Page 56

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

JADE

“I need to talk to you,” Garret says as he walks in the door. He has that serious look on his face that I don’t like.

“What’s wrong?” I watch as he checks out the window. “What are you looking for?”

“I’m trying to make sure I wasn’t followed.”

“Garret, do not say stuff like that.” I go over and turn him away from the window. “What’s going on? Why would someone be following you?”

“They’re not. I’m just making sure.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “Kiefer came to see me today. He showed up on campus wanting to talk.”

“About the organization?” I feel the tightness in my chest that forms every time this topic comes up.

“Let’s sit down.” He takes me over to the couch.

“Did you talk to him?”

“I didn’t want to, and I tried to get rid of him, but he wouldn’t go away. He was desperate to talk to me. You should’ve seen him. He looked like he hadn’t slept for weeks.”

“He didn’t look so great when we saw him at your dad’s house either.”

“He looks a lot worse now.”

“So what did he say?”

“That he doesn’t want to do this. He doesn’t want to be part of the organization, but now he feels trapped, like he can’t get out of it. He got lured in by the money and the power and the clinic. He has no problem supporting the rigged elections, but he had no idea about the other things the organization does. The things they do in order to keep their secrets. Now he wants no part of it.”

“Why does he think you can help?”

“Because he thinks I got out and he wanted to know how I did it.”

“So he doesn’t know what happened? How could he not know? He was part of it.”

“He believed the story about the reality show being the reason we made those videos. So I didn’t tell him the truth. I just told him I was never a member.”

“Did you tell him we can’t be involved in this?”

“Yes. Which is why I got in my car and told him he had to leave but then—”

“Then what?” My stomach knots and my chest tightens even more.

Garret holds my hands. “Promise me you’ll stay out of this if I tell you.”

“Tell me first.”

“No. This is bad and I probably shouldn’t even tell you but—just forget it. You don’t need to know this. I’m pissed that he even told me.”

“Garret, you can’t say something like that and then not finish. Tell me what he said. Is it about Harper?”

He doesn’t answer. Dammit. I hate it when he does this.

“I swear, if you don’t tell me, I’ll call Kiefer myself.”

“Jade, I’m serious. Do not get in the middle of this. If I have to, I’ll talk to my dad, but that’s it. Kiefer got himself into this and he has to get himself out. And he better do it damn quick because the initiation is early January. And once he’s in, he’s never getting out.”

“Garret, please. Just tell me. I promise I won’t get involved.”

“You say that now, but after you hear this…” He drops his head, his gaze on our hands.

“You have to tell me. You can’t leave me guessing.”

He nods. “They found someone for Harper. Actually, someone requested her. He saw her and decided he wants her.”

“Wants her to what? Marry him?”

“Yes.” Garret lifts his head and his eyes meet up with mine. “It’s Andrew Roth.”

“Roth, as in—”

“Yes. The son of Cecil Roth. Apparently he saw photos of Harper sometime last year and told his dad he wanted her. Kiefer thinks that’s why he was offered membership. It sounds like Roth had to give the final approval to let Kiefer in. And he did, but Kiefer thinks it’s only because of Harper.”

“I think Harper met this guy. A few months ago when your grandfather had that party at his house and Harper was babysitting Lilly, she said some rich guy kept trying to get her to go out with him. She said his name was Andrew and that he was like 40 years old.”

“That was him. He probably wanted to see her in person to make sure he still wanted her.”

“And Kiefer didn’t know this?”

“He just found out and now he’s panicking. He doesn’t want Harper with this guy. Andrew sleeps with a lot of women and can’t stay faithful to any of them.”

“So they’re setting Harper up with a guy who’s twice her age and cheats?”

“That’s not the worst part. I don’t know how Kiefer found this out, because if it’s true, the organization would make sure it stays hidden, but maybe one of the members told him.”

“Told him what?”

“Andrew has a history of abusing women.”

“No.” I shake my head, tears welling up in my eyes. “They can’t do that. They can’t make her be with him. Why would Kiefer let them do that?”

Garret brings me into his arms as tears roll down my face. “He didn’t know about this until just recently. He doesn’t want this, Jade. He didn’t know it would be this way when he agreed to be a member.”

“But he knew they’d make his daughters marry whoever they picked.”

“Maybe they told him she’d be able to pick who she wanted. They do that sometimes. They give you options and you get to pick. But this guy saw Harper and said he wanted her. And since he’s Roth’s son, he gets whatever he wants.”

“But Roth is gone now.”

“It doesn’t matter. The deal was made when Roth was still alive.”

“Did Kiefer say anything about Sean? Did he admit to threatening Sean if he didn’t leave Harper alone?”

