Page 77 of Always Us

“Garret, why are you calling so late?”

I finally breathe when I hear her voice. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath this entire time.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why? Is something wrong?”

“No. I mean, as long as you’re okay, then everything’s good.”

“Where are you right now?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll call you when I get back to the hotel. It might be a while.”

“That’s okay. Call me as soon as you can. I’ll wait up. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. Jade. You have no idea how much I want to see you right now.”

“Garret, you don’t sound like yourself. What happened?”

“I’ll explain later.”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t be. I’m fine. Just relax. Turn on all the Christmas lights and watch a movie. I’ll call you soon. I love you.”

“I love you, too. Bye.”

I put my phone away. William is now standing next to my dad, the two of them talking quietly by the door.

I go up to William. “Why did you let me believe Jade was dead? Why would you do that to me?”

“Because I had to keep this going until I knew Holton was gone. When we started this plan, I needed Katherine to trust me. I told her I was disgusted by the fact that a Kensington would marry someone like Jade and that I had no problem getting rid of her. And to prove it, I told Katherine I took care of Jade tonight. Then I had my men disrupt the cell signal around your house in case Katherine called to see if Jade was really gone. It was all just to gain her trust, Garret. Your father and I needed her to do this for us. Neither one of us could do it. The rules forbid a member from harming another member. And killing a fellow member is punishable by death. We had to find another way.”

That doesn’t make sense. My dad killed Royce and yet my dad’s still alive.

My dad sees my confusion and says, “It’s a new rule, established by your grandfather as soon as he got the promotion. He knew he had enemies within the organization who wanted him dead.”

“I don’t get it,” I say to William. “Why did you want to kill my grandfather?”

“Holton killed my father. He slipped a drug in his drink to induce the heart attack that killed him.”

My dad explains. “Last spring, the organization was preparing to promote Arlin to the highest level. Your grandfather was furious because he wanted that position. And he got it by killing Arlin. I didn’t know this until just recently. When your grandfather was promoted a few months ago, he made a comment about how the position should’ve been his all along, and that Arlin never should’ve even been considered. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I thought he was just making a comment. My father has been friends with Arlin for many years, so I never considered that he might’ve played a role in Arlin’s death. But when you told me what your grandfather had done to your mother, and what he planned to do to Jade, I remembered that comment he made about Arlin. On Thanksgiving, I asked him if he did something to Arlin and he admitted that he killed Arlin and had no regrets about it.”

“This is simply payback,” William says. “An eye for an eye. And we weren’t going to let Holton kill again. After your father told me what Holton had done, and what he planned to do to Jade, I agreed to help him with his plan. We needed Katherine to do it, and your father couldn’t be the one to get her involved. He needed me to do it.”

“Why would Katherine agree to it? Why would she want to kill my grandfather?”

My dad answers. “Because she wants a divorce.”

“A divorce? She knows you two can’t get divorced.”

“Actually, we’ve been planning our divorce for months now. I didn’t want to tell you until it was approved. A few weeks ago, the other members voted to allow it, but your grandfather forbid it. He overrode their decision. He wanted to maintain the benefits that come with being related to Katherine’s family, specifically MDX Aerodynamics.”

That’s the corporation Katherine’s family owns. They make plane engines and parts and their biggest client is the military. After my dad married Katherine, her father used his connections with the military to get Kensington Chemical some very large contracts worth billions of dollars. If Katherine and my dad divorced, we’d probably lose those contracts.

“Why would the members agree to a divorce?” I ask.

“Because the senator Katherine has been dating needs a wife, and Katherine convinced the members she’d be perfect for the role. She needed the divorce so she can marry him. He’s slated to be vice president in the next election and Katherine wants the power and prestige of being the vice president’s wife. And her family wanted her to marry him because he’s chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and can steer billions of dollars to MDX Aerodynamics by way of government contracts.”

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