Carlton ✔

41| The Unfortunate Events

Dedicated to: afreen895

"No, I checked my receipt. I didn't buy any of your bullshit."
~ @gg_golnesa; Instagram

Carlton's POV

My mind had been clouded.

Why? Why was this happening? Had I been so irresponsible?

I had just forgiven Raymond for everything, aligned with him on several terms, just for him to get poisoned?!

Ace was panicking and Damien called for him, "Ace, get the car around."

He was frozen.

"Right. Fucking. Now!" Damien yelled to snap him out. Only then did he dash out of the kitchen.

I looked around hurriedly for a clue, and then to Raymond on the floor, his eyes rolled upward as he writhed in pain. Damien turned him around, gripping the sides of his face and urging him to spit out whatever he could.

How could this-

The maid!

I grabbed the gun and ran towards the kitchen backdoor. That bitch. She probably already ran away.

But Damien stopped me. "Carlton, no! We need you here." His eyes implored, begged me to drop my rage. It wasn't easy to. Augustus had snuck someone inside Caden's concealed house to poison Raymond to death. To think he knew where to find Raymond so quickly, was unimaginable. We had underestimated him. He had been right under our noses all this time.

However, the maid did a mistake by poisoning him in our presence. Raymond might survive this.

Ace honked the car and Damien didn't waste another second carrying him on his back, all the way out all on his own. Sometimes I wondered how Damien was raised to be so kind-hearted, that he put several social workers to shame.

*****

"Caden must be informed," Damien said, leaning on the wall of the hospital lobby.

Ace was sitting on a chair not far away, his hands covering his sweat-ridden face. Phil sat beside him, reassuring him.

Ray's near death had taken a toll on Ace. Even though Ray had his guards beat him up during the conference.

Did everyone here have a big heart? Or was mine just too small to comprehend?

I was just glad to know that since Ray had been poisoned, I could be certain that whatever he said was true after all. But that would only mean that we were all in danger. I glared at a nurse passing by, carrying a tray of supplies into a room. Anybody here could be a spy. I needed to be alert. Or we wouldn't be so lucky next time.

"We should leave," I suggested, "Staying here is not safe."

Breanna had been inside Ray's ward for hours, relaxing him, comforting him. I wouldn't say I was jealous but it ached to know that Breanna might actually still be in love with him.