The men watched as the woman stood in front of the shattered mirror. Her head was hanging forward and her shoulders rose up and down as she began to take loud deep breaths. She appeared to be doing some sort of calming exercise. Her long hair shielded her face and she brought her now wounded hand in front of her. Without even flinching, she pulled a piece of glass from her knuckle. Blood ran through her fingers as she continued to stand in silence.
Nathan let out a loud groan then jumped up from the floor and walked calmly into the bathroom. Carter turned on the sink and placed her wounded hand in the warm water letting the blood wash away. Nathan walked over to a cabinet on the other side of the bathroom and pulled out a first aid kit. He walked over to Carter, turned her toward him and took her wounded hand in his. Quietly, he cleaned the cut and wrapped it with gauze, Carter stood silently while he completed the task.
Once he finished he ran his fingers through Carter’s hair, pushing it back from her face softly then gripped a hand full of her hair hard. Carter gasped and a small whimper escaped her lips.
Nathan leaned in close to her lips and kissed her softly while maintain his tight grip on her hair. “That hurt,” he said against her lips.
Carter smirked.
Nathan smiled and released his grip on her hair.
“I’m cold,” she said softly. He removed his suit jacket and helped Carter put it on. He gathered her long hair and placed it on the outside. The suit jacket was longer than her dress and she nearly disappeared in it, but it was warm and it smelled so good, like him, it helped calmed her.
Carter turned back to Nathan. “Which one is your father?” she asked softly.
“Guess,” he replied with a smirk.
Carter worried her bottom lip. “Shit,” she muttered.
Nathan chuckled like the true asshole he is. “Don’t act shy now, killer,” he teased. “Get your ass in there and say hi.”
Carter scowled at the jerk. “Kiss my ass, Nathan. It’s your damn fault my whole damn plan is shot to shit,” she whispered angrily.
Nathan just laughed at her which only turned her scowl into a deadly glare. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t know you’d be that pissed.” He only laughed harder when she pushed him.
She pointed her finger in his face. “Don’t fuck with me, Salerno. I swear to god I’ll cut your ass off.”
Nathan raised an eyebrow and smirked. “No sex?” he asked, amused by her threat.
Carter crossed her arms over her chest smugly. Hell yea she can cut his smartass off…at least she thought she could, she didn’t really know yet.
Nathan smirked and reached out, delivering a light tug to the hem of her dress. Carter slapped his hand away and sent him a vicious warning glare. Nathan laughed in the face of her glare and tried to reach for her but she dodged his attempt. Carter hit his hand from the hem of her dress once more and scrambled into the office before coming to an abrupt stop.
They were all looking at her now, and with her rage now gone she was a little nervous. She scanned the room and her eyes fell upon a man with brown hair and brown eyes. She knew that had to be Dante’s father. They both had those thick eyebrows that she loved to tease Dante about whenever she could. Her eyes moved to the next man. His hair was in a short cut, black, and smoothed back. He had gray eyes much like Nathan and Lucca’s, but Carter knew that he wasn’t Nathan’s father. Lucca looked just like him.
She smiled when she looked at the man standing next to Lucca’s father. His beautiful sky blue eyes and inky black hair told her exactly who his sons were. And just like his sons the man was devilishly handsome. The smile Carter gave him seemed to make him uneasy. He frowned, cast his eyes downward, and turned to look in another direction. Carter’s smile faded and she bit her lip, her stomach tightening with nerves.
She walked forward toward the tall man with black hair, gray eyes and features resembling her Nathan and stood in front of him with her eyes cast downward, afraid to make eye contact with anyone else. She knew she was a damn freak of nature. That had to be the reason Kyle’s father just gave her the same look her own father used to, like it pained him to look at her.
Carter extended her hand, and introduced herself the way her father instructed her to for this sort of situation. “Hello, my name is Carterina Anastacia Stone,” she said softly. “I am Spook and Anastacia’s daughter,” Carter cleared her throat, “and your son’s girlfriend.” Even though she was pretty sure the man thought she was a fucking psycho now. God, she hated her temper, she really did. She tried her best not to get mad, to keep her cool so that she could make a good impression, but sometimes it’s like the universe was against her. She couldn’t catch a damn break. She wanted Nathan to be proud of her, proud to be her boyfriend but instead she attacked him right in front of his damn dad.
