Page 36 of Carter's #Undoing

Thirteen

CARTER

“You read letter number eighty-five?” I asked.

She eyed me cautiously. “I thought you didn’t count how many letters you’ve written?”

“I counted up until that one,” I corrected. “And I know there is probably a better way I could have explained all of this to you.”

“Which part?” she asked, standing up on the opposite side of her bed. “The part where you tell me people hire you to shoot other people? Or the part where you admit that you accepted a job from who I assume is Rodney to kill me?”

“Both I guess.” I took another step into the room, but she moved back. So I stayed put. “Look, you must realize that I accepted the job because I didn’t want anyone else to come after you.”

“Yet, Rodney still is coming after me,” she yelled. “That’s what you told me all this time.”

“It’s because Rodney doesn’t know I’m playing both sides. He didn’t hire Carter, the kid who he used to do his dirty work until his goons left me for dead. He hired an alias of mine. One of the top shooters in the business who makes it his mission to always get his target.”

Serenity studied my eyes, hers briefly softening as she asked. “He thought he killed you?”

I nodded. “Yeah, he did. And I know you hate me for this, but I’ve had eyes on you ever since my run-in with his goons.”

“Avery?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No. Me.”

She squinted in confusion. “Explain.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to figure out how I could make myself sound less … creepy. “I may or may not have bugged your apartment and paid an undercover cop a substantial amount of money to get an apartment right across from yours to watch out for things while he keeps the rouse he already had.”

Her eyes looked like they would pop out of their sockets. “Are you talking about Nick? My neighbor with the nice golden retriever who is a graphic designer that works out of his apartment?”

I smiled. “That’s the one.” I cleared my throat, figuring I should lay it all out there. “And I may have known Paul Canton in the army and he owed me a favor or two.”

Serenity waved her hands in the air. “Paul Canton as in Malakai’s business agent and the pain in my side in the office?”

“He’s great at what he does though,” I said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

“What if Malakai wouldn’t have hired him?”

“I kinda told him to in a discreet call that we had years ago.”

Serenity groaned as she ran her hand down her face. I’d hoped she wouldn’t think of a certain question, but knew I wasn’t that lucky when she asked, “Is that why Malakai called me about the job? You asked him to keep an eye on me?”

“Not exactly. I would have rather you work with Malik or Micah’s wives in Chicago.”

“But I hate event planning,” she added.

“Exactly. That’s why I went the art route.”

Serenity began rubbing the back of her neck, and I chanced stepping closer again.

“You and those deadly hands better stay right on your side of the room,” she said, before she began pacing.

“Ms. Woodstock too,” I told her.

“Let me guess,” she said. “Although I only know Ms. Woodstock as the woman who runs the front desk of the gallery, she only stays in the office so late some days to keep an eye on me?”

“Yeah,” I confessed. “She’s a veteran and she was one of the best when she was active in the military. Malakai knows about Ms. Woodstock too, but he would have hired her for the job regardless. And I wasn’t the only one who recommended Paul Canton. He used to be Ms. Woodstock’s stepson before she divorced his father, but they still have a good relationship.”

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