Always Us (The Jade Series #8) (41 page)

My dad nods. “I think that’s a good idea. She would love that.”

“Do you have to ask Katherine?”

“I don’t think she’ll have much involvement in Lilly’s life anymore. Katherine has her own issues to deal with now. She has no time for Lilly.”

“Is the organization going to do anything else to punish Katherine for what she did to Grandfather?” I ask. “They have to do more than just ban her from marrying the senator.”
 

“They’ll be taking away the money she receives from the divorce settlement and giving it back to me. They don’t want her getting any benefits from the organization. And they’ll likely put a limit on how much money her parents can give her.”

I smile. “She’s gonna hate that. She won’t survive without money.”

“She’ll still have money. It just won’t be the type of wealth she had before.”

“She must’ve been pissed when she found out.”

“Actually, she doesn’t know about the money yet. They’ll tell her later this week. Her other punishment affects her ranking in society. Her social standing is being destroyed as we speak. The organization planted some rumors about her, which have already started circulating among her friends. Damaging stories and photos of her will follow in the society pages. She’ll never be allowed back in our world.”

“Does she know this is going on?”

“Yes. They didn’t tell her, but she quickly figured it out when none of her friends would return her calls. She was furious. That’s why she left. She took off to stay with her sister in France and didn’t say when she’s coming back.” He stands up. “One of you go get Lilly. We’re going out for dinner. It’s the holidays and I don’t want to spend it talking about Katherine. I’d like us all to enjoy this week together as a family and try to relax and have a good time. Lilly needs that, and I’m sure you two would like that as well.”

As he picks his phone up from the desk, Jade says, “Before we go, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.” He sits back down.

“I know we’re not supposed to talk about it, but I have to know. What’s going to happen to Harper?”

He sighs. “Jade, you know that’s confidential.”

She scoots to the edge of her chair, pleading with him. “I’m not asking you about Kiefer. I just need to know about Harper. Please. If you could just tell me something. Anything.”

“I’m sorry, Jade, but I can’t—”

“Dad,” I say, interrupting him. “Just tell us. You know we won’t tell anyone. Or if you can’t say anything, just nod if she’s okay.”

He doesn’t nod, but he says, “I only know about Kiefer, not Andrew. And I can’t tell you anything about Kiefer.”

Jade’s eyes shift to me, then back to my dad. “But he can’t try to take Harper, right? It’s against the rules. They had a deal. Andrew can’t just—”

“Jade.” My dad uses his warning tone, the one I’ve become quite familiar with over the years. “I’m not discussing this. You’re part of this family now and you know the rules.”

She slumps back in the chair and nods. “Yeah.”

“Dad, she was just asking.”

“You both know the rules.” Now it sounds like he’s scolding us, which annoys me.

I roll my eyes. “Don’t ask questions. Yeah, we’ve got it. But we can’t exactly enjoy the holiday knowing our friend might be in danger.”

He rubs his jaw, his eyes on Jade, who’s now staring at her hands, avoiding his gaze.

“Jade.” He waits for her to look at him. “If I knew for sure he wouldn’t bother her, I would tell you. But I honestly don’t know. I’ve heard nothing. All I know is that he’s currently in Europe and will be spending the holidays there.”

“But you’ll see him at the meeting next week,” I say.

“Perhaps. Although, knowing him, he’ll continue his partying across Europe all next week and end up staying there for New Year’s. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s skipped out on the meetings.”

“And he didn’t get in trouble?”

“As Cecil Roth’s son, Andrew was able to do whatever he wanted. But now that Cecil is gone, I think Andrew will have to start playing by the rules.”

“Maybe he’s found someone else by now,” Jade says quietly.

I take her hand. “He probably has. I’m sure he’s not interested in her anymore.”

My dad shoots me a look, not wanting me to give Jade false hope. But I’m not going to ruin her holiday with this. And who knows? Maybe Andrew really will lose interest in Harper.

My dad gets up. “It’s getting late. We should head out for dinner.” He goes around us and out the door, leaving Jade and me there.

“You okay?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “I guess.”

I rub her hand. “Jade, he wasn’t trying to be mean. And I don’t think he’s lying. I think he really doesn’t know.” I lean over and kiss her. “Let’s just try to have a good holiday, okay?”

She gives me a weak smile. “Okay.”

