Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“Nova, Oliver, Trevor,” Carter says, “are the names you currently know them by. All grifters.”
“Damn.” He rocks back again. “I would’ve never known.”
“Okay, Stuart,” I snap at the guy beside me.
“It’s Carter,” he reminds me with a flash of a smile.
“Stuart Cartwright.” I say his full name now. “What is this? Your version of recruitment? Bring Jake Waterford into the family business? He has morals. He’s not cut out for this. Leave him alone.”
“See, mate, that’s how I know he’s perfect for this,” Carter tells me. “When have you ever tried to protect someone who didn’t belong to one of two families?”
I don’t feel great that Carter knows this about me. We’ve had phone calls that’ve lasted five seconds to two hours. He ribbed me about why I needed a new marriage certificate and divorce papers with Phoebe, but he wouldn’t pry, knowing I couldn’t involve him. We always talk less about the details of a job and more about our personal affairs.
How are your parents doing, Carter? Still living the single bachelor life? Are you liking Manchester?
Over the years, he’s understood that I hate everyone I’m around. Except my family and Phoebe’s. That’s it for me.
That’s why I’m here.
I’ve known Jake for three months. I could ditch him in an instant. That’s not love.
My teeth ache from grinding down on them. “Or maybe I don’t want a liability.”
“Is he one?” Carter asks. “His family owns half the town you’re in, and your sister wants to make a permanent residence here.”
We could go anywhere. That’s not true anymore. Most of us want to stay in Victoria. I physically twist more toward Carter. “Why do my parents want us out of Connecticut?”
For the first time, Carter is puzzled. “Didn’t realize your parents had an issue with this state.”
“Who are his parents?” Jake asks him.
“Tinrocks. Addison and Everett.”
I tip my beer at him. “When did you become a name-dropping whore?”
“Only for my oldest friend,” Carter says, but his grin has vanished. He’s thinking.
“Tinrock?” Jake is staring at me. “That’s where your nickname comes from?”
“No.” I turn back to Jake. “My father hated my name, but Phoebe kept using it, which made Hailey and the others use it. So my parents decided that our last name would incorporate rock in the event that people overhear them calling me Rocky. They wanted it to make fucking sense, and I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”
Jake’s frown deepens. “Rocky,” he contemplates. “But what’s your real name?”
“That is my real name.”
“Your birth name,” he clarifies.
“I don’t know,” I say, almost under my breath. Why am I sharing this?
Jake seems caught off guard. “You don’t know the name you were given at birth?” His voice is nearly a whisper, as if he, too, understands the damage.
“Connecticut.” Carter draws our attention away from each other and onto him. He’s waking from his deeper thoughts. “I’ve never made a fake for them from this state. But I know they’ve been here before.”
“How?” I ask.
“They got my contact through my mum and dad. Both my parents are bit of sharks, ya know. Best of the best in Fortune 500s, wheeling and dealing, and they’ve known I am good at making fakes. Said it’s a God-given talent. I love ’em for that, so they’ve always passed my name along to their friends.” He takes a tense beat. “Which is how I got to know Addison and Elizabeth.”
“Elizabeth?” Jake asks.
“Graves,” Carter explains. “Mum to the triplets. Their dad got locked up years back for fraud.”
I blink hard. This is really fucking happening. I’m on edge because Jake hasn’t given enough in return. But he could give me his firstborn, a kidney, and a kneecap, and it still wouldn’t feel like enough.
“Thing is,” Carter continues, “my dad grew up here. We all lived in Victoria before they moved us to Stratford. I don’t remember much. I was just a toddler at the time, but it’s why Jake and I got on so well when we first met at Faust and part of why I came back for the Wolfe funeral. My parents wanted me to pay our respects as a family. They couldn’t cancel their business meetings to make the flight.”
So Carter is in town for the funeral, too.
With his arms crossed, he holds his chin in thought. “I’m almost positive Mum told me she met Elizabeth and Addison in Connecticut.” He points. “Yeah, that’s how she knew ’em. I don’t know how long they were here or what they were doing. It was before me, mate, but they’ve been here. At least once.”
They don’t want us in Victoria, but we only came here because of Carter. We only know him because of a connection they made from years past in a place that’s suddenly off limits.
They’re getting caught in their own web.
“Where are they now?” Carter wonders. “The godmothers and godfather?” He angles his head to Jake. “That’s their code for their parents.”