“He said he had nothing to do with that. He said the organization sent some guys to go after Sean and that they attacked him and might’ve even killed him if the cops hadn’t shown up. Kiefer didn’t want Sean getting hurt. He claims that he likes Sean and that if all this wasn’t going on, he’d want Harper to be with Sean.”

“Are you serious? Then why did he go and mess everything up?”

Garret laughs.

I shove away from him. “Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny.”

“Because I said the same thing to Kiefer except I used worse language. It’s good my cursing hasn’t rubbed off on you.” He kisses my cheek.

“So what is Kiefer going to do?”

“He’s trying to get out, but I don’t know how he’s going to do it. He knows too much, so even if they let him go, he’ll always be tied to them. They’ll make him do all their shit for free. And they’ll punish him for backing out of his commitment.”

“You think they’d hurt him? Or…kill him?”

“No. They need to keep him around. They’ll find some other way to punish him. But honestly, Jade, I don’t think he can get out of this.”

“He has to. Harper can’t end up with that man. He’ll hurt her.”

Tears stream down my cheeks and Garret wipes them away. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you. It’s no use knowing this when we can’t do anything about it.”

“But you’ll talk to your dad? Please say you’ll talk to him.”

“I will, but what’s he gonna do? He can’t get on the organization’s bad side. Then he’ll be the one getting punished, and they’ve already done enough to ruin his life. Kiefer will just have to tell them no and deal with the consequences.”

“What am I supposed to do when I talk to Harper? I won’t be able to just pretend everything’s fine. She’ll be able to tell something’s wrong, so what do I say to her?”

“Jade.” Garret gently rubs my hand. “You need to know something else.”

“No. I can’t hear any more bad news.”

“You have to.”

“Fine. Just hurry up and get it over with.”

“If Kiefer becomes a member, you can no longer be friends with Harper. You can’t have any contact with her. No phone calls. No texts. Nothing.”

“What? No!” I yank my hand back. “Harper’s my best friend! I’m not letting them take Harper like they tried to take you.” I’m crying again and Garret forces me into his arms.

“I’m sorry, Jade. But this is how it has to be. Deep down, I know you realize that. You’re just not ready to accept it.”

“I hate these people! Why do they have to be this way? Why do they have to destroy lives and hurt people? I don’t understand how they can be so evil.”

“Money and power can do that to people. It takes away their humanity, their compassion. And the members who aren’t like that, like my dad, have to pretend it’s someone else doing this stuff. My dad has two sides, but we only see one of them. You wouldn’t want to see his other side. I think William’s the same way. And as for the other members, I think they just get numb to it. They stop feeling and caring and just go along with whatever they’re told to do.”

My phone rings and I stare at it, not sure if I should answer it. I don’t want to talk to anyone right now, especially Harper. How can I just pretend nothing’s wrong when I know she’s in danger? When I know that she’ll soon be forced to marry a man who has a history of abusing women?

I let the phone go to voicemail, but a few minutes later it rings again. I go over and pick it up. It’s not Harper. It’s Sara.

“Hey, Sara, can I call you back later?”

“Oh. Are you busy?”

“Kind of. Why?”

“I know it’s finals week so I hate to ask you this, but I wondered if you could watch Caleb for an hour, maybe not even that long. I just got a call for a job interview at a law firm and the guy asked if I could meet right now. He’s going out of town tomorrow and wants to do a quick interview before he leaves. His office is really short-staffed and they need to hire someone to answer the phone and file paperwork. The job would just be two days a week for now, but he said it might become full-time in a few months.”

I don’t feel like babysitting right now, but I have to help her out. Sara really needs a better job.

“Um, sure, I’ll come over. I need your address.” I’ve never been to Sara’s apartment before. I think she’s avoided having me over there because it’s really small and run-down and she’s embarrassed by it. I wish she wouldn’t worry about stuff like that. I’d never judge her for living in a crappy place. It can’t be any worse than the house I grew up in.

“Thanks, Jade. I really appreciate this.” She gives me her address and I jot it down.

“I’ll be there soon.” I hang up and grab my keys. “I have to go watch Caleb for an hour.”

Garret gets up. “I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to.” He opens the door for me. “I miss the little guy. I haven’t seen him for a while. And like you said, if I’m there, he won’t cry.”

I’m glad Garret offered to come with me. I’ve never babysat before. I keep offering to, but then it never happens. I’ve spent a lot of time with Sara when she has Caleb with her, but I’ve never been alone with him for more than a few minutes.

We drive to the address she gave me. It’s in an area of town I’ve never been to before. It’s full of abandoned buildings with the windows broken out. There are some guys hanging out on the street and they eye Garret’s black BMW and watch as he parks it along the curb. It’ll probably be gone when we come back out.

