Page 127 of Always Us

“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.”

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