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CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

GARRET

I’ve been calling my dad ever since he left last night. Now it’s ten-thirty in the morning and he’s still not home. He hasn’t called me back and I’m getting really worried. I call him again just as he walks in the front door.

“Where were you?” I ask him.

He takes off his coat and gloves and hands them to the maid. He’s wearing the same suit he had on last night but his tie is undone and his shirt is wrinkled. “Garret, I just walked in the door. Meet me in my office in an hour or so.”

“We need to talk. This can’t wait.”

He sighs, heavily, and rubs his forehead. “All right.” He notices the maid walking away. “Marta.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I need some coffee. Could you bring some to my office, please?”

“Of course, sir.”

I follow him into his office. “Where have you been all night?”

He takes a seat at his desk. “I had some things to take care of at work.”

“What happened with Roth?” I sit in the chair opposite his.

He checks his phone. “Nothing. I simply asked him to leave. He wasn’t invited.”

“Why did he say he’d see me soon? When would he see me?”

“Garret, why do you let that man get to you? Stop worrying about him. I’ll deal with him.” He checks his phone again. “Now what do you need to tell me?”

“This guy who went to Moorhurst last year showed up at our place last week. He’s the guy I told you about that kept bothering Jade last semester, telling her all this stuff about our family.”

My dad nods. “Yes. Justin. I know who he is.”

“How did you know his real name?”

“Because I’ve been investigating him ever since he started following me a few months ago.”

“Last semester he said his name was Carson. He pretended to be a student but he’s really 24 and—”

“A reporter in Chicago. Yes, I know all this. Get to the point.”

My dad is really on edge today. Usually he isn’t this impatient. And why does he keep checking his phone? He did it again just now.

“He said that he knows you’re part of the organization but that he can’t prove it. He said his sister had evidence of election fraud but that she was killed before she could show it to anyone.”

There’s a knock on the door, then the maid comes in with a mug filled with coffee. She hands it to my dad.

“Thank you, Marta.”

“Would you like something?” she asks me.

“No, thank you.”

The maid leaves, closing the door behind her.

“Justin’s sister was also a reporter.” My dad swipes through the screen on his phone as he talks. “And she was indeed killed. She was killed by your grandfather.”

“What?” I move to the edge of my chair. “Are you serious? Why did he kill her?”

“ He didn’t do it. He hired someone, like we always do. The girl knew too much. She had to go.”

“Dad, what the hell? You act like she deserved it.”

“Of course she didn’t deserve it, but that’s the business we’re in, Garret. Well, not you, but the rest of us. Knowing too much can get you killed. That’s why I keep telling you to stay out of things like this. And that goes for Jade as well.”

Normally my dad wouldn’t tell me all this. He’s never come out and actually admitted to having people killed. But maybe now that I know what he did to his father, he feels less of a need to keep secrets from me.

“Do you think Carson, I mean Justin, knows it was Grandfather who arranged to have her killed?”

“I’m almost certain he does. I think he somehow traced her murder back to my father and that’s what led Justin to investigate our family and become involved with Aston Hanniford.”

“Shit.” I sit back in my chair. “No wonder the guy hates me.”

“Your grandfather was careless when it came to these things. He was arrogant and took too many risks. And because of that, I now have Hanniford to deal with, along with the FBI.”

“The FBI is after you?”

“Aston has friends in high places. He knows an FBI agent who agreed to look into this for him. There’s no open case against me. The agent is doing this on his own as a favor to Aston. But I’m sure he’s using the FBI’s resources to get it done. And if finds any conclusive evidence, he’ll tell his fellow agents and they’ll open an official case and start an investigation.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m not doing anything. I’m supposed to keep my distance. The other members are taking care of it.”

“Meaning they’ll kill the FBI guy?”

“Even with him gone we’ll still have to get rid of whatever files he had on me,” my dad says, glossing over my question. “We’ll also need to destroy any files Justin may have on me.”

“You’re not going to kill Justin, are you?”