Her smile gets bigger when Lilly runs into the room and jumps on her lap. “You wanna have a tea party? Or watch a movie?”

Jade perks up, seeing Lilly so excited. She gives her a hug. “We’re going to dinner and then we’ll watch one.”

Lilly seems to be feeling better now that my dad talked to her. Or maybe she’s just happy having Jade and me here.

My dad pokes his head in the room. “Ready to go?”

Lilly hops off Jade’s lap and runs up to him. “Daddy, can we make Christmas cookies?”

“Not tonight. But maybe tomorrow.”

Jade and I meet them out in the foyer.

Lilly’s twirling around. “We’re going to go sledding and play games and go swimming.”

My dad laughs. “Yes, we’ll do all those things.”

We go out for dinner, then go home and watch a movie. And for the rest of the week, we do just as Lilly said. We swim, watch movies, play video games, make Christmas cookies, and go sledding. My dad works from home all week, but takes lots of breaks to do stuff with us. And he shuts his computer down every night at five so we can spend the evenings together. Even Charles joins in on the activities.

It snowed on Monday and again on Thursday. With the piles of snow outside, and the lights and decorations inside, the house has a real Christmasy feel. I don’t even mind the white lights. Instead of reminding me of Katherine, they remind me of being here with Jade last year. And my dad made sure to have the decorators put colored lights in the game room just for me. There’s a small tree with colored lights in my bedroom as well.

With Lilly as a distraction, Jade gets into the holiday spirit, setting aside her concerns about Harper, or at least acting like she has. But we both still think about it, especially since Kiefer’s been in the news all week.

Last Monday, the news reported that Kiefer is currently being investigated for stealing funds from the movies he’s worked on. The story’s been everywhere; national news, the newspaper, gossip shows, talk shows. It’s a huge scandal. The story is that Kiefer made up fake expenses, then took the money for himself. They say he’s stolen millions over the years. Earlier this week he was fired from the studio, and some are saying he’ll never work in Hollywood again. Right after he was fired, Kiefer released a statement admitting his wrongdoing and saying he’ll give all the money back, which I’m guessing won’t leave him with much.

I asked my dad about this but he wouldn’t tell me anything. But he
did
nod when I asked him if this was Kiefer’s punishment. Kiefer should be thankful. Instead of being killed, his punishment is this made-up scandal. They ruined his reputation, he lost his job, and now they’ll take his money.

I don’t feel that bad for him. He got himself into this by being greedy and selfish. And in the process, he destroyed his relationship with Harper. He might’ve also destroyed his relationship with Kelly. The rumor is that Kelly and Kiefer are separating and Kiefer’s moving out after the holidays. I don’t know if Kelly knew the whole story about the organization or just part of it, but I know she wasn’t happy with her husband. Last fall, Harper kept saying that her parents weren’t getting along and weren’t spending as much time together. It wouldn’t surprise me if Kiefer and Kelly end up getting divorced.

Harper’s been calling Jade all week but she hasn’t said much about her dad. She used to be really close to him and it’s devastating for her to think of him as a criminal. And Kiefer will never be able to tell her, or anyone else, the truth. He has to accept his punishment as given and be happy the organization didn’t do something even worse to him.

Harper hasn’t spoken to her dad since this happened. She said she’s waiting for him to call her and explain what’s going on, but so far he hasn’t. Her sisters moved into a hotel. They didn’t want to be around their dad. They’re angry with him as well, because of what he did, but also because his scandal could negatively affect their careers, especially Kylie’s. Movie studios won’t want to hire her for acting roles, knowing her dad stole from them.

So that leaves Kiefer and his wife alone at Christmas, assuming Kelly is still there. She might’ve gone to stay at the hotel with Kylie and Caitlyn. I’m sure she’d rather spend the holiday with her daughters than her husband.

Kiefer really screwed up. His whole life is destroyed, which I’m sure is exactly what the organization wanted as punishment for him rejecting their offer. And I assume they’ll still make him work for them. That’s probably part of the deal. He has to do whatever they say or he’ll face additional punishment. He’ll never be free.

GARRET

The past week has gone way too fast. It’s already Saturday, Christmas Day. This morning, my grandmother finally showed up. She only lives a half hour away but didn’t bother coming over until now. She’s been here all day, and it’s not like she’s mean or says anything rude to Jade or me, but she’s being very cold and distant.