The entrance to Sara’s apartment building is locked. I look up her apartment number so she can buzz us in. But then someone walks past us and holds the door open, making the locked door basically useless for security purposes.

There’s no elevator and Sara’s on the third floor. So she has to carry Caleb and all her stuff up three flights of stairs? If she had groceries, she’d have to make three or four trips.

The staircase up to her apartment is dark and narrow and the paint’s peeling off the walls. It also smells really bad, like a musty, moldy smell.

When Sara answers the door, she doesn’t act surprised that we didn’t buzz first. I guess the people in her building just let everyone in. Again, not safe.

She hugs me. “I can’t thank you enough. And Garret came, too.” She smiles at him. “Thank you. Both of you. Come inside.” We walk in and I see Caleb in his crib. “I just put Caleb down for his nap. He might sleep the whole time you’re here, unless my neighbors come home. They can get kind of loud and it always wakes Caleb up.”

She grabs her purse and her keys. “I’m sorry I asked you guys to do this on such short notice. It’s just that this could be a really good job and Alex is out of town at a conference. I didn’t have anyone else to watch Caleb.”

“Sara, don’t worry about it.” Garret walks her to the door. “We got this. Go meet your new boss.”

She laughs. “You’re way more confident in me than I am. I’m sure he won’t hire me.”

“You can’t think that way. You have to go in there thinking you’ll get the job.”

“Okay. I’ll try. Bye!” She closes the door and Garret locks it behind her. Then he turns around and inspects her apartment.

I can tell he’s thinking the same thing I am. It’s bad. Really bad. I see why she didn’t want me coming over here. It’s not like it’s messy or dirty. She tries to keep it clean. But the walls are cracked and the paint is peeling. The electrical outlets are exposed, meaning they don’t even have those covers that get screwed into the wall. There’s some kind of wire hanging from the ceiling. And the ceiling has water spots all over it and black mold growing on it.

This place is not safe, for Caleb or for Sara. It’s even worse than where I grew up.

It’s a studio apartment so it’s just one room with a twin mattress on the floor and Caleb’s crib next to it. There isn’t room for any other furniture. There’s a tiny TV in the corner sitting on a yellow milk crate and a few boxes of clothes lined up against the wall.

I go over and look in the bathroom. There’s a toilet, a tiny sink, and a shower. It’s such a small space you can barely close the door.

“Jade, check this out.”

I walk out of the bathroom and see Garret in the kitchen. He’s at the sink and has the water turned on. Instead of being clear, the water is a yellowish-brown color. “I hope she doesn’t drink this shit or give it to Caleb.”

I meet him over there. “I don’t think she does.” I hold up a gallon jug of bottled water that was sitting on the floor. “But she has to shower in that water.”

There’s a rusty stove next to the sink but I doubt it works. An old microwave sits next to it on the counter.

“She can’t live here.” Garret shuts the water off.

“I know. It’s horrible, but where is she supposed to go?”

“We’ll get her a place. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It just needs to be safe.”

“She won’t take our money.”

“Then we’ll give it to her anonymously.” He takes a few steps, which puts him in the living room. Yeah, it’s that small of a place.

“She’ll use the money for food and bottled water and diapers. She won’t use it for an apartment.”

“We’ll give her enough money so she can get that stuff and a new apartment.” He scans the walls and the wire hanging down from the ceiling. “This is fucked up. Nobody should live like this. Guys in prison live better than this. I’m going to find out who owns this building and report him. He’s gotta be breaking some kind of laws. You can’t even drink the water. And I’m sure there’s a law saying he has to fix shit like that.” He points to the hanging wire.

“How are we going to give her money without her knowing it’s from us?”

“I don’t know. I’ll figure it out.” He shakes his head. “Why the hell isn’t Alex letting her stay at his place?”

“Alex has tried to convince her to stay at his place but she won’t do it. She said she doesn’t want Alex thinking she’s trying to move in, or that she’s using him for a free place to stay.”

“No wonder you two are friends. She’s just as stubborn as you.” Garret goes to the window and tries to close it but it won’t shut. It’s broken. “Jade, you can’t even close this thing. Some guy could climb the fire escape and come right in through the window.”

“She doesn’t have anything to steal.”

“She’s got a baby. People want babies, Jade.”

A chill runs through me. “Don’t say stuff like that. Nobody’s taking Caleb.”

“It’s a shitty world. And bad guys have no problem stealing a baby and selling it to couples who desperately want one. And even if they leave Caleb alone, a guy could sneak in here at night and attack Sara. Rape her. Beat her up. Whatever.”

“What are we going to do?”

He rubs his jaw as he looks around the room. “They can stay at our place tonight.”