Carter felt big hands grip her chin softly as Nathan’s father tilted her head until she met his eyes. Surprised, Carter tensed under his touch but she didn’t move. She let him continue with his inspection of her face. He looked into her eyes with a frown on his handsome face as he turned her head from one side to the other. Once his inspection of her features was complete his expression softened and he looked into her eyes.
“Spook was a dear friend of mine. I was deeply saddened when I heard what happen to him. You have my sincerest sympathy for your loss,” he said genuinely.
At the mention of her father’s death, Carter’s eyes filled with tears. It didn’t take long for the tears to overflow and begin falling down her face and she didn’t even try to stop them, there was no use, they weren’t going to stop. Nathan’s father had opened up the flood gates. “Thank you,” Carter whispered through her tears.
“There she is,” he said as he gently wiped the tears from Carter’s eyes. “There’s that sad little girl that stood in my living room nineteen years ago. Your father told me about your teddy bear, he called the airline before our meeting began, trying to get them to look for it.”
Carter laughed softly through her tears. “My bubby,” she whispered.
Angelo smiled. “If I’m remembering correctly your father said you thought Nathan was your new bubby for a long time after that day.”
Carter smiled at the memories. “You are remembering correctly.”
“No, you are not Anastacia Stone at all. You have her temper,” he said tapping her nose with his index finger, “and your resemblance to her is unreal, but Ana doesn’t have this,” he said wiping the tears softly from her face.
“Have what?” Carter asked inquisitively
“A heart, sweetheart, genuine emotion. Regardless of that fire we all just witnessed you have warmth, but your mother, she’s…not warm.” He frowned. “Accept this, your existence, the fact that she nurtured you inside of her body for nine months is out of character for Ana, but then again she was always good at surprising us,” he said as if lost in thought. He released her chin and stood back to get a full view of Carter. “Have you ever seen your mother, child?” He asked in a deep fatherly tone.
Carter shook her head. “No, I haven’t,” she replied softly.
He didn’t say anything after she answered. All he did was stare at her as if he were trying to figure out something.
After a moment he walked up to Carter and placed one hand on her back. “May I show you what the fuss is all about?” he asked while motioning toward the door of the office.
Carter looked up at him giving him an are you serious look and he nodded.
“Yes, please” Carter replied and he began to lead her out of the office.
Once they got to the door he paused and looked over at Mitchell. “Mitchell if you pull that knife from the wall please, so that I can return it to Carterina,” he said.
Mitchell’s jaw clenched, but he did as he was told. He handed the knife to Carter. Angelo smiled. “Very impressive dear, we’re going to have to find you an outlet for that anger. I have a feeling that if we don’t,” he turned to look at Nathan, remembering when Carter punched him and
chuckled, “you and my son may have trouble conceiving his heir for this empire.”
Carter lowered her head in embarrassment and blushed. She heard Dante, Lucca, and Mickey snickering behind her followed by a loud smack, which she was sure was Nathan’s hand slamming across someone’s head, probably Mickey’s.
“Meet us in my conference room,” Angelo said over his shoulder, as him and Carter began to walk toward his office.
He led Carter through the twenty-sixth floor with his hand on her back. As they passed the place of the incident of mistaken identity, Carter looked around. The place was destroyed. Men were picking up papers scattered across the floor and carrying out a huge broken meeting table.
“That would be your boyfriend’s work. He has a bit of a temper himself, especially when he finds out the woman he loves was being held at gun point by a room full of his men,” Angelo said continuing to lead Carter to his office.
Once Carter walked into Angelo’s office she walked nervously over to a chair and sat down.
Angelo went behind his large desk. Opening a drawer, he picked up a key and walked over to his safe. He unlocked it and removed a black folder then closed it back.
