EMP Catastrophe , Hamilton, Grace [phonics readers txt] 📗

the letter he sent? All my concerns are valid, Dad. This Wyatt hasn’t acted in any way that inspires confidence in me. And now you want me to endorse this strange alliance when my father has come back looking beaten to a pulp, spouting all this nonsense?

“Matthew, see reason.”

“I do see reason,” Matthew said, “but you seem to forget that I have a family to protect. Wyatt has terrified Kathleen by spying on us. She barely sleeps. Allison sleeps way too much. I can’t risk aggravating their fear, or putting them in harm’s way, not when all of this backroom dealing has been done without consulting any of us. I can’t risk them. They’re too important to me.”

David’s mouth dropped open in frustration. “And you don’t think they matter to me?” he demanded. “I’m just as concerned about them as you are!”

Jade’s face went white as if she already had pieced together what Matthew was leading up to. “Matthew, please, just hear us out,” Jade said, cutting David off.

“I’m not doing this. If there’s a well on the property, that’s fine and dandy. We’ll look for it this afternoon, but otherwise we are going to stick to what we know. Each other.” Matthew glared at David.

“You don’t get to just make that decision on your own,” David said.

“I learned it from you,” Matthew shouted. “Isn’t that what you did when you went to see the Carpenter Country? Make decisions without consulting others?”

“You’re the one who made that decision in the first place,” David yelled back, his face flushing red. “You’re acting like a dictator where every decision that doesn’t line up with what you want is the wrong choice. We need to be pragmatic. A reciprocal relationship will go a long way toward helping us in the future. If you’re so worried about our family, you would see that!”

Matthew stepped closer to his father, using his height to look down on him. Words bubbled in his throat, ready to hurt. Jade reached out and put her hand on Matthew’s chest, pushing him back. “Matt, I hate to say it, but I can’t believe you’d be this naive. Maybe you’re just being willfully ignorant. But even you should be able to see how this would be beneficial to everyone. David found the best possible solution to solve our problems!”

Matthew turned on her. She was nothing but a mole in their family, spreading trouble, turning them all against each other. None of this would have happened if Jade wasn’t here. “Not our problems,” he hissed. “My problems. You’ve done nothing but help turn this family against each other. The fact that you went with David in the first place proves that you can’t be trusted. You don’t care about what the rest of us think just as long as it is helping you. You’re a bad influence and can’t be trusted. I won’t sit around and wait for you to turn on us.”

“Matthew, that is enough.” David looked furious. “She came with me because I asked her to—”

“I don’t care.” Matthew turned to Jade. “Your time at the River Rock Hotel has come to an end. You need to leave. Now.”

20

A moment of silence followed Matthew’s declaration. Jade’s mouth pursed into a tight line. Tears wet her green eyes, but this time, they seemed to be tears of anger more than anything else. She gave him a hard stare until Matthew had the uncanny sensation of being back on the interstate, right before he realized he was going to have to fight her. He re-lived the fear he’d experienced when she turned on him and his father and held them at gunpoint as they traveled together on the highway. He remembered his terrified determination to wrench the gun away from her and chase her off.

He realized, in a moment of sharp clarity, that Jade had never been on his side. She’d used him and his family for her own gain. She’d carved out a place of safety for herself and then wielded her influence on each of them. He felt like a puppet who had finally cut his own strings from his puppet master. Jade had always been that furious young woman from the interstate who had been hiding under a veneer of softness. She was nothing but a dangerous threat, and he felt even more set in his decision to let her go.

“You can’t kick her out, Matthew,” David said, breaking the silence. He sounded shocked, as if Matthew had acted way out of line. “After everything she’s done for us and our family, you can’t tell her to leave because it suits you.”

“I think I just did,” