Chapter 32
Parker
Evelyn and I walk hand in hand to the main house for dinner. She squeezed my hand as we crossed the threshold and entered the dining room. I didn’t attempt to hide my nervous energy from her. It was useless anyway. Evelyn rubbed my shoulder once before suggesting we take our seats.
The table was decorated differently this Sunday.
Mom had chosen to take out her finest china, and the table was donned in her favorite royal blue tablecloth.
My hackles immediately rose. If my father planned on announcing his plans for the prison, then all of this was wasted.
I hated to think of my mother celebrating this.
Janae strolled in with her head down, busy texting on her phone. She wore a rare scowl as her fingers pounded against the screen.
“Is everything okay?” Evelyn said, laying a hand on Janae’s shoulder, breaking her focus from the text.
Her eyes cut to me, then moved to Evelyn’s. “Yeah, I’m okay. Let’s talk later.”
I moved to reach for her, but Evelyn’s eyes told me I’d better leave it alone. I didn’t have enough room on my plate for whatever that was about anyway.
Filing in a moment later, my mother, father, and Aja joined us at the table.
Tonya brought the food out of the kitchen and set it on the table.
Suddenly, I lost my appetite as I looked at the catered meal placed in front of us.
My eyes flitted to Janae and Aja, but neither of them seemed to react.
We ate in silence, nothing but the sound of forks and knives clanking against plates filtered through the room.
My father suddenly cleared his throat, setting his utensils down.
All eyes were on him. “It has come to my attention that we’ve been lied to.
” He produced a folder and handed it to Aja on his right.
“When Parker called me and asked to utilize our security team, I thought it was because Miss Willow—or should I say—Evelyn was in danger. After doing a little digging on her, it turns out she’s a fraud.
She comes from a line of con artists. It’s all in the file. ”
Aja looked down at the folder in her hands, flipping through the documents while Mom and Janae stared openly at Evelyn. The color had left Evelyn’s face, and her hands started to tremble. I grabbed hold of her hands in mine.
“Dad, you’re way out of —”
He held his hand up to silence me and continued, “No one will be allowed to take advantage of this family. I’ll be pulling her security detail effectively immediately. Ms. Howard, I suggest you find other arrangements for yourself, or I’ll have you escorted off the premises.”
Evelyn looked up at me with tears in her eyes. There was no way those words had just truly come out of his mouth. I felt like I was in an alternate universe, and the villain was in the middle of his evil monologue.
“Do you understand what you’ve done? When I told you I needed to come home, I thought I made it explicitly clear that it was important that no one outside of us know that Evelyn was here for her own safety.”
“So you wanted to just lie to all of us?” Aja snapped, passing the folder to Janae. She flipped the folder open while Mom looked over her shoulder, eyeing Evelyn at the same time.
“Unless Ms. Howard is running from the law, then I do not see how Sheriff Strauss looking into her further endangers her safety, or do you not care about the safety of your family?”
His response felt like a slap in the face. He had no right to question my love for them.
“I’ve always cared about this family, even when you made me feel unwelcome. You don’t get to question my love or my loyalty.”
He slammed his fist down on the table, causing a glass to tip over the clattering plates.
“You know nothing of loyalty. You left your family and your legacy ten years ago to pursue a dream that will land you in a wooden box. Now you come home with a stray begging for my protection. The work I’ve done and your grandfather and his father before him afforded these luxuries you so happily snubbed your nose at ten years ago. ”
“Grandfather would’ve never approved of the way you do business.” Janae may have muttered, but her statement rang out like a gunshot in the room.
“What would you know, girl?” He spat. “I know your head is still up in the clouds. I would’ve thought you’ve grown out of the frivolous dreaming.”
“Jonathan!” our mother hissed.
“I should’ve left like Parker. Every day since I signed that stupid agreement, I’ve regretted it.”
Aja stood up after Janae’s admission. I felt like I had whiplash watching the scene unfold. “What agreement?” I interrupted the question tumbling from my lips.
Aja was staring down the side of Janae’s profile, and Janae refused to budge. She just looked down at her half-eaten plate.
“Yes, Jon. What agreement is she referring to?” My mother followed up.
