STAR ACADEMY

CHAPTER FOUR

Carter was shown to a guest room on the third floor of the mansion. It was bigger than his entire apartment in Brooklyn. The bed alone could have fit four people. Heavy curtains framed windows that overlooked the dark estate grounds. The furniture looked antique and were probably worth more than everything Carter had ever owned combined.

Reginald stood in the doorway. "Your belongings from your apartment will be collected and stored. You will not need them for the foreseeable future. Everything you require will be provided."

"My apartment." Carter's throat tightened. "I still have to pay rent on that place."

"Your lease has been terminated. The landlord has been compensated for the inconvenience." Reginald checked his watch. "You should rest. Training begins early."

"Wait." Carter turned. "I need to call my sister. Before all this starts. I need to tell her something."

Reginald's expression did not change. "What do you intend to tell her?"

"That I'll be gone for a while. That I got a job. She'll worry if I just disappear."

"You may make one call. Five minutes. I will be listening." Reginald pulled out a phone from his jacket. Not Carter's phone. A different one. "Use this. Your personal device has been confiscated. All your communication from this point forward will be monitored."

Carter took the phone. His hands were shaking slightly. "Five minutes."

"Five minutes." Reginald stepped back but did not leave the room. He stood by the door, hands clasped, waiting.

Carter dialed Elena's number. It rang three times. Four. He thought maybe she was asleep. It was past midnight now. Then the line clicked.

"Hello?" Her voice was cautious. She did not recognize the number.

"El. It's me," Carter said.

"Carter?" Relief flooded her tone. "Oh my God. I've been trying to call you for hours. Your phone keeps going to voicemail. Where are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm good. I just..." He sat down on the edge of the massive bed. "I wanted to let you know I'm going to be gone for a while. I got a job. A good one. But it's out of state and I'll be pretty busy."

Silence on the other end. Then Elena's voice came back, higher pitched. "Carter, what did you do?"

"Nothing bad. I swear. It's legitimate. I'm going to be working for a family. Private security consulting." The lie felt wrong in his mouth but he pushed through it. "The pay is really good."

"Private security? Carter, you don't know anything about security," Elena said, her voice wary.

"It's more like personal assistant stuff. They needed someone they could trust." He ran his hand through his hair. "Look, I can't explain everything right now. But I promise it's legal. It's safe. And it's going to help us."

Another pause. When Elena spoke again, her voice was shaking. "Carter, I got a notification from my bank this morning. Someone deposited two hundred and fifty thousand dollars into my account."

Carter closed his eyes. "Yeah. That was me."

"That was YOU?" She was yelling now. "Carter, what the hell is going on? Where did you get that kind of money? Did you rob someone? Are you in trouble?"

"No. El, listen to me. It's from the job. They paid me an advance. A signing bonus. I'm sending it to you because I need you to use it. Pay off your debts. All of them. Fix the heating. Get Eli those shoes. Whatever you and Marcus need."

"Carter." She was crying now. He could hear it. "This is insane. Nobody pays a signing bonus like that. Not for some assistant position. What are you really doing?"

"I can't tell you everything. Not yet. But I need you to trust me." His own voice was getting rough. "Please, El. Just this once. Trust that I know what I'm doing."

"I always trust you. That's not the problem." She sniffled. "The problem is you scare me when you're like this. You sound like you did before. When you were running cons. When you were getting into trouble."

"This is different," Carter said with a sigh.

"How? How is it different?" Elena asked.

Carter looked at Reginald, who was checking his watch. Time was running out. So quick you , Carter said, "Because this time I'm not running from something. I'm running toward something. A chance to actually fix things. To make things right."

Elena was quiet for a long moment. He could hear her breathing. Could picture her in the apartment, probably at the kitchen table, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"How long will you be gone?" she asked finally.

"A year. Maybe less."

"A year." Her voice broke. "Carter, that's so long. What am I supposed to tell Eli?"

"Tell him his uncle got a job helping important people. Tell him I'm going to make enough money so he can go to any college he wants. Tell him..." Carter's throat closed up. "Tell him I love him. And I'm trying to be the person he thinks I am in that drawing."

Elena was crying harder now. "I don't like this. I don't like any of this."

"I know. But it's going to be okay. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I'm not." Carter wiped his own eyes roughly. "This is real, El. This is going to work. You just have to trust me."

Reginald tapped his watch. Time was up.

"I have to go," Carter said. "I'll call when I can. Use the money. Please. That's why I sent it."

"Carter, wait. Just tell me one thing. Are you safe? Wherever you are, whatever you're doing. Are you safe?"

Carter looked around the guest room. At the expensive furniture and the locked door and Reginald standing there like a prison guard. Then he said, "Yeah. I'm safe."

It was not entirely a lie. He was physically safe. His body would be protected. It was only his soul that might be in danger.

"I love you," Elena said. "Please be careful."

"I love you too. Take care of Marcus. Take care of Eli. I'll see you soon."

He ended the call before she could say anything else. Before his voice could crack completely. He handed the phone back to Reginald.

"That was six minutes," Reginald said. "But acceptable given the circumstances." He pocketed the phone. "You should sleep now. Tomorrow will be difficult."

Reginald left, closing the door behind him. Carter lay back on the bed fully clothed. Stared at the ceiling. Thought about Eli's drawing. About Elena crying in her kitchen. About the quarter million dollars that would change her life and damn his.

Sleep did not come for a long time