Page 58 of Lilly

"Excellent." I smile as I imagine that day. The day they learn the truth. The day my son becomes a member. By then, Lilly will be a member too. My two children will be part of it. My goal will finally be accomplished.

Chapter Thirteen

Pearce

"Why are you doing this?" Rachel asks, sitting across from me at the dining room table. We had a late dinner and the topic of the committee meeting came up. We've avoided the subject for weeks now, but it's resurfaced because the meeting is only a week away.

"Rachel, I have to know what he's up to. Phillip doesn't just do something without a reason. A motive."

"So ask around. See if any of the other members know what he's up to. Can't you do that instead of crashing the meeting?"

"The other members won't tell me. I've been away for too long. I haven't maintained a relationship with any of them. There's no one there I could trust to tell me the truth."

"Why are you so obsessed with finding this out? It could have nothing to do with you."

"Then why was Ezra killed?" I said it too harshly, almost yelling. Rachel shudders and I reach across for her hand. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice. I'm just still upset that that happened."

She yanks her hand from mine. "It could happen to us too, Pearce. If you push this, if you dig for information, we could end up like Ezra and his wife."

"I won't let that happen. I promise you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." She looks at me with anger, her shoulders tensing up. "I don't want anyone in this family getting hurt simply to satisfy your curiosity."

"That is NOT why I'm doing this. Ezra was killed for talking to me. Which means that whatever it is Phillip is hiding, it has to do with me. Or us." I raised my voice again so I take a deep breath to calm down.

"And how is showing up at this committee meeting, uninvited, going to help? It's just going to anger them, Pearce. You'll have a target on your back. We all will. Jade. Garret. The children." Her voice cracks. "If they try to harm our children...our grandchildren..." She breaks down crying, her hands covering her face.

"Rachel." I get up and go around the table, pushing her chair back and kneeling in front of her. "Nothing will happen to them."

"You don't know that!" She turns away from me. "You're only saying that to make me feel better. But it doesn't, Pearce. It doesn't make me feel better because I know what they're capable of."

"And I know how to protect us. I have for all these years, haven't I?"

She turns back to me, tears streaming down her face. "You weren't able to protect ME!"

She's never said that to me. We both know it was my fault—that I should've protected her and didn't—but she's never openly admitted it.

I sigh and drop my head. "You're right."

Moments pass, then I feel her hand along the side of my face, lifting it up to hers. "I'm sorry, Pearce. I shouldn't have said that. I'm not blaming you for what happened."

"I deserve the blame. It was my fault you were taken from us. If I had only seen my father for the man that he was and paid more attention to Leland, I would've been able to—"

"Pearce, stop. It wasn't your fault. I'm sorry I said that. It was wrong of me. I'm just upset right now."

"I know you are." I sit on the chair beside her and hold her hands. "But I can't just stand by and do nothing."

"But you don't know what it is you're looking for. I feel like we're not the ones in control here, but that Katherine and Phillip are. Like they're setting a trap and you're walking right into it."

"I know it seems that way but you need to trust me on this. I know that whatever this is, it involves me somehow."

"You said it involves Katherine's son."

"That was only a guess."

"What else could it be?"

"Given that it involves the new member committee, they could be considering offering membership to one of my enemies. Someone who might work with Phillip to get the other members to go against me. To punish me for not participating as much as I should. Or as I've said before, Phillip could be trying to get rid of the committee altogether so that the organization goes back to being a group that is closed off to outsiders."

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