“Dad said we’d gain early access to our inheritance if we graduated at the top of our classes and took positions at the company once we completed our studies.
If we disagreed, we would have had to pay for everything throughout college and wait to gain access to our inheritance until we turned thirty. ”
My mother’s eyes widened as she looked at our father, then at the twins.
My anger could no longer be pushed down and ignored to keep the peace. Our father had manipulated us. Judging by the look on our mother’s face, she had no idea this agreement existed. Would she have done anything? I’m not sure.
I took a deep breath.
“I don’t know what is in that file, and I do not care. Evelyn is in serious danger, and you’ve just led a killer to us. Someone in the police department is leaking information to him. No one can be trusted. If you had just spoken to me about this, then I would have told you. You gave me your word.”
“You’re a fool. You’ve always been a sucker, and I knew you wouldn’t be able to see past the beautiful face to the truth. She’s lying. That boy got off clean because he was innocent. She almost ruined that man’s life with that lie.” He sneered.
“I am not a liar.” Her voice surprised me.
Evelyn turned in her chair and directed her attention to my father.
“I did not lie about what happened to me that day. I would never. He killed my sister and almost killed me. He tortured us before slitting her throat right in front of me. Charles Gibbons is a monster and far from innocent.”
Tears ran down her face as my father picked at the old wound. She told her truth back then, and no one believed her. Evelyn told the police about the most horrific day of her life, and they said Charles had an alibi. She didn’t look back when she rose from her chair and left the room.
Good. I didn’t want her here for what was about to go down.
“I’ve heard enough.”
“Jonathan, please be reasonable.” My mother said in her usual soothing tone.
“Reasonable? That is something he’s never been.
” I huff out a dry chuckle. “The twins got stiffed with a deal ensuring they never leave Oakland Ridge. Dad is building a prison and doing shady deals in a warehouse out in East Jesus. He broke his word to me, knowing how vulnerable we are. Look at how he’s treating Evelyn.
Does any of that sound reasonable to you, Ma? ”
My tone caught her off guard. I’d never raised my voice to my mother, but I just couldn’t help it. She was always choosing to be neutral—if she ever agreed with us, we’d never know it. Mom was sad when I left, but never once stood up for me.
“Watch your tone, Parker James.” She scolded, clearly out of her daze.
“You want to talk about my tone?” My voice boomed across the dining room.
“Prison?” Taking her eyes off Janae, Aja turned to our father. “You can’t possibly think Oakland Ridge would benefit from this; you want our legacy to include abuse and neglect. Dad, you know what happens in these places. How could you do this?”
“He’s been doing shady deals for a while and cutting corners every way he can.” Janae is no longer staring at her plate. “Maybe you don’t see it because you don’t want to.”
“Really, J? This is all news to me, and I’m just as upset as you are. You didn’t have to agree to the deal if you didn’t want to, so I’m not sure why your anger is being directed at me.”
Janae stood, entering a face-off with Aja as I sat confused, wondering what the hell had happened to our family.
“If I didn’t take that deal, then Dad wasn’t going to let you go to Spelman.
I’m sure he had something prepared to threaten you with, but you were all too happy to agree.
Out of the three of us, you’ve always loved the company the most. I didn’t want this path, but I figured one of us should get what we wanted. ”
Our mother started to weep, and the display of emotion seemed to spur on Janae’s anger.
“Mom. Say something. Literally anything.” Aja pleaded.
The three of us all turned to look at her while my father proceeded to eat his meal without an ounce of care.
“I didn’t know.” She shook her head, tears running down her face.
“I knew that there was nothing to do about Parker. You had your heart set on leaving. But girls, I didn’t know about the agreement.
You both loved going to the office with your grandfather and to the events.
I just assumed…why didn’t you come to me, Janae? ”
It dawned on me then that my mother had played a passive role in all of this, the same way she had with me.
She never let things go too far, but she never picked a side either.
Just like she never brought up my father or convinced me to come home.
Being away all that time, I convinced myself that life went on in Oakland Ridge without a hitch—I was the black sheep making waves in a place that was committed to tradition and order.
But things were bad here and worse than I imagined.