“Where have you been these past five years, sweetheart?” Angelo asked as he pulled up a chair to sit beside her.
“Drifting,” Carter said with a small sad smile.
Angelo chuckled. “Well, you should be able to afford to drift. Your father was a very wealthy man, you should want for nothing.”
Carter shook her head. “I have nothing, Mr. Salerno. Spook exchanged everything we had for the promise of my escape. They told him that if he didn’t give them everything they would torture me to death, and he gave them everything,”
“So they didn’t kill you because Spook paid them not to?”
“No, that’s not why. They were still going to kill me after they killed him.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, how are you so sure?”
“I heard them say they were going to kill me, after I watched them kill my father,” Carter whispered, her eyes cast down to the floor. She knew that if she looked into his eyes and saw the concern she knew was present she would just start crying again, and she didn’t feel like dealing with all of that emotion.
Angelo tucked the hair shielding her face behind her ear. “Honey, if you don’t mind I would like to know what happened that night. There are rumors and the newspapers but I have a feeling that the truth of what happened lies with you. Am I right?”
Carter looked from the floor to Angelo’s eyes and nodded yes.
Angelo gave a nod of his head and opened the black folder in his hand. He pulled three small pictures from one of the small pockets and Carter tensed.
This is it. She’s finally going to see if she is actually identical to her mother or if everyone was full of shit. A part of her wanted this to remain a mystery, but there was a much larger part of her that wanted to see, needed to see her mother. She could feel the obsession she had as a child making its way back into her system, and she nearly reached for Angelo’s hands and yanked the pictures from him. She suddenly wanted to see Anastacia, get know her, and she hated that; she hated her. She hated that she left her, she hated that she looked like her, she hated that her father said she was exactly like a woman she’s never even met.
“Are you ready?” Angelo asked.
Carter saw the concern in his eyes and she suddenly felt like she had accidently said her thoughts out loud. She took a deep breath and relaxed.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Angelo nodded and put the pictures in her hand.
When Carter flipped the pictures forward she gasped loudly. Her hand shot up to her mouth and her head shook back and forth as she stared wide eyed at the picture.
The picture in her hand showed a young woman sitting on the edge of a large fountain. She was wearing a yellow dress and looking at the camera or the person taking the picture with a small smile on her face.
Carter could feel tears stinging her eyes as she looked at a woman identical to herself. There were a few differences, but they were barely noticeable. The woman’s skin was a chocolate shade of brown, her eyes hazel, and her hair so long it touched the edge of the fountain she was sitting upon.
Carter turned to the next picture. In this picture the woman wasn’t alone. She still sat at the edge of the water fountain but this time, a handsome young man with striking sky blue eyes sat with her. The man was looking at the camera with a huge grin on his face, while Anastacia’s lips were against his cheek. “Is this Kyle’s father?” Carter asked still looking at the picture.
“Yes,” she heard Angelo reply.
Carter smiled. “Kyle really looks a lot like him. He’s very handsome.” She really wanted to say he was sexy as hell. But that would be too much even though he was, he really was.
After Carter finished lusting over Kyle’s father she moved on to the third picture. In this picture Anastacia sat with Cesare and a tall beautifully handsome man with gray eyes and messy black hair. They all had smiles on their faces. Anastacia held both Cesare and Angelo’s hand as the men smiled to the camera and she rested her chin on Angelo’s shoulder looking at his face.
Carter smiled. “That’s you,” she said looking at the picture, “it’s like looking at Nathan with black hair.”
Carter looked up at him. “I think she liked you a lot, Mr. Salerno. I can tell, by the way she’s looking at you.”
Angelo didn’t respond he just looked at the young beautiful woman in front of him. Looking at her brought back many memories of his younger days with Anastacia Stone, many of them painful and hard to relieve, but he refused to look away from the young girl. He wouldn’t make her feel as if it was her that caused him the pain her mother had caused him. Carterina Stone is not Anastacia Stone. Anastacia Stone is a cold hearted bitch. Carterina Stone is the sweet girl in front of him, with the genuine smile that captured his son’s heart.
