Page 77 of Lilly

Chapter Seventeen

Katherine

Phillip sits down across from me at the table. We're in a private dining room at a hotel in Beverly Hills owned by one of the members. The room is soundproofed and secure, which is necessary because today we'll be having a conversation that must never be heard by anyone, even the other members. This is between Phillip and me. And Mr. Ashford when he arrives. He'll be here shortly.

"Are you sure about this?" Phillip asks, slowly tapping his pen on the table.

"Of course I'm sure! You're not changing the plan on me now. He'll be here any minute."

"It's just so..." He pauses, his eyes moving to the left, then back to me. "Evil. Even for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I glare at him. "You think I don't deserve revenge? Pearce killed my father!"

"And you killed his father." He sets the pen down and leans across the table, his forearms resting on it. "You can deny it all you want, but we all know you did it."

"I was set up! William made me do it. And I KNOW Pearce was somehow involved."

"Pearce would kill his own father? I find that hard to believe."

"Pearce hated his father. He would've killed him himself if he wasn't such a coward. But instead, he made ME do it."

"He didn't make you. You willingly did it, and used William to help you. That is, if you were telling the truth about that. But I guess we'll never know."

I slam my fist on the table. "How dare you question me! I did not lie about that. And stop taking Pearce's side. Your loyalty belongs to ME, not him!"

"I wasn't taking sides. I was simply correcting your statement. You killed Holton. No one forced you to do it." He sighs. "It's such a shame. I always liked Holton. He was a brilliant man."

"And what about my father? Your father-in-law? He was a far better man than Holton ever was. And you're not the least bit upset that Pearce killed him?"

"I'm not surprised that he did," he says casually. "And given the reason he killed him, I'm wondering why you want to do this. That's why I'm asking if you're certain about this. Pearce killed your father because of what Leland tried to do to Rachel. And now you're attempting it again. You're not concerned he'll come after you?"

"He won't know it's me," I say, sitting back and crossing my arms over my chest.

"He'll know you're behind this. You've made your hatred for Rachel obvious to everyone. And if Pearce figures this out, he'll assume I was involved and I'll have to kill him before he kills me." Phillip shoves away from the table and stands up. "This is going to be a fucking disaster. I don't know why I ever agreed to this."

"You DO know why. And if you back out now, I'll tell Caroline about us. I'll tell her about how all the times I came to visit her, you snuck out of her bed at night and into mine. I'll tell her that those long and painful fertility treatments she had were all for nothing because you had a vasectomy before you two were even married. Because you never wanted children, but told her you did because it's what she wanted to hear. I'll tell her—"

"Enough!" he yells, racing back to the table and slamming his palm down on it as his eyes lock on mine. "I never said I was backing out of this. But if this doesn't go as planned, I am not going to be the one paying for it."

"Are you threatening me? Because I know for a fact you wouldn't hurt me, Phillip. We have too much history together. And you need me. Both in and out of the bedroom."

He sits down in his chair. "Let's just get this over with."

I give him a smug smile. "Continue."

"So I tell Mr. Ashford who the real target is, but I tell the committee the target was someone else. Rachel was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

As Phillip goes over the plan I feel a rush of excitement. I always get a thrill when talking about this.

When he's done, he pauses a moment, then says, "This is far too risky. Pearce has an agreement with them. They told him she'd be safe. If anyone finds out I did this, I'll be—"

"No harm will come to you, Phillip, because what is about to happen is not your fault. You just need to stick with the story. You instructed Mr. Ashford to kill an associate who couldn't keep their secrets, and oddly enough, she looks eerily similar to Rachel. They were there at the same time, so it's easy to see how a mix-up could've occurred. Mr. Ashford should've been clearer in the description he gave the freelancer. But it's a forgivable mistake. If anyone is killed over this, it'll be the freelancer."

Phillip grits his teeth. "This better fucking work."

I slowly smile. "You need to keep a positive attitude, Phillip."

He checks his watch. "He'll be here any minute now. You need to leave. We'll talk when it's over."

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