I raise my hands, palm out.
“Okay, just hear me out, please?” I begin again. I take a deep breath, preparing the speech I already rehearsed. “I know how private you are. And I understand everything that you did. What Whitney got away with is completely unfair. Everybody knows it! She’s basically bouncing all around the world spending your money, living it up, and spitting on your grave. Your imaginary grave, that is.”
He shrugs, his expression guarded. “I don’t have a problem with that,” he answers quietly. “That’s the deal. That’s the price we pay.”
“But see… that’s not fair,” I insist gently, reaching out to touch his hand to reassure him I am not attacking him. “I mean, your brothers would never complain, but they gave up their lives for this. And for what? Really, Carty, for what?”
His expression darkens as he scowls. He pulls his hand away from me and crosses his arms over his broad, chiseled chest. “Everybody agreed, Lola. You don’t know. You weren’t there.”
“But I do know, Carty. I asked them,” I answer quietly. “Your brothers love you so much, and you made a wonderful home for them. I understand why you wanted to retreat… but everybody? Does it have to be everybody?”
He shakes his head and presses his lips together. “I already said no.”
Feeling desperate, I try again. I know how much he’s hurting. I’ve heard it from every single one of his brothers. But I also know that there is so much life left in him. Life that we could live together. We could all live together.
“I want to stay here,” I begin. “But I can’t be a prisoner too. I want to stay here because it’s optional. And then I want us to go on a cruise on the Riviera. I want us to take over a blackjack table in Vegas. Don’t you want that too, Carty? Don’t you want us all to be together, but not dead?”
“What are you saying?” he asks me suspiciously.
“All I want to do is take Whitney down,” I announce, my voice getting stronger with every word. “I want to be with you… with all of you. But I do not want that woman deciding what my life is like. I want to be free. Free to be with you. But free.”
He looks around the room frantically, as though this information had never occurred to him before.
“What are you talking about? You already said?
??”
“And I’m not changing my mind!” I insist. “I love being here. I love… all of this. But I have had enough of crappy people getting away with bullshit. I’m not gonna do that willingly. This is all I’m asking, Carty. This is it. Can we do this?”
“What are you talking about?” he asks again, his voice urgent.
“I’m talking about… You faked your deaths. We can unfake them. You could miraculously come back to life. That’s all. I don’t want to be dead. I want to be alive.”
For a long time he doesn’t say anything. He gets up from his chair and walks twice around the room while I sit, my heart racing, trying to keep my breath even.
Finally he stops by the doorway and stares at me until I turn around to meet his eyes. His expression is guarded, yet monumentally sad.
“If that’s what you want,” he calls out, his voice thick with emotion, “then that’s what we will do. Make whatever arrangements you want.”
“Oh, thank you, Carty!”
He stares at me again, blinking. Just before he leaves, he says, “I really hope you know what you’re doing.”
I really hope I do too.
Chapter 16
Carty
Lola didn’t know we were serious about the helicopter, but of course we were. She descends the staircase in a deep red gown covered in Swarovski crystals, her lips curled into a shy smile. “Is this all right?” she asks sweetly.
Liam swallows hard. “You look amazing,” he breathes, echoing all of our sentiments.
As she comes down the stairs, she glances out the window, confused. “Is there a limo or something? You don’t expect me to try to ski again, do you?”
“You just leave it to me,” Timothy says proudly, offering her his elbow.
Jake comes up from her side, draping a mink stole over her shoulders and fastening it with a hidden clasp. She gasps as her fingers drift over the surface of the fur.