Page 209 of Finding Us

“Put her on the damn phone, Katherine!”

“You think you’ll get your way speaking to me that way?”

“She’s my sister. I have a right to talk to her.”

“And I’m her mother, which means I have the right to control who she speaks with.”

“Your husband, Lilly’sfather, has asked me to speak with her. And you don’t want to piss off my father, do you? You know how he gets when he’s angry.”

She hesitates. “You get five minutes. That’s it.”

I hear her heels clicking on the tile. “Lilly, Garret would like to speak with you.”

“Garret?” It’s Lilly. She sounds excited.

“Hi, Lilly. How was school?”

“Can I talk to him alone?” Lilly asks her mom.

“You know that’s not allowed,” I hear Katherine say.

I want to reach through the phone and strangle her.

“Lilly, put your mom back on the phone.”

Katherine picks up again. “Four minutes, Garret.”

“I have video,” I say calmly.

“Video of what?” Katherine spits out.

“Of you. And you don’t even want to fucking know the damage I could do with these videos. I’ve been saving them for when I need them and I think now is a damn good time to bring them out of storage.”

It’s true. When I was 15, I was coming down the stairs one day and I heard Katherine talking to someone in the living room. I went in there and saw she was alone but on the phone. She had her back to me so she couldn’t see me. I stayed there and listened and figured out she was talking to her mom. Katherine was saying all this bad shit about her so-called rich friends, so I hid off to the side and got video of her saying all this stuff.

I continued to record these conversations until just last year, so I’ve got a lot of videos. The people she was gossiping about are rich, powerful, and well-known. If they found out she was saying these things about them, Katherine’s reputation would be destroyed. She’d never be invited to another dinner party or charity ball. She’d be kicked out of the country club. It would be her worst nightmare.

I’ve considered putting these videos online for the world to see, but then I changed my mind because I didn’t want to hurt my dad’s reputation or the company’s. But I don’t think it would if I was strategic about it. I’d have to go back and review the videos to see which ones would be most damaging to Katherine but have the least effect on my dad.

“I don’t believe you, Garret. I know how you lie to get your way.”

“No, Katherine. That’s whatyoudo. So I guess I’ll release the first video to the press tomorrow. Or maybe tonight.”

“You have nothing.”

“You really want to call my bluff? Good. I can’t wait to see your face when you see the morning paper. I’ll tell Dad to make sure he gets a picture.”

There’s silence and then, “What do you want?”

“I just want to talk to Lilly. Alone. Without a time limit. And if that’s not acceptable to you, then get ready for some damage control. I’d suggest you lawyer-up.”

“You’re blackmailing me?”

“I’m a Kensington. What do you expect?”

“Lilly, take this and go to your room.” Her voice sounds distant as she hands Lilly the phone.

I hear Lilly running up the stairs and down to her room and the door closing behind her.

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