Page 111 of Lilly

"They were involved," I say, deciding to tell her a piece of the truth. She's not ready to hear all of it. It's too awful. Too evil.

"Who did it?"

"Some of the members. It wasn't one in particular. It was a group of them. A committee who didn't want me to be married to Rachel because she's not one of us."

"So they kidnapped her?"

"She was supposed to be on that plane. Remember the plane that crashed?"

Lilly has seen the story on the news many times. Even now, there are reporters looking into the cause of the crash and sometimes they do a story on it.

"They caused the crash?" she asks.

I hesitate. "I can't tell you that."

"Which means the answer is yes."

"Lilly, you can never tell anyone that. Ever. Do you hear me?"

"Yes. But what happened? She wasn't on the plane, so where did she go?"

"A friend of mine got her to a safe place. That town in Italy. But he died before he could tell me she was alive. And then one of the members from the committee found out she was there and kept her there."

"Do you know who it was?"

"It doesn't matter. He's no longer alive."

"How could they take her like that? How could they do that to you? To Garret?"

"That's just who they are. That's why I'm so desperate to keep you out of this. I assume Garret told you about Dean. And Reed."

Another tear rolls down her face. "Yes."

I decide to leave it at that. I could tell her once again to stay away from Reed, but she already knows how I feel. And I'm sure Garret told her the same thing. It's best if she comes to this decision herself. She'll only end things with Reed if it's her decision, not mine or Garret's.

"Did I cause this?" she asks.

"Cause what?"

"By dating Reed, am I the reason Rachel almost got killed?"

"It's more complicated than that."

"But that's why they want Dean. To get to Reed, assuming I'll marry him someday."

"Yes. That's correct."

Her shoulders slump. "So it was me. I caused it. I almost got Rachel killed."

"Lilly, it wasn't your fault. You should be able to date a boy without this happening. The organization did this, not you."

"Why do they want me?"

"Because you're a Kensington. They wanted Garret, but I was able to get him out of his obligation. I thought you were out as well until this happened."

"But Garret said girls can't be members."

"Yes, but daughters of members are supposed to marry someone within the organization. If we went by the rules, you'd be forced to marry one of my fellow members. The marriage would be arranged. You wouldn't have a choice in it. But I swore I would never let that happen to you."

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