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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

JADE

“Your grandfather was here?” I ask Garret. “Last week?”

“Jade, we need to talk about Carson.” He takes my hand and pulls me inside, locking the sliding door behind us. “Was he here when you got home?”

“No. I was lying on the beach and he just showed up. He knows too much, Garret. You have to tell your dad.”

“I will, but I might have to fly out there to tell him. I don’t think I should talk to him over the phone about this, just in case someone’s listening in.”

“You better tell him soon. Carson’s got other people helping him. That Hanniford guy is wealthy and powerful. He could do real damage to your family.”

“He won’t. They don’t have proof of anything. They just have theories.” Garret goes in the hall closet and takes out a thing that looks like a silver wand. “Was Carson in the house?”

“No. Why?”

Garret runs the wand thing over the furniture, making his way around the room. “You sure he didn’t break in before you got home?”

“I don’t think so. Nothing looked out of place.” I point to the wand. “What is that thing?”

“It checks for listening devices.”

“Where did you get it?”

“I don’t remember. I just had it.”

It’s a lie. I can tell because he’s talking fast and won’t look at me. I get in front of him as he wands the door to the deck.

“Garret, stop.” I put my hand on his arm. “Tell me the truth.”

“I told you, I can’t remember where I got it. I probably bought it online.”

“I’m not talking about the wand thing. I want to know about your grandfather. Was he here last week?”

I look directly at Garret, but he avoids my gaze, his eyes on the glass door just behind me.

“Garret. Was he here or not?”

He doesn’t respond, which just tells me Carson was right. Holton was here and Garret didn’t tell me. Why wouldn’t he tell me? We agreed we were done keeping secrets from each other.

“Dammit, Garret!” I shove him back. “Why do you do this to me? Why do you keep hiding stuff from me?” Tears fall from my eyes before I can stop them. “I need to be able to trust you. You’re my husband and I need to be able to trust you.”

I’m so mad at him right now. I’ve worked so hard this past year to learn to trust people, and the person I trust the most keeps lying to me. I walk around him and stand by the couch. He turns to face me but remains by the sliding glass door with that stupid wand thing still in his hand.

“Jade, I’m sorry. But you don’t understand.”

“There’s nothing to understand. Your grandfather was here and you hid it from me. Why would you keep that a secret, Garret?”

He sighs, heavily, and stares down at the floor. But he doesn’t answer.

“Is that why you were acting so strange when we were at Frank’s house? Because Holton came here and you didn’t want to tell me?”

Silence.

“Garret. Answer me. Was Holton here?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Monday. A week ago Monday.”

“Why? What did he want?”

Garret finally looks at me. “I can’t talk about this right now. I need to deal with this thing with Carson.”

“There’s nothing to deal with. You’ll tell your dad and he’ll deal with it. There’s nothing else we can do. Now answer my question. Why was your grandfather here? He wouldn’t show up here for no reason. So tell me what it is.”

Garret stares at the floor again and shakes his head side to side.

“What does that mean? You’re not going to tell me?”

Silence. Again.

I take a deep breath and wipe the tears from my face. “Fine. I’ll see you later.” I storm into the bedroom and slam the door.

Garret opens it and meets me at the dresser. “Jade, where are you going?”

“Where do you think?” I take out a sports bra and some shorts.

“You’re not running, Jade. I promise you, we’ll talk about this. Just not right now. I need some time.”

“You had time! You had over a week to tell me and you didn’t. And you wouldn’t have told me if it weren’t for Carson. I only found out because of him.”

“Jade, just wait.” He tries to take my running clothes but I yank them back.

“I’m running, Garret. I know you don’t want me to, but I don’t care. I’m running. I have to. Because I can’t handle having you lie to me like this. Not answer my questions. Stand there in silence without even trying to explain. I can’t handle how I’m feeling right now and I have to run. I admit it. I’m messed up and that’s what I do. I run. Deal with it.”

