Page 74 of Always Us

“Killing someone does NOT make you strong. It does NOT make you a man. It makes you a monster, like my father.” He glances at the gun, then back at me. “It changes you. Once you take someone’s life, you can’t go back to how you used to be. You’ll never be the same. That’s why my father challenged you to do this. He wants you to change. To be just like him. Even if doing so results in his own death. He’d be happy dying, knowing he did that to you. But I won’t let that happen. I won’t let my father take away the person that you are. You’re a good man, Garret. A good son. A good husband. You’re better than my father or I will ever be.” He pauses. “You have no idea what I’ve done over the years. And I don’t want you to know. I try to think of that side of me as someone else. The person my father created, not the real me. But I have to live with that part of myself every day, and believe me, you don’t want to live this way.” He looks down at the floor, then up at me again. “I know you don’t want to lose Jade and I don’t either. I love her like she was my own daughter. That’s why I told you I’d take care of this. You just need to trust me.”

“I did, but nothing happened. And I couldn’t just sit and wait for you to do something.”

“Things have happened. You’re just not aware of them. This is being taken care of.”

“Are you the one who drugged him?”

He sighs. “Garret, it’s late. Go upstairs. Get some rest and we’ll talk about this in the morning.”

“No. I’m sorry, Dad, but I have to end this.” I grab the gun from the table and run out the door before he can stop me.

“Garret, get back here!” He follows me to the driveway. “You don’t need to do this!”

I get in the car and take off, heading toward my grandparents’ mansion. It’s now almost midnight and I have no idea what I’m going to do when I get there. My dad’s right. Shooting my grandfather will change me. And once I do it, I can’t go back. But it has to be done. He has to die.

When I get to the mansion, I punch in the code the security guy gave me earlier. The gate opens and I turn off my headlights as I approach the house. I don’t want to wake up my grandmother. Shit. What’s my grandmother going to do? I’m killing her husband. And what about Lilly? I’m killing her grandpa.

I park the car and sit there a moment, the gun in my hand. What the fuck am I doing? My dad’s right. I’m not a murderer.

I get out of the car, leaving the gun behind. I walk up to the door with no plan for what I’m going to do when I get to his room. Then I realize I don’t have a key to the house. I can’t get in. I turn the door handle and it opens. What the hell? Don’t they lock their doors? And where are the security guards? There should be at least one outside watching the gate. This is odd. Something doesn’t feel right.

I go inside. The house is quiet, but not completely dark. They always keep a few lights on downstairs. I slowly walk up to his room. I’m now convinced I’ve lost my mind, showing up at my grandfather’s house in the middle of the night, not even sure what I’m going to do.

The room he’s in is at the far end of the hall, and as I’m walking there I hear voices. It sounds like a man and a woman. Maybe his doctor and nurse? I’m not sure, but if his medical team is in there, I need to leave. As I’m about to turn back, I hear the woman speaking. The voice sounds familiar. I step closer to the door.

“Are you sure he’s out?” she asks.

It’s Katherine. What the hell is she doing here in the middle of the night?

“He’s out,” the man says. “Sleeping like a baby. Go ahead.” The man sounds familiar, too, but I’m not sure who it is.

I remain outside the door.

“There. It’s done,” Katherine says. “Straight to the bloodstream this time. Double the dose. It’s nice to have friends in the pharmaceutical industry.”

Pharmaceutical industry? Was she talking to…no, that can’t be right.

I hear the man’s voice again. “Now we just wait.”

Holy shit! That’s William’s voice. William’s in there with Katherine. What the fuck?

I walk into the room. “What are you two doing here?”

Katherine is standing by my grandfather’s bed, right next to the IV pole, a syringe in her hand. William is across from her.

“Garret!” Katherine drops the syringe, a look of horror and shock on her face. “Get out of here! Right now!”

When I don’t move, William says, “Garret, you need to leave.”

I look down at my grandfather. His eyes are closed and his skin is getting paler by the second.

“What’s going on here?” I ask William.

“Nothing,” Katherine snaps. “Now get out!”

“What did you do to him?” I ask her. “What did you put in his IV?”

William answers in a calm, even tone, his eyes on Katherine. “She injected a drug that is now seeping through his veins, slowly killing him.”

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