[DISCLAIMER] This is my take on the current spoilers which were revealed in the corrie preview for 2020, this story does not reflect with anything which will happen when Carter's storyline is aired
Posting this because of that one preview picture...it gave me hope for Carter's future :)
Chapter Two - Money Is The Root Of All Evil
"Where are you taking me?" Carla asks as she sinks back down into the passenger seat of Peter's car, Peter rolling his eyes at her eagerness to find out where they were going, he wanted it to be a surprise
"That my dear is none of your business"
"Spoil sport" Carla mutters staring out of the window as Peter places his hand on her leg rubbing it up and down gently to comfort her slightly
"Why are we going to the beach Peter? It's freezing" Carla grunts glancing at the road signs as Peter pulls into the cliffside carpark which looked out across the murky turquoise water
"I brought snacks" Peter teases her as she raises her perfectly groomed eyebrow in response, he reaches back into the back seat grabbing the hamper from the footwell and placing it on his lap
"Oh you weren't kidding…"
"No I wasn't, I thought we could use this opportunity to talk, that's all, without being interrupted" he shrugs handing her a sandwich as she laughs at the fact she was having picnic with Peter, in his car
"Fine, what do you want to talk about?" she asks as if it wasn't obvious, after her revelation last night she knew exactly what this conversation was going to uphold, and the questions he would ask, some she knew she wouldn't know how to answer
"I think you know what I want to talk about don't you?"
"Yes but I still don't see what the big problem is, I just want to settle down and get on with my life" she mutters as Peter sighs taking hold of her spare hand
"I know you do, but I need to know what you meant by what you said last night"
"Look, Peter…I'm pretty sure I got it from the factory ok? More than convinced so please just leave it" Carla moans as Peter shakes his head unamused at her ability to try and lie herself out of this situation
"Don't lie to me Carla"
"I'm not!" she shrieks "I really don't want to fall out with you over this"
"Well tell me the truth then you won't because for one, I know when you're lying and I also know when you said what you did yesterday it was the truth"
"Ok then yes, I don't know where I got the money from or who gave it to me" Carla groans as Peter shakes his head unamused at how it took this long for her to reveal the truth about where she got her money from
"Ok, that's a start"
"Does it really matter though Peter? Really? We have our own place now we don't need to worry about it" Carla mutters as Peter sighs nodding slowly, but he really did need to know where she got this money from
"No it doesn't, but I need to know where you got it from to keep you safe in case you did something that was illegal or something, for example you could've got that money when you were ill and did something then and you can't remember"
"I don't know Peter, how many times, I-I just don't remember, if I could I would tell you"
"Let me check your bank account then, I'm not doing this because I'm annoyed at you or want to hurt you I'm just doing it to make sure you're safe" Peter smiles slightly as Carla sighs nodding in defeat knowing Peter wouldn't back down, Peter starting the car and heading back to the street
"I don't see why you need to check my back account, surely that won't prove anything?" she lies, she knew exactly what it would prove, she knows that it would prove when that money was deposited into her account and she wasn't ready to be confronted with the truth just yet
"Well for someone who has been a successful business woman you're not very smart are you?" he teases as she playfully shoves him, blushing slightly at the word 'successful' before plonking herself down at the table next to him, as he goes to her online banking
"Let's have a look at your statements then"
At this point Carla's heart was racing
"Oh…"
"What?" she questions somewhat shakily as Peter turns the laptop around so she could see it better, not that she needed to, she already had looked through her statements meticulously and knew exactly when that large sum of money was deposited into her account, it was time to test her acting skills
"Well it says this amount was deposited into your account on 31st December" Peter frowns confused as Carla narrows her eyes glancing at the words which were glued in her mind already but she had to look again to keep up the pretences
"Well that's odd"
"Yeah…maybe we should ask the bank about who deposited that money into your account?"