I go to the other side of the room into the walk-in closet and grab a t-shirt, then change clothes as fast as I can. When I turn around, Garret’s blocking the door. I don’t look at his face. I just push on his chest as hard as I can. “Get out of the way.”

His hands are bracing the door frame and he doesn’t move. I can’t even squeeze around his sides.

“Garret, I mean it. Move. I need to run. I can’t stay here and listen to your silence.”

“Okay.” He says it quietly. “I’ll tell you.”

I look up at his face. His eyes are wet and there’s a tear running down his cheek.

I didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect to look up at him and see tears. The only time I’ve ever seen Garret shed a tear was last spring when he thought he’d never see me again.

I take a step back. “Garret, what’s wrong?”

He reaches for me and pulls me into his arms. “I almost lost you.”

I swallow hard, fighting back my own tears. “What do you mean?”

He doesn’t answer, but just holds me close to him and breathes. Deep, heavy breaths. He slowly lets me go, then sits on the floor just outside the closet. He’s backed against the wall, his knees bent and his arms resting on them, his eyes on the floor.

I sit next to him, rubbing his arm. “Garret, talk to me.”

“My grandfather came here last week. He broke into the house. I didn’t have class that afternoon so I went home. And he was here.”

“Why? What did he want?”

“A couple weeks ago he called me and told me I had to work for the company.”

“Yeah, I remember. And you told him you wouldn’t do it, right?”

“Yes. But he didn’t like my answer. That’s why he showed up here.”

“To tell you to work for the company?”

“Not tell, but force. He was going to force me to work there. And force me to transfer to Yale. He already got me accepted.”

“Yale? But we have a life here , in California. And what was I supposed to do? I can’t get into Yale.”

“You weren’t part of the plan, Jade.” Garret won’t look at me. He won’t even look in my direction.

“He told you to divorce me?”

“Yes. And to never speak to you again.”

“What did you say to him?”

“I told him he couldn’t control me like that. I told him I’d never leave you and I’d never work for the company.”

“And what did he say?”

Garret shuts his eyes, then opens them again, his gaze still on the floor. “He said—” He stops and takes a deep breath and lets it out. “He told me if I didn’t do what he said, he would—” He stops again. “He would kill you.”

I inhale sharply and the muscles in my chest immediately tighten, making it hard to breathe. I turn so that I’m facing Garret. “No. Your grandfather wouldn’t do that. He was just trying to scare you into doing what he wanted.”

“He was serious, Jade. He would’ve done it.” Garret pauses. “He killed my mom.”

“What? No. That’s not possible.” Now I really can’t breathe. I’m shaking. “The organization killed her.”

“Yes, but it was his idea. The organization wanted to do something to the company to punish my dad for marrying my mom. But my grandfather convinced them that getting rid of my mom was a better punishment. It was all his idea. He had her killed. And he determined when it would be done. They wanted to kill her right after my dad married her but my grandfather made them wait. He wanted my dad to suffer. He wanted my dad to have all those years with her, to love her, to have a child with her, and then take it all away.”

“No.” I shake my head, tears falling again. “A father wouldn’t do that to his own son. And his daughter-in-law. Your mom.” I cry even harder as the realization of what he’s saying hits me. “Oh my God. Your mom. She’d be alive if he didn’t—”

He nods. “Yeah.”

I hug his chest. “Garret, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry she’s gone. I’m sorry he did that.” More tears fall, my heart aching for him. “I don’t even know what to say. I don’t know how anyone could be that evil.”

“Evil is everywhere, Jade. Your own father tried to kill you.”

I sit back and look at him. “Yes, but he didn’t know me. He didn’t raise me. This is different. Holton raised your father. Pearce is his only son. Why would he do that to his son? And his grandson? You were just a little boy. How could he take away your mom?” I’m still crying, but Garret’s expression is blank, his gaze on the bed behind me.

