Rejected Heiress, Reigning Queen novel Chapter 288

Outside the decaying, abandoned club, Carter's convoy blocked the main entrance entirely.

"Why is he here?"

Gillian and Tobias scowled as they stared at the grainy feed on the security monitors.

"What do we do?" Gillian looked at Tobias, panic lacing her voice. If Carter was the one stepping into the building, their entire trap fell apart.

Tobias's lips curled into a twisted, malicious grin. "Then we give him a spectacular welcoming gift. Imagine a tragedy where one of Emma's close friends dies entirely because of his reckless arrogance. A corpse wedged directly between them. I guarantee their little romance won't survive that."

The sheer, unhinged madness in his eyes made Gillian's hand tremble. "We're on domestic soil. You're going to murder someone? Are you out of your mind?"

"If the body mysteriously turns up overseas, who's going to care?" Tobias stated, completely unbothered. Catching the hesitation in Gillian's eyes, he raised a brow. "Or are you suddenly feeling protective over Phoebe Sterling?"

Gillian pressed her lips together. "I just think it's an unnecessary risk. It's Carter Harrington. If you push him into a corner, we both burn."

"Coward."

Tobias pulled out his phone. Gillian immediately reached out, grabbing his wrist.

"I'm serious. You can't."

Carter wasn't some random executive. Did Tobias honestly believe he could murder someone right in front of the Harrington heir and just walk away clean?

She refused to rot in a prison cell before she had even gotten justice for her mother.

Tobias stared at her hand on his wrist, the manic gleam in his eye dimming slightly.

"Fine. We'll cripple her, but leave her breathing. Consider it a favor."

Just as Tobias hit the call button, a new wave of movement appeared on the monitors.

Fully geared SWAT units were flooding the perimeter.

Tobias's eyes darkened with sheer venom. Carter had actually bypassed standard procedure and called in an armed tactical squad.

"Forget the girl. Get everyone out through the rear exit immediately."

He barked the order and shot to his feet, grabbing Gillian's arm to drag her toward the exit. He turned back to his men. "Wipe this place clean. Leave nothing behind."

As Emma's car tore down the road nearing the location, a catastrophic explosion shattered the night air. The shockwave was so massive it rattled the windows of her vehicle.

"An explosion of that magnitude... it has to be a ruptured gas main."

Chase sat in the passenger seat. When he glanced in the rearview mirror, he saw that the color had entirely drained from Emma's face.

Her eyes were fixed in absolute horror on the burning wreckage at the epicenter of the blast—a vehicle so rare there were only two in the entire world.

She didn't make it three steps before a strong pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.

"Let—Carter?"

The rich, grounding scent of ebony and sandalwood flooded her senses, slicing through her panic and forcing a shred of clarity back into her mind.

Emma whipped her head around, her eyes wide with sheer disbelief. He was standing right there, completely unharmed, without a single smudge of ash or soot on his clothes. She looked from him to the burning car, entirely lost.

"You're okay?"

Carter was still internally reeling from hearing her scream the word 'husband'. A soft, entirely inappropriate warmth settled in his eyes.

"Did I scare you?"

His gentle, steadying voice brought her crashing back to reality. Without waiting for a response, Carter swept her off her feet, carrying her away from the hazardous blast zone.

"The SWAT team noticed something was wrong, so they ordered an immediate evacuation of the perimeter. Jeff and I were helping pull bystanders out of the blast radius. We didn't have time to secure the vehicle."

Carter offered the explanation calmly. Emma pressed her lips into a thin line. The blind, frantic terror that had consumed her eyes just moments ago was rapidly morphing into cold, piercing fury.

"So tell me... why did you delete my text messages?"