61. Collin
“Less than two weeks and you guys managed to fix everything and leave it even better than you found it. I am truly impressed and grateful for you.” Carlos shook Joe’s hand and then mine, his warm smile doing nothing to chip away at the iciness I couldn’t get rid of.
Joe nodded and smiled but it was obviously fake. “You wouldn’t have been in the mess if it hadn’t been for us in the first place, Carlos.”
“I know I was mad at first, but after everything that’s come out, it’s pretty obvious that none of it was your fault. You were the victims of a little man fighting to hold onto what little power he had left.” I could tell by the look on Carlos’ face that he was going to ask something about Ada. “Is your friend holding up okay under all of the scrutiny?”
I cleared my throat and shrugged. “Don’t know.”
Joe crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “That’s not a thing anymore.”
“Not because of this mess, though, right?” Carlos read our expressions correctly and winced. “That’s a shame. I’ve known you guys for a long time and I could tell something was different about you for a while there. You seemed happier.”
“Well. Shit happens.” I really didn’t want to talk about Ada. “The latest polls coming in show that you’re up seventy points, Carlos. This things is yours. Unless another donor of yours has a big secret come out.”
He smiled and clapped my shoulder. “I hope it works out for you, Collin.”
Joe could sense my mood darkening and directed Carlos away from me. I was grateful for the reprieve and took my chance to leave the campaign office and wait for Joe in the car. As soon as I was alone in the car, I did the same thing I found myself doing a dozen times a day. I checked in with security to see if anyone had ventured near the estate. I wasn’t sure if they believed I was obsessed with the security of the house or if they could see through my bullshit but their report was the same as it had been for a week straight. No sign of anyone on the property.
No sign of Ada.
It should have been a good thing. It was. It was definitely a good thing that she hadn’t tried coming back. After what she’d done, she should’ve gone into hiding. I didn’t want her anywhere near us. Except when the house was as silent as a tomb. Or when Alex and Avery wouldn’t come out of their rooms to eat their meals at the table. Or when work stretched on and on. Or when I was awake. Or when I was asleep.
I checked the news and saw yet another article about David Mayhew’s shady business deals with even shadier people. He was being investigated by the FBI and it looked like he was going to flip on whoever he owed money to. I figured he’d vanish before long, either into witness protection or into the ocean with cement shoes on his feet. After seeing his wife’s face, I didn’t really care which happened to him, as long as he vanished I figured the world was a better place.
David Mayhew was as good as dead and Carrington Corp had bounced back like nothing had ever happened. Everything had worked out perfectly, even better than we’d originally planned. Yet, the world felt dull around me.
Joe joined me a few minutes later and sighed heavily as he slumped back in the seat. “Fuck.”
I grunted an agreement.
“I would rather cut my dick off than go home right now.” He scrubbed his hands down his face and groaned. “Fuck!”
“Same.”
“She caused all of this shit and she just gets to skip town? It’s bullshit. We’re being tortured in our own home while she’s off doing god knows what.” He scowled. “Where do you think she is?”
“Somewhere where there aren’t multiple children who hate her probably. Probably a place where there isn’t a sibling plotting her demise. I bet it’s fucking sunshine and rainbows wherever she ran off to.” I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes and sighed. “Want to go to a bar and get drunk?”
Before he could answer, and I could feel a ‘yes’ coming, his phone rang. “Shit. It’s Garvis.”
I sat up, the stupid sense of hope ever present. I could tell by Joe’s face that it wasn’t Ada, though. He looked panicked and like he was finally catching the stomach bug that had gone through the house. Of course, it’d hit me after Ada left and I had no one to take care of me. Jud made sure to let me know that was karma.
“No, let them in. Have them wait in the library. We’ll be there in twenty.” He hung up and leveled me with a cold stare. “The Waltons are at our house.”
My stomach dropped. “What? Why?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” He instructed the drive to take us home and blew out a deep sigh. “I guess we need to get this over with.”
“Or we go get drunk and let Jud deal with it?” I grunted. “It’d serve the self-righteous bastard right for how he’s been acting.”
“I can tell you exactly what he’d tell them. Joe and Collin kicked her out. They’re horrendous monsters and you should hate them. Love me, though, because I tried to abandon my family to leave with her.” He paused and then shook his head. “God, I hate myself for how pathetic that sounded.”
“I hate you for how pathetic that sounded, too.”
“Fuck off. I can’t have you treating me like shit, too, right now.” He scrolled through his phone and let out a humorless laugh. “Oh, look. A message from my daughter telling me that she wants to move in with her mother.”
I closed my eyes and let my head rest on the seat. “Fat fucking chance of that happening.”
“Don’t think you’re off the hook. She says she thinks Alex and Avery should be allowed to go with her, too, since you’re no better than me.” He passed me the phone and let me read the message. “That’s a new low but I can’t even muster up the strength to be all that mad right now.”
“I can. Jesus. These kids act like we fucking killed Santa.” I tossed his phone onto the seat next to him. “Honestly, Joe, I’m so sick of all of this. Everything is coming up roses with the campaign and the businesses but I just can’t give a shit.”
“We still haven’t talked about how Julia Mayhew swears up and down that Ada wasn’t working with her to take us down.” He swallowed and looked out the window.
“What would it matter if we did, Joe?”
“What if we were wrong?”
“What if we were? It wouldn’t change a fucking thing, would it? She’d still be gone and we’d still be hated by everyone in our house. Her being innocent just means we’ll hate ourselves as much as everyone else does and I’m not sure I can handle that right now.”
“We could find her.” He met my hard look with one of his own and shrugged. “If we were wrong and if we wanted to.”
“Do you want to?” I hated how much I wanted him to say yes.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Ask me again after we face off with her parents.”