“It’s not up to me. It’s out of my hands. I told the members the situation and now it’s up to them to decide what to do. If Justin shows up at your house again, or harasses either you or Jade, let me know. We’ll take care of it.”

“I don’t want you to kill him. Just let me handle it. If he shows up again, I’ll find a way to make him leave. Beating him up would be better than killing him.”

My dad picks up the remote and turns on the TV that’s on the wall behind me.

“Dad, what are you doing? We’re in the middle of a conversation.”

“I just want to check the weather. I heard we might get snow later tonight.”

My dad never checks the weather. He doesn’t care about the weather.

I turn to see the TV. A news station is on and an older man is talking. “In other news, we’ve just learned that billionaire Cecil Roth was killed in a car explosion near his home in Westchester County, New York. Reports are still coming in, but it’s believed he was speeding and lost control of his vehicle. He hit a telephone pole and a fire started, which likely sparked the explosion.”

“Holy shit.” I look back at my dad. “He’s dead? Roth is dead? What the hell?”

My dad sighs. “That’s a shame. Another funeral to go to. That’s two in one week.”

“Dad, did you—” I can’t accuse him of that. It was a car crash. Roth was speeding. It had nothing to do with my dad.

He flips to a weather channel. “You see? A winter storm is on the way. I hope it doesn’t affect your flight home.”

His phone rings and he answers it. “Yes, William. I saw the news.” He listens. “Let me know how it goes.” He sets the phone down.

“Was that William Sinclair?”

“Yes. He’s been asked to attend a meeting tomorrow.”

“A meeting about what? Do you think they’re going to offer him the promotion?”

“Perhaps, although it has to be voted on by the members and that won’t happen until the meeting at the end of this month.”

“With Roth gone and Grandfather gone, there are two spots open. Who will get the other one?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. We really shouldn’t talk about it.”

I sit there, my mind coming up with all kinds of scenarios that probably aren’t true. Or maybe they are.

“Doesn’t William live near there?” I ask.

“Near where?”

“Near the crash site. Westchester County.”

My dad turns on his computer. “I’m so behind at the office, I’ll never even begin to catch up. This past week, with planning the funeral and the memorial, I’ve barely had time to return phone calls.”

He’s avoiding my questions. But why? Did he do that to Roth? We own a chemical company and chemicals cause explosions. So did he rig Roth’s car? Was William in on it? He had just as much motivation to get rid of Roth as my dad did. Maybe more. William wants Jade and me to be safe, but he also wants to be promoted. Having two open spots gives him an even better chance of getting that promotion. So maybe my dad provided the chemicals and William rigged the car.

My dad’s typing something into the computer.

“Where were you last night?” I ask him.

“I told you, I had to go into the office. There was an issue with one of the plants and it couldn’t wait until morning.”

I examine his face, his expression, his tone. But there’s nothing there. No emotion. No expression. No change in body language. His voice is even. He’s completely calm.

“What would you like for dinner tonight?” He sips his coffee. “We could go out if you’d like.”

I sit back in my chair. “So you’re really going to Roth’s funeral? I thought you hated the guy.”

“He was a friend of my father’s, therefore I must set aside my personal feelings for the man and pay my respects.”

“What did Roth say to you last night that made you so angry?”

“I was angry because he showed up here uninvited.”

“It was more than that. You wouldn’t normally show your anger to someone like Roth. It’s disrespectful for someone at his level.” The organization is all about hierarchy, and the members must honor that hierarchy, and last night, my dad didn’t do that. “Just tell me what he said. It was about me, wasn’t it?”

“Charles makes excellent coffee.” He drinks the last of it and sets the cup down. “Your grandfather said he never liked Charles’ coffee. He said it tasted like tar. And yet one day I saw him in the kitchen pouring himself a cup of it. He never knew I saw him do it.”

“Dad, I need to know the truth. Was Roth trying to get me back in the organization?”

“Yes,” he says casually.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just recently found out. My father and I discussed it the night we had dinner, before he suffered the stroke.”