Katherine called Lilly earlier, but they didn’t talk long. Katherine’s flying home tomorrow morning and going to stay at her parents’ house. My dad assumed she’d want Lilly there, but she doesn’t, which means he has nobody to watch her while he’s in his meetings next week. Luckily, Charles offered to take care of her. Charles is great with kids and Lilly loves spending time with him. I have no idea why Katherine refused to take Lilly. She hasn’t seen her for over a week. She’s such a horrible mother. I’m so glad she isn’t here for Christmas. She would’ve ruined it for everyone.

We opened presents this morning and had Christmas dinner this afternoon. Now my grandmother is upstairs with Lilly, my dad’s playing cards with Charles in the kitchen, and Jade and I are watching TV in the game room. We’re both stuffed from eating too much. We’re lying on the couch in front of the TV, cuddled up under a blanket. We turned the main lights off so we could see the sparkling Christmas lights. We agreed that we would suspend any discussion of the Harper issue until tomorrow. It’s Christmas and we want to spend the day being happy.

“Did you have a good Christmas?” I kiss Jade’s head because it’s all I can reach. She’s got her face on my chest, the blanket pulled up to her chin.

“It was a
great
Christmas.” She scoots up so I can see her face.

“Was it better than last year?”

“Well, yeah. Katherine isn’t here and you aren’t recovering from being shot. This year is way better. Plus, now I’m married to you.”

“You like that, huh?”

“I love it.” She kisses me and I kiss her back, my hand touching her under the blanket.

“Garret, not here.” She pulls my hand away. “We need to go upstairs for that.”

“Then let’s go upstairs.”

“Can we go later? I’m really full right now.”

“Do you want me to put a movie in?”

“You can watch one. I’m going to take a nap. I’m really sleepy.”

“Then I’m going to call Sean.”

Sean wasn’t able to fly home for Christmas, so he’s in LA, spending the holidays by himself. I hope he at least went out for Christmas dinner. He’s still not over his breakup with Harper. He doesn’t talk about her as much as he used to, but I know he really misses having her in his life. The guy was totally in love with her. I think he still is. Actually, I
know
he is, but he’s trying to move on the best he can without her.

Harper’s back in LA for winter break, but she’s avoiding her family. She’s staying with one of her friends from high school. She’s still mad at her parents for forcing her to break up with Sean. She tried to get back together with him a few weeks ago, but when he wouldn’t return her calls, she gave up. Sean would love to get back together with her, but he’s still worried people will come after him if he does. Obviously he hasn’t told me this, but I know that’s the reason. And I can’t say anything because I’m not supposed to know about any of this. Plus, I don’t know if he’s safe. If Andrew still wants Harper, he’ll make sure Sean stays away.

I call Sean. It’s early afternoon out there. He should be around unless he went out to eat.

“Hey, Garret.” Sean sounds happier than normal. Must be because it’s Christmas. It’s good to hear him sounding happy again. He’s been so depressed the past few weeks. “How’s your Christmas going?”

“Great. We just had dinner and Jade and I are so full we can’t move.” I look down and see her smiling. “What did you do for dinner?”

“I haven’t eaten yet.”

Shit. I hope that doesn’t mean he ran out of money for food. He makes more money at his new job, but LA is really expensive so maybe he’s still broke.

“You should’ve brought home leftovers from the restaurant.”

“I did. The fridge is full of stuff. I just haven’t had time to eat.” When he says it, I hear a girl giggling in the background. Sean hasn’t mentioned dating anyone. I didn’t think he was ready to start dating again. But I guess he is. It’s kind of odd that he’d bring a girl he just met over to his place on Christmas.

“You got some company there, Sean?”

“Yeah.” He laughs. “My company arrived this morning, wrapped up in a bow.”

“Sean, don’t tell him that part,” the girl says. I think I recognize the voice but I’m not sure.

“Who was that?” I ask him.

“It’s me.” I hear Harper’s voice on the phone. “Hi, Garret.”

“Hi.” That’s all I say because I’m not sure if this is a good thing. If Andrew still wants Harper, then she should not be over at Sean’s. Andrew could have someone watching her. And why is Sean allowing her to be there? If he thinks his life is in danger by being with her, then why is he doing this?