Liam is sitting at his desk, which houses a computer set-up that is almost as expensive as Malcolm’s, with Mrs. Jameson standing behind him. Bernadette is sitting in a corner chair, filing her nails with Malcolm sitting across from her. They barely respond as we enter.
Liam is tall, with slender features and a big gut that juts out of his expensive suit. He is always wiping his balding head with a handkerchief, much like Thomas Jameson used to do. It’s a strange idiosyncrasy that all of the old rich men around here seem to share. I guess with that amount of money on the line, there’s a lot to sweat about.
“So, it is true,” Emmett says blankly. “You’re both here.”
“I have to admit, Emmett,” Bernadette sneers, “it took longer than I expected for you to catch up to us.”
“Mom, what the hell is going on?” he snaps. “Why are you here? Why did you tell the police all of those things about me?”
“I’m afraid I have to tell you something…” Liam answers, as Mrs. Jameson smiles coyly over his shoulder. “…that’s really not easy for any young man to hear. Especially not so soon after the death of his father.”
“Somebody better start telling me what’s going on real fucking fast,” he seethes impatiently.
“Liam and I are in love, Emmett,” Mrs. Jameson announces casually. Emmett’s mother is frighteningly perfect to the point that she looks plastic. She has long, blonde sleek hair that curls around her face and back, leading down to a blue pencil skirt suit that accentuates her curves—courtesy of her personal trainer and decades of plastic surgery. Her face also looks like she’s had some work done, looking impossibly young but still wrinkled and puffy from injections. She stands perched on top of stiletto heels and moves gracefully like a spider. “We’re getting married.”
“Bullshit.” He laughs.
“Are you fucking blind?” Bernadette mocks. “They’ve been having an affair for years. Everybody knew.”
“And you’re okay with this?” he shoots back at her.
“Bernadette and Thomas always had a special bond,” his mother reminds him. “Nothing like how you and I knew him, Emmett.”
“I think most of us can agree it was a relief when Thomas Jameson ‘committed suicide,’” Liam adds.
“This doesn’t make any sense.” Emmett shakes his head, refusing to accept it. “Bernadette…have you been here the whole fucking time?”
“Daddy said we have to protect the company above all else,” she replies snidely. “It’s our family’s legacy. He always knew you were too weak to do it. Someone has to step up and make the hard decisions.”
“We can’t just sit back and watch you take control over Jameson Automobiles, son,” his mother proclaims decidedly. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re too soft for this level of money and power, Emmett,” Liam adds in agreement. “We can’t let you have any part of your father’s business.”
“The fact that you turned to the police about us being gone proves that,” Bernadette jeers.
“So…what? This was some kind of fucking test?” he fumes. “You see how long I would go without calling the police just so you can tell me I’m incapable?”
“No, not a test. But an insurance policy,” his mother explains. “The police think you’ve gone mad now. It only helps our case against you as being unfit for running the company.”
“Everyone knows you’re unstable,” Malcolm jumps in, adding to the circling ganging up against Emmett.
“Being unstable sure didn’t stop Dad from running the company his whole life,” he bites back bitterly.
“It’s time for the whole town of Jameson to move into a new era,” Liam continues, as he stands to glide proudly around his office. “Malcolm and I, alongside your mother and sister, are the only ones capable of restoring the Elites back to their rightful place. We’re the only ones who can take Jameson Automobiles to the next level of success.”
It sure does look like a new era. Their extreme modern décor is nothing like the old, musky halls of Jameson manor, which look more like something from the 1800s than the current century. My memory of comparing old money to new money with Malcolm carry a new sting now. The differences were more than I ever could have imagined.
“Oh, yeah, I’d like to see just how many lives you’d ruin with that kind of power,” Emmett rants. “How much damage you’d do around here. I’m not listening to another second of this nonsense. Jameson Automobiles and everything in my father’s name legally belongs to me now, and there’s nothing you can do to change that.”
“I was afraid you’d feel that way,” Mrs. Jameson sighs.
Malcolm suddenly appears behind me and yanks me from Emmett’s grip, just as another man enters from the side and restrains him. Before we can even take in what’s happened, I feel something terrible and all too familiar against the side of my head.
“Emmett! Help!” I scream out, feeling the cold barrel of a gun against my temple.
For a moment, I see red. I’m angry that I’m standing here screaming and begging for my life with a gun to my head. This is the second time this has happened to me, and both times have been directly related to Emmett! I swore I would never let myself get into a position like this again. I want to hate him for bringing these kinds of things into my life, but this time I can see clearly how it’s not his fault. It’s his family that endangers people in this way. It’s why he resisted me for so long and why he struggles now. This is everything he has wanted to keep me safe from.
“Get your hands off of her!” he orders, trying to wrestle free from the guy holding onto him.
“We’d be happy to,” Liam agrees as a woman who looks like a secretary enters from the side, carrying a pen and a stack of papers. “As long as you sign everything over to us.”
“I can’t. I can’t do that,” Emmett insists in a weeping voice.
“Then your girlfriend dies,” Malcolm hisses, cocking his gun.
“Mom, please don’t make me do this,” Emmett begs. “You know the Hendersons will only use Jameson to wreak havoc. I thought you wanted me to run things differently than Dad.”
“You’re such a fucking idealist,” Bernadette retorts, standing to take her mother’s side behind Liam. “That’s not how things work. Every word you say just proves Liam right. You’re too soft for this!”
All at once, I receive the confirmation I needed, just as Emmett receives one of the worst blows of his life. This whole time I have wondered who the real Emmett is. Is he good, is he bad? Is he an Elite or is he just some kid born into their world, fighting with all of his might to break free? I have even wondered if it was a little bit of everything. Emmett has seemed like a swirling tornado of all of it, and I never know which part of it will touch down or when. Or what kind of damage will be left when he’s done.
But his family is telling me everything I wanted to know. Emmett is nothing like them. They know it, and that’s why they’re casting him out. He isn’t evil enough to be one of them. He won’t value money and power over human lives. Everything I have seen in him before now is what was demanded of him. He was always telling me the truth.
I feel terrible for making him work so hard to prove it to me. The pressure I put on him probably only made things worse, but I didn’t know what else to do. I know as we walk out of this room, that we will be leaving the worst parts of him behind. And I don’t have to be afraid of him anymore.
“What would you have done if I hadn’t ended up here tonight?” Emmett’s eyes tear up as he looks at the stack of papers waiting for him.
“Originally, I thought I might have kept the company for myself,” his mother explains in a weary tone. “But Bernadette came to Liam and the two of them were able to talk some sense into me.”
“Your mother is a beautiful woman and an excellent partner,” Liam says with a creepy sweetness. “But she doesn’t have the head for running this kind of operation on her own.”
“I could have run things with you,” Emmett argues.
“Really, son.” She smirks pityingly. “That’s laughable. This is how things should be. Now hurry and sign the papers. Liam can be a very impatient man.”
Malcolm straightens his gun and lurches, making me think he might pull the trigger at any second, causing me to scream. Emmett looks to me in desperation, knowing his time is running out.
He gapes. “It’s like you’ve brainwashed them. What is wrong with you!” he screams at his mother. “You could have had a chance at a better life! One where you weren’t always cowering down before Dad! If you wanted to help run the company, we could have done it together. Things could have been better!”
“Your father was the way he was for a reason,” she says with a cool voice as she pulls a cigarette from Liam’s desk drawer and lights up. “He ran everything the way he did for a reason. It’s just how things have to be, Emmett.” Her tone turns condescending. “Don’t take it so personally. Sign over everything, and we’ll let you and your little girlfriend go.”