Always Us (The Jade Series #8) (22 page)

“Pearce, how could you do this to me? I’m your wife! The mother of your child!”

“Yes, about that. I’m getting full custody of Lilly in the divorce.”

She narrows her eyes at him. “You can’t raise our daughter. You’re never even home.”

“And yet I see her more than you do. You’re in the same house with her all day and instead of spending time with her, you ignore her and force her to stay in her room. I’m not arguing about this Katherine. She’s staying with me. If you’d like to fight that, I’d be happy to expose even more of your sins to the members.”

Her eyes bounce between my dad and William. “What are you going to do now? Have me arrested?”

“We’d prefer to avoid the hassle and publicity of an arrest,” William says. “The punishment handed down from the organization should suffice.”

“No. This isn’t right. Pearce, you can’t—”

“Leave,” my dad says to her. “Get what you need from the house and go stay in a hotel.” When she doesn’t move, he yells, “Get out!”

She hurries out of the room.

I storm over to William. “What the fuck did you do to Jade?”

“Nothing,” he says. “I just texted my men and they confirmed that she’s safe and in the house watching TV.”

I pick up my phone and call her. This time she answers.

“Garret, why are you calling so late?”

I finally breathe when I hear her voice. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath this entire time.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why? Is something wrong?”

“No. I mean, as long as you’re okay, then everything’s good.”

“Where are you right now?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll call you when I get back to the hotel. It might be a while.”

“That’s okay. Call me as soon as you can. I’ll wait up. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. Jade. You have no idea how much I want to see you right now.”

“Garret, you don’t sound like yourself. What happened?”

“I’ll explain later.”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t be. I’m fine. Just relax. Turn on all the Christmas lights and watch a movie. I’ll call you soon. I love you.”

“I love you, too. Bye.”

I put my phone away. William is now standing next to my dad, the two of them talking quietly by the door.

I go up to William. “Why did you let me believe Jade was dead? Why would you do that to me?”

“Because I had to keep this going until I knew Holton was gone. When we started this plan, I needed Katherine to trust me. I told her I was disgusted by the fact that a Kensington would marry someone like Jade and that I had no problem getting rid of her. And to prove it, I told Katherine I took care of Jade tonight. Then I had my men disrupt the cell signal around your house in case Katherine called to see if Jade was really gone. It was all just to gain her trust, Garret. Your father and I needed her to do this for us. Neither one of us could do it. The rules forbid a member from harming another member. And
killing
a fellow member is punishable by death. We had to find another way.”

That doesn’t make sense. My dad killed Royce and yet my dad’s still alive.

My dad sees my confusion and says, “It’s a new rule, established by your grandfather as soon as he got the promotion. He knew he had enemies within the organization who wanted him dead.”

“I don’t get it,” I say to William. “Why did you want to kill my grandfather?”

“Holton killed my father. He slipped a drug in his drink to induce the heart attack that killed him.”

My dad explains. “Last spring, the organization was preparing to promote Arlin to the highest level. Your grandfather was furious because he wanted that position. And he got it by killing Arlin. I didn’t know this until just recently. When your grandfather was promoted a few months ago, he made a comment about how the position should’ve been his all along, and that Arlin never should’ve even been considered. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I thought he was just making a comment. My father has been friends with Arlin for many years, so I never considered that he might’ve played a role in Arlin’s death. But when you told me what your grandfather had done to your mother, and what he planned to do to Jade, I remembered that comment he made about Arlin. On Thanksgiving, I asked him if he did something to Arlin and he admitted that he killed Arlin and had no regrets about it.”

“This is simply payback,” William says. “An eye for an eye. And we weren’t going to let Holton kill again. After your father told me what Holton had done, and what he planned to do to Jade, I agreed to help him with his plan. We needed Katherine to do it, and your father couldn’t be the one to get her involved. He needed me to do it.”

“Why would Katherine agree to it? Why would she want to kill my grandfather?”

