Page 37 of Degrees of Control
“He did, I know you find security a little invasive, but I can’t let you leave without me. Orders from the big guy,” he says, jovially.
“I’m going to see my mother; would you like to accompany me?” I ask, holding my sarcasm in check.
“I thought you would never ask,” he says with a wide-toothed grin.
My anger softens. “Fine, follow me if you like,” I say, entering the elevator that will take us to my parents’ suite. It is the same room I stayed in the first time I was at the resort, right below the penthouse Chase and I are staying in. My mom answers my knock and greets me with a hug. “No wonder you and Chase love it here so much. It’s absolutely breathtaking,” she says.
“Yes, it’s a lovely island and I’ve really come to appreciate its beauty and simplicity,” I say, following her through the living area to the dining room that overlooks the ocean.
“Would you like a cup of coffee? It smells delicious,” she says.
“Yes, let’s have a cup. This is the coffee you had when you were staying with us. They import if from Brazil and it’s amazing,” I say, pouring her a mug from the carafe on the table.
“Have you seen, Chase?” I ask, taking a seat at the table and pouring a little cream into my coffee.
“He came down to talk to your dad a short while ago, but didn’t stay long. He seemed agitated. Katie is everything okay between the two of you?” she asks.
“Things are strained right now.” She’s so perceptive and my heart aches with the weight of our deceit. “Mom, we’re not really engaged. When he asked me to marry him in Aruba, I told him that I couldn’t,” I say, watching as genuine surprise and then concern register in her deep blue eyes.
“Sweetie, I don’t understand,” she says.
“I know, Mom. Chase expected me to accept his proposal and had already planned the engagement party as a means to draw Alfreita out. I’m sorry we lied to you.”
“Katie, it’s more than obvious you’re in love with the man.”
“I can’t get past the violence, Mom. When he and Dad went to free you from Alfreita I knew people could get hurt, but there’s a big difference between rescuing you or protecting one- self, and what they did. I know they were holding you hostage and I am so grateful that they were able to get you out, but what gives them the right to be God? They intended to kill those men before they even left that night. It was cold, calculated and intentional murder,” I say realizing this is the first time I’ve said it out loud.
“Katie, Sweetie, listen to me…,” my mom starts.
“No, Mom. You raised me with to believe in wrong and right, and you can’t just undo that. They beat Jenny’s ex to within an inch of his life. I’m very glad they were able to clear her name, but don’t you think with all Chase’s money he could have figured out a way to put him behind bars where he belongs? Keeping our family safe I understand, but they don’t stop at that,” I say, wiping the tears that have escaped my eyes.
“Katie, I am so sorry. I didn’t realize,” my mom says, squeezing my hand.
I feel a presence in the room and look up. The intensity of my father’s gaze captures my own. His deep brown eyes are wary, glancing hesitantly towards my mom and then back to rest on me.
“Katarina, I didn’t intend to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation. There’s something that I need to tell you about that night,” Carlos says, walking into the room from the study.
“Dad, I overheard Chase talking earlier today and I know Jenny was exonerated because they found all the evidence in Ty’s apartment. I never doubted he was behind it all,” I say.
“Katarina, you are correct about Ty being responsible. He was Jenny’s lawyer for a long time before they started dating. He had access to all of her personal information and was laundering money through her company for several years. That’s about the only thing you’ve got correct though,” he says, sitting down at the table beside us.
“What do you mean?”
“You need to understand something, Katarina,” he says, dragging a hand through his mussed hair. “There are things that I’ve done in the past that I’m not very proud of and I have to live with the choices made as a young man. What happened in Miami is not one of them. I would do it over again in a heartbeat. As soon as Chase and I got confirmation on where they were holding your mom we spent a great deal of time planning the strategy of her extraction. Jay and his teams used infrared technology and we knew exactly how many people we were dealing with. We were able to get in and out fast, securing your mom, destroying a meth lab that was using fatal chemicals in their mix and hopefully instilled enough fear in those nine young men to clean up their lives.”
“The news said the nine men were dead,” I say.
“We needed it to appear that way to get them underground and help us shut down the other labs like this. You have no idea how much time and energy we put into identifying the men guarding the house before we went in. Many of these people get pulled into this by blackmail and that’s exactly what was happening here. It’s why we were able to change their position.”
“Are you telling me that you got the men out of the house before you blew it up?” I ask.
“Yes, and that you are wrong about almost everything. You were right about the night Jenny was raped, at least partly. Chase did take matters into his own hands. Jay had his team go into Ty’s downtown office and confiscate the material they needed to prove he was the one funneling money and using Torzial as a cover. They were able to trace the actual deposit routes and had substantial proof that Ty was responsible. After they were done, they set off the alarms knowing Ty would be contacted, using that to lure him out of his condo and into his office that very night. While he was there, Jay’s teams were able to get into his condo and confiscate his personal computer files.”
“This is the information they needed to ensure Ty could not blackmail Jenny in the future. If they had not succeeded, he not only would have been able to blackmail her, but, at any time in the future the information could have been used to initiate an investigation,” I say, recalling Chase’s words that night.
“Yes, everything would have indicated that Jenny was laundering money for multiple corporations. She could have been sent to prison for years,” he says.
“Dad, I didn’t know the details, but I knew Chase was responsible for getting her name cleared and I’m appreciative. I just can’t condone the violence afterward. The stuff they did to him, it’s awful. There were other ways,” I say.