“Are you okay, Mr. Salerno?” she asked concern in her eyes. “Is it me? I can look away if it’s difficult for you to look at me. I understand, now more than ever,” she said sadly as she waved the pictures in the air.
Angelo chuckled. “No, sweet girl. I was just lost in thought. And call me Angelo please. You’re making me feel old. Forty-seven isn’t old anymore is it?” he asked in a teasing tone and Carter smiled. He chuckled. “Yes, the resemblance between you and your mother is uncanny, but I know who you are.”
“What about my voice, my father said my voice was like hers too.”
“Did he? Well I would have to agree. In her younger days her voice was very similar to yours, but now, she definitely puts a little more bite in her words.”
Carter placed her hand on Angelo’s. “Tell me about her, please, just what you know. I would really be grateful. Anastacia was a forbidden subject with my dad,” she pleaded.
“Darling, that’s a very long story.”
“Please.” she saw in his eyes that he wasn’t going to let up so she tried another strategy. “I’ll make you a deal. You tell me about Anastacia, and I’ll tell you my secrets.”
“Secrets?”
“Yep.”
Angelo smiled. “What kind of secrets do you have, Ms. Stone?”
Carter smirked. “I’ll tell you how I got away, who I let go, who I killed, why I tortured the man upstairs, what made me do what I did to Reeves face, and why I’ll kill the asshole if he attempts to touch my Nathan.”
Carter sat back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest smugly.
Angelo looked at her with one eyebrow raised then burst into laughter. “Men like me dream of having daughter’s as tough as you,” he said through a laugh. “You have a deal. I will be honest with you and you will be honest with me. How does that sound?”
He held out his hand for Carter to shake and Carter smiled and shook his hand. “Deal.”
“Good. And after all of this we can talk about finding you that outlet for your temper,
huh?” he said in a teasing tone. “I have a feeling you and Mikilo would work together very well.”
***
Angelo and Carter joined the men in the conference room and Carter settled in a seat between Kyle and Nathan to listen as Angelo told her about her mother.
“Alright, when we were eighteen years old Cesare and I were pretty much lap dogs for a mafia boss named Fiorenzo Luchini. His family was big in Sicily, they still are, but his son is boss now. Anyway, Fiorenzo was good friends with a powerful man in The French Corsican mafia named Alexis Stone. Alexis was said to have had an affair with an African woman and she became pregnant with his child. The woman died while giving birth to a baby girl whom Alexis named Anastacia.
“Now, although Alexis was married and had three children at the time, he favored Anastacia above anyone. She was his pride and joy. He spoiled her rotten and kept her with him always. She was never out of his sight once. Her skin color was an issue with many men back when she was first born, but Alexis dared anyone to say anything about his precious Anastacia, and if they did, he would kill them in the most brutal ways imaginable. Whenever Anastacia would even hint that someone had a problem with her to Alexis he would kill them, on the spot, while Anastacia watched. Like it was some kind of offering to her, and she loved it so much she made him teach her to do it too.
“Ana’s first kill was when she was ten years old, and she didn’t stop. She was just as dangerous as her father and she had an army of men to back her up if anyone tried to retaliate. As she grew up she began to make a name for herself, Anastacia Stone, as dangerous as she was beautiful. And she is very, very beautiful, much like yourself child. Grown men feared her because of her coldness and because of whose daughter she was, but her world fell apart when she was sixteen years old.
“Alexis became terminally ill and died, it was quick, and it tore Ana to pieces. Her father’s men scattered and Alexis’s wife and children threw Anastacia out of her home. Ana was sixteen years old when Luchini took her in. Alexis left Ana all he had, but she couldn’t have access to it until she was twenty, so until then Luchini would take care of her out of love for his dear friend. Even though she had been living in Luchini’s mansion for months Cesare and I didn’t see her until we were assigned as security for Fiorenzo’s son, Paolo, who had just, become underboss at twenty-two.”
Dangerous Beauty: Part One: Destiny Page 24