My dad answers. “Because she wants a divorce.”

“A divorce? She knows you two can’t get divorced.”

“Actually, we’ve been planning our divorce for months now. I didn’t want to tell you until it was approved. A few weeks ago, the other members voted to allow it, but your grandfather forbid it. He overrode their decision. He wanted to maintain the benefits that come with being related to Katherine’s family, specifically MDX Aerodynamics.”

That’s the corporation Katherine’s family owns. They make plane engines and parts and their biggest client is the military. After my dad married Katherine, her father used his connections with the military to get Kensington Chemical some very large contracts worth billions of dollars. If Katherine and my dad divorced, we’d probably lose those contracts.

“Why would the members agree to a divorce?” I ask.

“Because the senator Katherine has been dating needs a wife, and Katherine convinced the members she’d be perfect for the role. She needed the divorce so she can marry him. He’s slated to be vice president in the next election and Katherine wants the power and prestige of being the vice president’s wife. And her family wanted her to marry him because he’s chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and can steer billions of dollars to MDX Aerodynamics by way of government contracts.”

“Is the senator a member?”

“No, but he’s been working with us behind the scenes for years.”

The organization has people within the government helping them get away with stuff. Get confidential information. Destroy files. Whatever they need. And in exchange, the person gets rewards. For politicians, like this senator, the reward is a promise of more power, such as a higher position. I learned this last spring when I was at one of the organization’s meetings.

My dad continues. “Katherine also wanted your grandfather gone because her father was one of the men being considered for Arlin’s position. But instead, it was given to your grandfather. By getting rid of him, Katherine was hoping her father would take his place, but now, he’ll most likely be demoted and forced to do the jobs no one wants to do.”

“But how can you prove she did this?” I ask him.

“We can’t. It’s our word against hers, but they’ll believe William and me long before they’ll ever believe Katherine. And she had motive. The members know how much she wanted the divorce. When my father stopped it from happening, she had to find another way. She needed to get rid of him. But I knew she wouldn’t attempt to do it herself. She’d need someone to help. So I purposely told her what my father had done to Arlin because I knew she’d run to William, assuming he’d want revenge. He played along, but told her he couldn’t kill him because of the new rule forbidding it. So Katherine agreed to do it.”

“But the drug she gave him will be traced back to you,” I say to William.

He shakes his head. “No. The drug is nothing special. It’s one he’s already getting in his IV, but in large doses it can be lethal. That syringe contained ten times what his body can tolerate.”

“So what are you going to tell the organization?” I ask William.

“I’ll tell them that Katherine came to me and was asking about various drugs and their effects. I’ll tell them how I answered her questions, but became suspicious of why she was asking, concerned that maybe she planned to drug and kill Pearce so that she’d be free to marry the senator. I’ll explain that I immediately called and warned Pearce, telling him to be careful. And then your father will tell the members that he wasn’t the intended victim. Holton was. He’ll say he found Katherine here, injecting Holton with a lethal dose of drugs, but that it was too late to save him.”

I stand there, trying to sort this all out in my head.

“Pearce, we need to leave,” William says. “Do you want your mother to find out in the morning?”

“No. She needs to find out now. I don’t want the maid to find him here in the morning. Then we’d just have more witnesses to deal with. We need to get him out of here. I’ll make the necessary calls. You speak with Dr. Cunningham. Have him wake my mother. Tell him to go with the story we talked about.”

William leaves and I’m left with my dad. He gets his phone out, but I stop him before he makes his call.

“Dad. You killed him.” I say it quietly.

“No. Katherine did.”

“But you arranged for it to happen.”

“My father taught me how to make the hard decisions. He taught me to make sacrifices for the greater good. I simply did what my father taught me.”

He says it without the slightest hint of emotion. This isn’t the dad I saw earlier at the house. Now I’m seeing the other side of him, the one he pretends isn’t his real self. The dad I’m used to seeing couldn’t do this. He couldn’t plot his own father’s murder. But he knew he had to, so he used the other side of himself, the dark side, to do it.

