nathan knew in his gut that this man wasn’t Silas Steele. He wasn’t sure if it was the familiar gleam in his eye, or the fact the man had a long scar going across his neck like his throat had been cut, but he knew who he was staring at. He was looking into the brown eyes of a dead man, a legend, a man that he had never thought he’d lay eyes on again …
“Spook?”
Chapter 4: The Great Escape
Four days earlier …
Carter was positive she had just entered the twilight zone.
This couldn’t be real
! It shouldn’t have been possible, but she was positive the young man standing in front of her was a relative of hers. His features were strikingly similar to the pictures of Alexis and Adrien Stone. His hair was thick, silky, and long. His skin was brown, the same color as her mother’s and her own, and his eyes were hazel with specks of a dark green … just like hers.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” She muttered the words mostly to herself, but the man gave her a look of genuine confusion.
He cocked his head to the side, and seemed to be studying Carter’s features. Slowly he brought a shaky hand to her face and poked her cheek with his finger. Carter frowned, but couldn’t stop the smile from pulling at her lips. He timidly ran his fingers over her face while staring at her in awe.
“You’re real …” he whispered, but quickly frowned. “What is your name?”
“Carterina, but I prefer to be called Carter.”
“Carter,” he whispered. “That’s a perfect name for you. You look like a Carter.”
“What’s your name?” she asked. Reaching forward, she touched his hair … just because she needed to. Yep, she knew it. His hair felt just like Anastacia’s.
Motherfucker
.
“Gabriel. My name is Gabriel.”
“Gabriel?” When he nodded, but remained silent, Carter shrugged. “Gabe it is.”
“Gabe?”
She allowed a large smile to grace her face. “Yes, I like Gabe. It suits you.”
Frowning, he shook his head. “This can’t be real. I could just be dreaming again. So many times I dreamt of escaping that basement—escaping Silas—only to achieve freedom and wake up from a deep slumber. This isn’t real, you’re not real.”
“I’m real,” Carter assured him.
She reached forward and pinched his arm hard, and he quickly yanked back. “Ow!” he whispered. “Why did you do that?”
Carter chuckled softly. “To show you that you’re not dreaming. I’m real, and so are you, which means our mother has a lot of explaining to do.”
His face sort of … twitched as a fiery anger flashed through his eyes. “Anastacia Stone? Silas told me her name when I was a boy. She is … our mother? We are—”
“Siblings,” Carter stated, filling in the blanks for him. “I’m guessing twins.” Carter lowered her eyes in thought. “At least I think we are. Say your birthday on three …”
Gabe rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. We are obviously twins. I just turned twenty three this year on February 21
st
.”
“So did I! And screw you, I’m not ridiculous.”
He pursed his lips “Seriously, you want to be defensive right now? Are you going to stop being confrontational long enough to be shocked by this?”
“I am shocked,” she whispered angrily. “Anastacia never mentioned I had a brother. I asked her if I was her only child and she said yes.”
“She probably didn’t want to speak of the son she abandoned and left with a lunatic,” he said in bitter anger.
Carter frowned. “Abandoned you?”
“Yes! But you probably wouldn’t know anything about that since she deemed you worthy to be in her presence, to call her mother. Meanwhile, I was here getting my ass nearly beat to death just because I tried to get away from that psychotic motherfucker! I’ve been locked in that damn basement for eight years of my life!”
Carter placed a calming hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure she didn’t know, Gabe. I haven’t known her long, but I know she hates Silas. She will have a good explanation for this, I promise. We just have to get to her.”
“Wait, did you say you haven’t known her long? She left you—”
She cut him off by placing her finger to his lips. “Gabe, we have no time. It’s obvious that there’s a lot we need to talk about, but not here.” When she reached for his hand, he suddenly pulled back with a look of distrust in his eyes. Carter’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t know about this,” he said, shaking his head. “This seems too good to be true. I’ve spent too many years being punished by Silas. I could never please him because he was unable to control me. This has to be a trap. Another game he’s playing with me.”
“Gabriel, I’m not here to hurt you. I’ve been brought here against my will.”
“But how?” he yelled.
Carter glanced behind her to make sure they were still alone.
“How are you here? How do you exist? I mean, a twin? Come on! I can’t trust that you just came out of nowhere and are here to save my life after all this time. Getting away from Silas can’t be this easy. I’ve tried to escape him before, and he …” Gabe turned away from her. “He hurt me …”
Frowning, Carter asked. “What did he do?”
Gabe turned his gaze back to her with a pained look in his eyes and shook his head.
Carter gently took his hand. “Gabriel … please tell me,” she whispered.
After a moment of hesitation, Gabriel nodded. “When I was fifteen, Silas tried to force me to … he wanted me to …” he looked away again.
Carter placed a gentle hand on his face. “Gabe, look at me.” After he did, she continued. “I know we just met each other, but you have to trust me when I say this. I just found out about Silas a few weeks ago. For my entire life, I thought another man was my biological father. I am not here to hurt you. The moment I looked into your eyes I felt a connection with you. I know you feel it, too. I don’t know if it’s because we share the same blood or because we shared the same womb, but I can’t leave you here. Now that I know you exist, every bone in my body is telling me to protect you. I’m your sister, Gabriel. We are going to get the hell out of here, but in order for me to get to the mental state I need to make that happen, I need a little push.”
“A little push?”
Carter nodded. “I need to be pissed off, honey. A pissed off Carter is a fearless Carter. And fearless Carter, can get us the fuck out of this castle.”
Gabriel was only silent for a moment before he nodded his head and spoke very quickly. “When I was fifteen, Silas told me that it was time I become a man and learn his business. He put me in a room with four girls that were about my age and said,
“Here, son, take your pleasure”,
then just left. The girls were just kids, and I wasn’t interested. Plus, I had a male friend at the time …”