"Maybe, but like I said does it really matter?" Carla questions not really wanting to go into fine details over the situation, she just wanted to forget and see things for how they were but she also knew Peter was concerned that she may have done something when she was ill, she just didn't know because if she was honest with herself her mind was a mess back then as well as it being a mess in this moment, there was no way she could comprehend this situation
"Carla, you can't blow this under the carpet, someone could've deposited this into your account to hide money or something, are you sure there is nothing you should be telling me?"
"I'm sure" she lies again, she doesn't know why she continues to lie through her teeth, she guessed that he would stop eventually but she knew Peter, he was stubborn like her, he wouldn't stop not unless he was force to or the revealed the truth
"Why don't I believe you? Please just speak to me"
"It's not as simple as that, look Peter I really appreciate you trying to look after me an' all that but what's done is done"
"But it may not be, can't you see sweetheart? Someone could come looking for you over this money and the fact that we've given it to my dad so he could buy the retirement flat, it makes it my business to keep him and Claudia safe"
"Fine! I don't know who gave it to me, I really don't"
"I know, I know… do you have any ideas who could've given this crazy amount of money to you?"
"I have no clue, I woke up to check my back accounts one day and it was there, I really don't know Peter" Carla groans in response as Peter sighs knowing she was starting to get annoyed with the constant questioning
"We ring the bank then"
"Please Peter don't do this" Carla cries as Peter huffs in response placing the phone down on the table where she could see it
"Then stop lying to me!"
"Michelle gave it to me" she lies again as Peter frowns confused at her response, he knew that Michelle definitely didn't have that sort of money especially since she sold the bistro for half the amount, Peter knew everything because Carla told him everything, apart from the topic of discussion of course but he knew this was a pack of lies
"So if I rang Michelle now she would say she gave you £100,000?"
"Well no, please just stop-"
"Hi dad" Simon replies cheerily having arrived home from college, he noticed the obvious tension in the room and raises his eyebrows at Carla and his dad who had painted a smile on for his benefit
"Ave I interrupted summat?" he questions as Carla and Peter shake their heads in unison, Simon frowning knowing that they were just trying to hide their domestic from them
"We were just discussing what we were going to have for dinner, weren't we Carla?"
"Yeah" she coughs awkwardly "we were think Fajita's then your dad wanted Enchiladas, so we were just arguing over that nothing for you to worry about…"
"Right…I will leave you to it then…I don't mind what we have if that helps"
"I'm popping out to see Roy" Carla states randomly as Peter sighs grabbing her wrist to stop her from leaving Carla tilting her head back in exasperation wrangling her wrist free and heading for the door, maybe Roy could help her right now considering his logic on these situations
"Hi Aggie, is Roy around?" Carla leans over the counter as Aggie smiles at her
"He's upstairs, love. You can go up if you want?"
"Ta" she replies as she moves swiftly upstairs to see Roy and Nina sitting at the table play chess together
"Carla?" Nina raises an eyebrow as Carla rolls her eyes, going over to the filing cabinet and rummaging through it meticulously, loading everything out onto the sofa
"Ugh where is it!" Carla groans in annoyance as Roy walks over
"Carla, whatever is the matter, I thought you took everything with you?" Roy questions curtly as Carla glances up at him grabbing one of the lever arch files and rummaging through the contents of it before realising what she was looking for wasn't there, then moving onto the next, then the one after that, her attempts proving fruitless, she sat on the armchair closing her eyes trying to remember
"Maybe I did, I don't know I thought I left a file in here that's all, mind if look in your room Nina?" Carla questions as Nina nods gesturing for her to follow her into the spare room, Carla rummaging through the draws but nothing, then something sparked her memory
"Help me move this" Carla gestures to the wardrobe, Nina raising an eyebrow helping Carla move the wardrobe, and there it was the stapled piece of paper she was looking for
"Ta Nina" Carla smiles slightly leaving the flat in one swift motion leaving both Roy and Nina perplexed, Carla armed with her stapled piece of paper which would no doubt dictate the future, there was no way Peter would get hold of this, he couldn't, not now she could hide it form him...