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“The picture!” I gape, turning to Bernadette. “You took the picture!”
“Malcolm helped me doctor it,” she beams proudly, blowing at the file against her nails. “Like I said, we really did think you would figure things out sooner, Emmett. We were getting bored waiting for you to piece it all together. We decided to have a little fun with you in the process.”
“It just made you look that much more desperate to the cops,” Malcolm adds.
He pulls out his phone and begins playing a video of Emmett having his meltdown in the motel room. At the same time, Bernadette pulls out her phone and begins playing a video taken from outside the Jameson manor. It was right after the fake photo of Malcolm and I had been sent out over the Elites’ blacklist app. You can see his silhouette through the window flailing around his room like a madman, breaking everything in reach.
“Sooner or later, we figured we’d gather enough evidence of you cracking,” Bernadette explains. “So, if you did refuse to sign everything over, we could just tell our lawyers you were too mentally unstable to run Jameson Automobiles.”
“And rest assured, we will use that defense if you ever decide to come back after us for the company somehow,” his mother adds indifferently. “And since your father committed suicide…you know it runs in the family.” She suppresses a laugh. “It wouldn’t be that hard for people to believe you would take your own life, too.”
The weight of it crashes over both of us. Bernadette and Malcolm were just playing with us, taking every opportunity they could to make Emmett look like he had gone crazy. If we never barged in here, giving them the chance to use me as leverage, they would have gotten the company anyway. And now there’s nothing Emmett can do, or they will kill him and make it look like he did it to himself.
“Ironic, isn’t it, brother?” Bernadette sneers. “You helped Theo kill our father and passed it off as a suicide. And now that’s the exact same thing that will happen to you if you try to get what you were promised out of that deal.”
“So, this is all punishment for Dad.” He shakes his head in disgust.
“You punished him for your own weaknesses,” she scoffs. “He shouldn’t have had to die just because you weren’t man enough to handle him, to face up to who you had to be to fill his shoes.”
“Mom even admitted it…you didn’t know him the way we did,” Emmett defends. “If he had treated you the same way you…”
“I would have done exactly this,” she snaps. “Whatever it took to uphold our family’s legacy. I’m nothing like you. Never have been. I can do what needs to be done to protect our position and everything our family has worked so hard for.”
“You mean you can treat people like shit to get what you want,” I thunder over to her, which she meets with a dismissive smile and shrug.
We stand there in stunned silence at how cold and calculating they all are. Like it’s just a game of musical chairs with lots of money and power being thrown around, everyone waiting for their turn to sit in the biggest chair. Only lives are carelessly taken along the way, and no one seems to bat an eyelash. No wonder Emmett wasn’t more affected by his father’s death. Not only did he hate the man, but this is apparently an ordinary part of business in his family.
“Let’s go, Emmett.” I tug at his arm. “There’s nothing we can do.”
“Mom?” He hesitates one more time as we’re halfway out the door. He sounds like a scared little boy. My heart breaks for him as she flips through the newly-signed rights to her company and who knows what kind of money. She doesn’t even look up.
I pull Emmett along, wanting to take him as far away from them as we can get.
As soon as we’re outside, I look up and release a huge breath. My eyes shine over at Emmett, and of course, he looks at me like I’m crazy. He doesn’t think there’s anything to be happy about right now. He’s hurt and shocked and has every right to be. But I can see how this is for the best. The Hendersons would have always been waiting to strike, to take everything away from him. His mom and sister, too. Now it’s over and he can walk away.
His biggest problem is that he’ll have to worry about money now, like the rest of us. But with his charm and good looks, I don’t think he’ll have too much trouble figuring it out. If he was capable of running Jameson Automobiles, he can do so many other things just as well. I’m excited to watch him figure it all out.
“They can’t do this.” His voice cracks as I rush him back to the car.
“Here, let me drive.” I yank the keys from his hands. “I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
Emmett doesn’t answer, so I just drive. I know it doesn’t really matter where we go. He’s too upset right now to care. But I drive to the motel he had been staying only because it is far enough outside of town. It may not be far, but we both need to be out of Jameson right now.
The one thing we can be relieved about is that Bernadette wasn’t working with my dad, but I don’t know that the Hendersons are any better. Definitely not for Emmett. Just a little less traumatic for me.
I remember what I learned about the Elites. The town was built around them and everything in it is theirs, and has been for centuries. When one person is struck down, it seems the remaining family members merge with another so that they can rise to take back their rightful place. Nothing is going to change that.
I remember Malcolm telling me he and his father were merely tolerated by the Elites. Being tolerated is better than being blacklisted, but I guess it was still enough to build up this much resentment. He once told me their money couldn’t touch the money of the Elites. I don’t know if that was a lie, or if it’s changed now that everyone is being investigated and their assets are being seized. One thing is for certain, the Hendersons aren’t going down with everyone else, no matter how guilty they are.
When Emmett took over Jameson Automobiles, I worried Liam and Malcolm might do something drastic in a panic. The change in leadership and the fact that Malcolm and Emmett did not like each other put the ties between Jameson Automobiles and their software company at risk—a profitable alliance their company surely could not afford to lose. But I also thought Malcolm was supposed to be better than the rest of the Elites. I was so very wrong, and I never saw this coming.
24
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I can’t believe they would do this to me,” Emmett laments from his new room at the motel. “Just cast me out like this.”
“I’m so sorry, Emmett,” I try to console him. “I feel like it’s all my dad’s fault. If he hadn’t roped you into that deal with him, your dad would have gone to jail with everyone else and your family wouldn’t have turned against you.”