“Garret, go back to the house. Get some rest.”

“I don’t think I can after this.”

“Then call Jade. Tell her this is over.”

“Is it? Or is someone else going to follow through on his plan?”

My dad sighs. “Let’s not get into this right now. One problem at a time.”

“What does that mean? Who else is in on this?”

“Garret, you need to leave. Cunningham will be waking up my mother soon and you can’t be here.”

“It’s Roth, isn’t it?”

He doesn’t answer. He just looks at his phone.

“Dad, tell me.”

He sighs again. “William and I suspect Roth might’ve been in on it, but not for the same reasons as your grandfather. Roth has no interest in you taking over the company or going to Yale. But he does want you back at the organization, mainly to prove to the other members that you didn’t defeat him last spring.”

“So this isn’t over. He’ll threaten to go after Jade if I don’t agree to be a member.”

“No. That won’t happen.”

“How do you know that?”

“The other members don’t want you back. They only went along with it because Roth and your grandfather insisted on it, and given their high-level positions, the other members wouldn’t dare challenge them.”

“So why are you telling me not to worry? Grandfather is gone, but with Roth still in power, nothing changes.”

“It does if the person who takes over your grandfather’s position disagrees with Roth.”

“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.”

My dad lowers his voice. “William believes he’ll be offered the position.”

“Are you serious? Why would they pick him?”

“I can’t share that information. But having him at that level will give you protection, Garret. And protection for Jade. He’ll be able to stop Roth and anyone else who shows interest in you.”

“Is William really getting promoted? Do you know this for sure?”

“No, but we will soon.” He glances at my grandfather. “Now get out of here. I mean it. You can’t be here. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I got a hotel room so—”

“Garret, I need you at the house. I’m going to have a lot to deal with tomorrow and I need you to help me handle Lilly. She won’t understand. She’s never had to deal with death before.”

“Shit. She’s alone at the house right now. She can’t be—”

“She’s not alone. Before I left, I had Charles come over and stay in one of the guest rooms just in case she wakes up. But Lilly needs family, now, Garret. You need to be there for her.”
 

“Yeah, okay.”

I walk out into the dark hall, down the dimly lit stairs, and out the front door. This is so surreal. My grandfather is dead. I watched him die. I witnessed the set-up. And now, as I leave, the cover-up begins.

GARRET

I drive back to the hotel, get my things, and take them to the house. When I get to my room, I collapse on the bed. I’m so exhausted. I got up early this morning to fly here and now it’s 2 a.m. and I’m still awake. It’s like this day will never end.

I call Jade. “Hey, it’s me.”

“Hey. You sound tired.”

“I am.” I pause, then say, “He’s gone, Jade.”

She’s quiet. She doesn’t say she’s sorry, but I don’t want her to say it. Neither one of us is sorry he’s gone. He’s a killer. A murderer. And he didn’t give a damn about me or anyone else.

“I’ll tell you more when I get home.” I don’t want to tell her what happened over the phone in case someone’s listening. I don’t think they are, but I can’t take the risk.

“Okay.” Jade knows not to ask questions. She can tell by my tone that I can’t talk about it. “So are you staying out there for the funeral?”

“It’ll probably be next week, so no, I’m flying home Sunday, like I planned.”

“But you’re going to the funeral, right?”

“No. I don’t want to. And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. They’ll all be there. I don’t want to be around them.” I’m referring to the members. Again, she gets it and doesn’t ask me more about it.

“Garret, you should get some sleep.”

“Yeah.” I want to talk to her but I’m so out of it I don’t have anything to say. I’m still in shock over what just happened. “Goodnight. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I fall asleep shortly after we hang up. I wake up at eight when I hear my dad in the hall. It sounds like he went into Lilly’s room. I don’t know how she’s going to react to the news. My grandfather pretty much ignored her. He wasn’t comfortable around kids. So maybe she won’t be that upset.