I stare at him. He’s completely serious, like he truly believes the fake story about my grandfather having a stroke. I don’t know how he does it. I don’t know how my dad is able to pretend the truth doesn’t exist and act like the fake story is what really happened. It’s just like he said. Like he lives his life as two different people. The dad I know is the one who chooses to believe he didn’t plot to kill his own father and that my grandfather died of complications from a stroke. The other side of him knows the truth. I guess that’s the only way my dad can live with himself and still do the bad things he does.

“Dad, I need to know more than that. What exactly did Grandfather tell you?”

He sighs. “Roth and my father were both trying to get you back in the organization. Both men had too much pride and too much arrogance to allow you to just walk away from the plans they had for you.”

“You’re saying Grandfather was in on Roth’s plan to make me president?”

“Your grandfather claimed it was his idea. He said he came up with it years ago and convinced Roth to use his power and influence to make it happen.”

“Why would Roth do that for him?”

“I don’t know. I may never know. It doesn’t matter. The point is that Roth looked like a fool when the plan fell through. And he blamed my father for that and wanted him to fix it. My father told Roth it wasn’t possible unless Roth got him promoted to the top level at the organization. That way they could used their combined power to force the other members to give you a second chance. And it worked. My father used Roth to get the promotion, and together they were able to convince—or rather bully—the other members to reinstate you, given you met certain conditions, of which you already know about.”

“But even if I was a member again, their plan for me is over. I destroyed my reputation and the members voted. Like you said, they can’t go back on their decision.”

“Roth still wanted you back, just to prove that he’s the one in charge. And to punish you for your behavior last spring.”

“Does he know it was fake?”

“Luckily, your grandfather didn’t share his theory on that, probably because he couldn’t prove it. But Roth knew about your grandfather’s plan to kill Jade and he was prepared to follow through on it.”

“How do you know someone else won’t?”

“There’s nobody left in the organization who cares about you anymore. You were being talked about the past few months because of this rumor about Roth trying to get you back. But only he and my father wanted that. As I’ve told you before, the other members are tired of dealing with you after the trouble you caused last spring.”

I hesitate, then just come out and say it. “You killed him, didn’t you?”

He looks directly at me, his eyes dark, his face serious. “Why would you ask me something like that?”

I feel like he’s daring me to say what I’m really thinking. But he knows I won’t, because he knows I don’t really want the answer. I don’t like the world he lives in, and I don’t want to be part of it or know what goes on there. I’ve seen more than enough already.

“I just—”

“Accidents happen, Garret. Cars crash every day. Roth shouldn’t have been speeding.” He gets up from his desk. “I need to get more coffee and then I’m going to check on Lilly.”

“She needs to talk to you about some stuff. She was asking me all these questions about death.”

“Yes, I’ll spend some time with her.” He opens his office door. “Where’s Jade?”

“She’s with Harper.” I get up and follow him into the foyer. “Oh, I wanted to ask you about Kiefer. Last night he said he wanted to talk to me about something. He wants to talk in person so he said he’s driving up to see me when we get back to California. Do you know what this is about?”

My dad turns back to face me. “Don’t talk to him.”

“I already told him I would.”

“Then call him and tell him you won’t. You need to stay out of this.”

“Stay out of what? Is this about—”

“Garret.” He grips my shoulder. “I can’t protect you forever. You need to start seeing things for what they are and taking the necessary precautions.”

My dad’s telling me this is about the organization. Kiefer wants to talk to me about it, but why?

“Okay. I’ll tell him I can’t meet with him.”

“Good. And make sure Jade knows that her friendship with Harper needs to end. Soon.”

“She’s not going to like that.”

“What did I just tell you?”

“That I need to take precautions. I know. I’ll tell her about Harper. When is this thing with Kiefer official?”

“January first.”

“Daddy, you’re home.” Lilly comes running down the stairs.

“Yes, honey.” He picks her up. “Let’s go in the kitchen. Daddy really needs some coffee.”

He leaves me standing there in the foyer. My conversation with him left me with more questions than answers. Did he kill Roth? He had the motive to, which makes me think he did.

My dad is all about rules. So maybe I already have the answer.

Rule number two. Protect your family above all else.