Carter

Chapter 21

 Carter's pov-

I woke up ten minutes ago. I can feel someone holding my hand. They don't know I'm awake. I don't want them to know. I know they know, I heard them talking about it. I know it's silly for me to think there was a possibility they wouldn't know. Not only were there security cameras in the office but I'm sure being found naked and bruised didn't exactly leave much to the imagination.

I don't even know what to think about right now. I feel like I used to when I was a kid. Helpless, afraid, hurt. It just feels like a never ending cycle and pattern in my life. I finally start to feel happy, things start looking up and then something happens that causes my world to come crashing down around me. There are only so many times I can pick up the pieces.

" I know you're awake." Caspian whispered. I'd be lying if I said I was surprised to find out he was the one holding my hand. I could see one of my other brothers doing it, but never Caspian. He probably feels guilty about everything that's happened. My life was supposed to take a turn for the better when I moved in with them but so far it's only gotten considerably worse. I lost the one thing I had to live for. I'm an empty shell of a person who never got to be.

" How long was I out?" I asked, my voice coming out as a husky whisper. I still hadn't opened my eyes, not yet ready to face the pitiful look that I knew was covering my brother's face. " About a day or so. We had Knox come over to check you out and make sure everything was okay." he said, a hint of dread in his tone. I knew it before but now it's one hundred percent confirmed that he knows what happened to me.

I begrudgingly opened my eyes, " Is he dead?" I asked in an unintentionally menacing voice, not even trying to hide my vengeance towards the situation. I want him to pay for what he did to me. Whether it's by my hands or the hands of my brothers, as long as he suffers. " Not yet, but he will be soon." he said in a quiet voice, like his mind was elsewhere. I finally slowly opened my eyes, trying to blink away the sensitivity I was feeling to the brightly lit room. It was a bright sunny day, the sun was coming in from the window behind Caspian and completely blinding me.

I was right about the look on his face, it was riddled with guilt and remorse. I wasn't brave enough to make eye contact with him, not yet at least. " Carter, I am so so so-" Caspian started to apologize but I abruptly interrupted him, " Don't apologize, what happened wasn't your fault. You're not responsible for the actions of others, no matter how much it may feel like it." I said, trying to nip his guilt trip in the bud. I could feel his stare burning a hole into the side of my head. " You're very smart and mature for your age." he said, the hint of a smile in his voice. " It's not about being smart or mature, it's about telling the truth." I quipped and heard him let out a faint chuckle. I caught a glance of his face out of the corner of my eye and saw a faint smile that quickly disappeared, leaving the usual look of distaste on his face. The room once again fell silent. You'd assume it'd be a sort of awkward silence, or maybe even one with hints of sadness in the air. Instead it was peaceful. It was at this moment I decided I didn't want to hold onto all this hate and anger and sadness.

My entire life I've been sad, I've been angry, I'm sick of it. I'm letting go of the bad, I wish I could say I was holding onto the good but to be honest Miles was the good in my life and I think it's about time I see him again. I miss my baby.

Caspian's pov-

Something's wrong. Obviously there are a lot of things wrong with the whole situation but something's wrong with Carter, more so than usual. She just seems so... at peace. It's unnatural. Maybe she's in shock. I wouldn't be surprised if she was, her entire life is one big trauma fest. I wonder if everything has finally just hit her. The years of trauma and abuse, the grief. Although you'd think if it was all just hitting her, she'd be screaming, crying, something to show the years of pain she's gone through. Not... this. I still don't even know what this is... calm? Traumatized? In shock? I really don't know.

" Carter? What's up?" I asked. She's just been staring off into space, like she didn't even realize I was still here. I wanted to ask her what was wrong but I don't think there's really a good answer for that. Plenty of things in her life have gone wrong, I don't think she'd be able to pick just one. A hint of a smile made its way onto her face and I've never felt so disturbed. Ever since she's gotten here I just wanted her to smile, to be happy. But this doesn't feel like a happy smile, I don't even know what it feels like. Something's just off.

" I'm just tired Cas." she said, pulling the blankets up to her chin and snuggling into them. I can tell something's off but after everything that's happened I guess she's entitled to act a little off. Everyone has their own way of coping. Carter has always seemed rather stoic anyways. Maybe she's just in shock.

" Do you think you could leave me alone for a bit Cas?" she asked in a tired voice as she fought to keep her eyes open. " Yes, of course. You need your rest. If you need us just shout, everyone's home and we'll get you whatever you need." I said, standing up and gently patting her foot in an attempt to comfort her, though I doubt it did much comforting. I walked out of her room, glancing at her one last time just to make sure she was okay. Well as okay as she could be considering everything that's happened to her. I left her door open a crack so we'd be able to check up on her as we passed.

Walking downstairs I saw my brothers huddled around the coffee table, meticulously planning out our revenge. We were already angry and planning our revenge for what they did to Miles, this only added fuel to the fire. I didn't even know I could be this angry, feel this vengeful. After killing Miles they had dropped off the grid. We couldn't find a trace of them anywhere. We had no idea they had planted one of their own in Carter's building. He was the youngest of the Noor brothers and throughout our research of them we had only seen one, very old picture of him. The fact that I was able to recognize him surprised me. We managed to get access to the rest of the security cameras in Carter's building. We needed to figure out where Andres went after he attacked her.

We were able to find the car he got into and tracked him through the city's street cameras. After some digging we were finally able to figure out where they'd been hiding. It was a small, quaint little house on the outskirts of the city. Not a place you'd think a gang would be hiding out, then again that's probably exactly what they wanted. They must've known we'd retaliate, so they needed to try and be as discreet and quiet as possible.

I worked with my brothers for hours coming up with a plan. We scoped out the surroundings of the house they were hiding in. For the most part it was secluded, minus another house about a mile down the road but we're pretty sure it's abandoned.

" We need to make sure we take the brothers alive. Especially Andres, we need to make sure he gets to experience the same torture he put Carer through." I said, examining all the files Callum had dug up of their crew. There were 24 of them in total. We wanted to make sure each and everyone of them were in the house when we blew it up minus the brothers. We have something much worse in store for them than a fiery end.

They're going to fucking suffer.

___________________________

What up bitches!

That's right, I'm backkkkk

Time really fucking got away from me. I cannot believe I started this book two years ago. I think it's about time I finally finished it.

Sorry for the short ass chapter, but not really🥰

Anyways I'm gonna go finish writing this hoe.