POV: Emily
For a moment, time seemed to stop.
Carter stood there, his gun trained on Jake. The room felt like it had shrunk, the space between us heavy with disbelief... and fear. My breath caught in my throat, my mind scrambling to process what was happening. The one person we had trusted to guide us through this, the person who had been at Jake's side for years, had turned on us.
"Carter..." Jake's voice was low, steady, but there was a sharp edge to it. "What are you doing?"
Carter didn't flinch. His eyes stayed cold, hard, as if the man I had thought we knew was long gone. "You don't understand, Jake. This is bigger than you, bigger than all of us."
My heart raced, pounding in my ears as the reality of the situation settled in. Carter had betrayed us. He had been working with Marcus the whole time. How long had this been planned? How much of what we'd done was already known to Marcus?
Marcus's slow, satisfied chuckle echoed through the warehouse, breaking the thick silence. "You see, Jake? It's always about control. You were never going to win this game."
Jake's fists clenched at his sides, but his face remained unreadable, his eyes locked on Carter. "You're making a mistake."
Carter's lips pressed into a thin line. "No, Jake... the mistake was thinking we could take Marcus down. You can't fight someone like him and win. I tried to help you... I really did."
I swallowed hard, the weight of his words making me feel like the ground was slipping out from under me. This whole time, we had been steps behind, thinking we had the upper hand, when, in reality, we'd been played. We'd been so focused on Marcus that we hadn't seen the betrayal right in front of us.
"You think this is the way out?" Jake's voice was sharp now, the tension in his body clear. "Marcus doesn't let anyone walk away clean, Carter. You know that."
Marcus's smile widened, but he stayed quiet, watching the scene unfold like it was some kind of game. His eyes flicked between Jake and Carter, amusement flickering in his gaze.
Carter's expression tightened, a flicker of doubt crossing his face for just a second before it vanished. "I'm not walking away... I'm surviving."
The words hit me like a punch. Surviving. That's what this had been about for him all along. He wasn't trying to win, he was trying to stay alive. But at what cost? How many times had he undermined us, fed Marcus information, without us even knowing?
I glanced at Jake, seeing the storm in his eyes, the way his mind was already calculating the next move. But there was no easy way out of this. We were caught between a man who had betrayed us and a man who wanted to destroy us.
Jake's voice was calm, but it carried a deadly edge. "If you think Marcus is going to keep you alive after this, you're more naive than I thought."
Carter didn't waver, his gun still trained on Jake, his knuckles white around the grip. "I'm not naive... I'm realistic. You should've known better, Jake. You can't beat him."
Marcus, clearly enjoying the tension, stepped forward slightly, his voice dripping with arrogance. "It's over, Jake. You fought a good fight, but this... this is checkmate."
A cold dread settled into my chest. This was it... the moment we'd been fighting to avoid. The moment when Marcus finally had us cornered. And Carter had handed us to him on a silver platter.
Tensions Rise
I felt my heart hammering in my chest as the silence stretched on, broken only by the steady hum of the lights above us. Carter's gun was unwavering, but I could see the conflict in his eyes. He wasn't doing this because he wanted to... he was doing it because he thought he had no other choice.
"Carter," I said softly, stepping forward, though my legs felt like they were made of lead. "You don't have to do this."
His eyes flicked to me, the coldness in them flickering, just for a second. "I don't have a choice, Emily."
"Yes, you do," I pressed, my voice trembling. "You're better than this."
Jake's hand moved slightly, almost imperceptibly, but I saw it. He was ready... ready to do whatever it took to get us out of this. And if that meant fighting Carter, the man he had once trusted with his life, then that's what he would do.
Carter shook his head, the tension in his face betraying the conflict in his mind. "No... no, I'm not. I made my choice."
Marcus watched, the faintest smirk pulling at his lips, enjoying every second of the tension. "Ah, the drama of betrayal. Always fascinating."
I hated him. In that moment, I hated Marcus Hall more than I had hated anyone in my life. He was pulling the strings, watching us unravel, and I could see the satisfaction in his eyes. He had played us all, perfectly, and now he was waiting for us to break.
But we couldn't. Not now. Not like this.
Jake's voice was low, calm, as he spoke again. "Carter... whatever Marcus promised you, it's not worth your life. You know he'll kill you the second you're no longer useful."
Carter's eyes tightened, his grip on the gun tightening. "I can handle Marcus."
"No, you can't," Jake said, taking a step forward. "But you don't have to. Help us. We can still win this."
There was a long pause, the air so thick with tension that it felt like the room was going to explode. Carter's gaze flicked between Jake and Marcus, his mind clearly racing, trying to calculate the odds... the risks.
But before he could make his decision, Marcus spoke again, his voice smooth and full of deadly amusement. "Do it, Carter. Show them what happens when you try to fight me."
Carter's hand trembled, his gun wavering slightly as he looked at Marcus, then back at Jake. For a split second, I thought he might lower the gun... that maybe he would change his mind.
But then Marcus stepped forward again, his voice turning cold and hard. "Now."
Everything happened at once. Carter's finger tightened on the trigger, his body moving with deadly intent.
Jake moved faster.
He lunged, grabbing Carter's arm just as the gun went off, the deafening sound echoing through the warehouse. The shot went wide, missing Jake by inches, but the impact sent both men crashing to the ground.
I screamed, my body frozen for a moment as I watched them struggle. Carter's gun clattered to the floor, spinning out of reach, but Marcus's men were already closing in, their hands going for their weapons.
Without thinking, I lunged forward, grabbing the gun and holding it up, my heart racing in my chest. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know if I could even pull the trigger.
"Stop!" I shouted, my voice trembling as I pointed the gun at Marcus and his men.
Marcus's cold, calculating eyes landed on me, amusement dancing in their depths. "Oh, Emily... do you really think you can pull that trigger?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't. My hands were shaking, and my heart was pounding so hard I could barely breathe.
"Drop it," Jake growled, still struggling to hold Carter down, his voice strained with effort.
For a moment, Marcus just stood there, his eyes locked on mine, as if he were daring me to pull the trigger. Then, slowly, he smiled, raising his hands in mock surrender.
"Well... this just got interesting."