“We can’t get Caleb’s crib in our car.”

“We’ll go buy one of those portable ones.”

“Sara won’t agree to stay with us. You know she won’t. ”

“Then we’ll talk her into it. She won’t have to stay there for very long. We’ll find her a new apartment this week. We’ll put it in her name and pay for a few month’s rent so she can save up some money.”

“How are we going to explain that?”

“We’ll make up a fake foundation and tell her she was picked to receive assistance.”

“Do you think she’ll buy that?”

“She’s gonna have to because she’s not living here anymore. I had no idea she was living like this, did you?”

“If I did, I would’ve got her out of here. This is worse than my mom’s house. At least there we could drink the water. And we didn’t have mold growing everywhere. That black mold is really dangerous. It can make you sick, especially Caleb, since he’s so small.”

There’s noise in the hallway. People are stomping up the stairs, yelling at each other. Then a door slams as they go in the apartment next door. The walls are thin and we can hear them fighting. They’re cursing and screaming and then there’s a loud bang on the wall by Caleb’s crib. He instantly wakes up and starts crying as the neighbors continue to yell and curse and throw things at the wall.

“Shit.” Garret goes and picks up Caleb, holding him against his chest and covering his ears. He bounces him a little, which usually soothes him, but this time it doesn’t. The neighbors are too loud. “Do you think we can take him somewhere?”

“No. Sara will freak out if she gets home and we’re not here. Besides, I don’t want to walk around in this neighborhood, and we don’t have a car seat so we can’t drive anywhere.”

Garret glares at the wall that the neighbors keep banging on. “I need to go over there and tell them to shut the hell up.”

“No, don’t. They probably have a gun or a knife.”

“Can you grab his blanket?” Garret nods at the crib.

I pick up the blue blanket and hand it to him. He wraps it around Caleb, who’s dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

“His arms and legs are freezing,” Garret says. “It’s too cold in here for him. You know why? Because you can’t close the damn window.”

“Shh. Don’t swear in front of Caleb.”

“Trust me. He’s heard worse living next to those two.” He motions to the wall, where the F-bombs are flying as the neighbors continue to fight. “See if you can find Caleb some warmer clothes.”

I check the cardboard boxes along the wall. Inside one of them are some baby clothes. I take out a navy sweatshirt and some gray sweatpants and bring them over to Garret.

He kneels down and sets Caleb on the twin mattress. Caleb squirms and cries.

“I’m just going to change your clothes, okay?” Garret tickles him a little, trying to distract him from the noise. It works. Caleb stops crying and giggles and grabs his toes.

“Hey. I can’t put these pants on you if you do that.” Garret tickles him some more and Caleb giggles so much he drops his toes.

Garret tries to put the sweatpants on Caleb, but they’re too small. “Jade, can you find some other pants? He’s outgrown these.”

I go back to the box as Garret puts the sweatshirt on Caleb.

“I need a different sweatshirt, too. This one barely fits him.”

“He doesn’t have anything. The pants are all the same size as the ones I gave you. Same with the shirts. That’s probably why Sara’s got him in the clothes he’s wearing. They’re the only things that fit him.”

Garret picks Caleb up off the bed. “Guess we’re going shopping for baby clothes. How can she not have any clothes that fit him?”

“She doesn’t have money for clothes. Her car breaks down every week. She’s always paying to get that thing fixed. And then rent and food and day care.”

The fighting next door is getting even louder and making Caleb cry.

“It’s okay, buddy.” Garret holds Caleb against his chest, trying to soothe him. “I swear I’m going to kill those people.”

“I think they’re going to kill each other in a few minutes.”

A half hour later, Garret’s still trying to calm Caleb down. The neighbors are still loud, except now they’re having sex, so it’s a whole different kind of loud.

“Check your phone,” Garret says. “See if Sara left you any messages.”

I check, and see that she sent me a text. “She says she’ll be back in about 10 minutes. What are we going to do?”

“We’re telling her she’s staying at our place tonight.”

I agree with Garret, but I know Sara won’t go for it. She always thinks she’s in the way or bothering people. I used to think that way, too, and sometimes I still do. So I understand where she’s coming from, but she needs to accept our help because this involves her safety and Caleb’s safety. She can’t live here. It’s too dangerous. She’s just lucky nothing bad has happened yet. Or maybe it has and she didn’t tell me.

I smile as I watch Garret with Caleb. The way he’s holding him, talking to him, rubbing his back, trying to calm him down? It melts my heart. It’s not even his kid and yet he’s so sweet and caring with him.

Now I’m starting to think one kid isn’t enough. I might just have to have two with this man. And they’re going to be the luckiest kids in the world.