“Because he wanted to punish my dad. My dad didn’t listen to him. He didn’t divorce my mom. And he didn’t raise me the way my grandfather told him to. My grandfather hates not being the one in control, which is why he was trying to take over my life. He was determined to make sure I followed orders. To do exactly what he had planned for my life. He was even trying to get me accepted back into the organization. That’s another reason why he had to get rid of you.”

My whole body is shaking. I don’t believe this. It’s too evil, too vicious, too cruel to be real. I wipe my tears and take some deep breaths.

My focus shifts from what Holton did in the past to what he’d planned to do in the future. To me. “When was he going to do it? When was he going to kill me?”

“He gave me a deadline. He said you were safe until the end of the year. After that, I had to make a decision. If I divorced you, you’d be safe. Otherwise, he’d kill you, but I wouldn’t know when. He said he’d pick the time, just like he did for my mom. When he told me this, I swear I almost killed him with my bare hands. But he had a gun.”

I’m so shocked, I can’t even come up with a response. Why would Holton bring a gun? Did he plan to hurt his own grandson?

Garret continues. “After he left, I called my dad and told him to come out here right away. He flew out that night and that’s why he was here Tuesday morning. He said he’d take care of it. He was going to talk to my grandfather on Thanksgiving. I don’t know if he ever did. He didn’t tell me.”

No wonder Garret was so out of it last week. No wonder he didn’t sleep and could barely eat.

I lean my head on his shoulder and take his hand, threading it with mine. “I wish you would’ve told me this, Garret.”

“I couldn’t do it, Jade. How could I tell you something like that? All I ever wanted is for you to be happy. And you finally were, and then this happens. I just wanted you to be happy for a little longer. I thought maybe I could find a way to fix this. Then my dad said he would, and I believed him. I wanted to give him time to at least try before I told you.”

I understand why Garret didn’t tell me, and part of me is glad that he didn’t. If I’d known about this, I would’ve been so scared and so angry that I wouldn’t have gone home for Thanksgiving. I couldn’t have been around Frank and Ryan. They would’ve known something was up. I couldn’t hide something like this from them.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” I ask him.

He rubs my hand with his thumb. “I was hoping I’d never have to. I was hoping it would just be over and you’d never have to know.” He pauses. “I never would’ve let him hurt you, Jade. I would’ve done everything possible to protect you. I spent all last week trying to figure out ways to keep you safe. I stayed up all night, every night, thinking about it.”

“Is this ever going to end, Garret?”

He wraps his arms around me and kisses my head. “It’s over. With my grandfather gone, this will end.”

“But what about that burglary and the fake cop? What if the organization was behind that?”

His body stiffens and I sit back again.

“What is it, Garret? Do you know something about the burglary?”

He slowly nods. “That was his original plan. But it didn’t work. The burglary was set up by my grandfather. He hired a guy to break in here and—”

“Kill me?” A chill runs through my entire body.

“I’m so sorry, Jade.” He pulls me back into his chest. “I’m so sorry I got you involved in this. I’m sorry I put you in danger. I’m sorry for all of it.”

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. It was all your grandfather.”

“Yes, but I should’ve been more aware. More cautious. My job is to protect you and I didn’t. That guy would’ve killed you. He almost did. He didn’t because he was scared off by the security cameras.”

“Why did the fake cop show up here?”

“My grandfather knows how my dad checks into stuff like this. He knew my dad would try to find out more about that guy who was lurking around our house. So my grandfather hired that man to pretend he’s a cop and tell us our neighbors were robbed. That way we wouldn’t think the guy was targeting us specifically and my dad would just assume it was a random crime. Anyway, when the robbery didn’t work as planned, my grandfather decided to take a different approach.”

We sit there in silence, Garret hugging me too tightly again, but it’s what I need right now. I need to feel safe, and the only place I feel safe is in Garret’s arms.

Holton’s going to die any day now, but I still feel scared. I was almost killed. Holton wanted me dead. I’d be dead right now if that burglar had done what he was hired to do.

Is this really over? How can Garret be sure? He didn’t know about his grandfather’s plan, which means he may not know about other threats against me, or against us. I shudder just thinking about that.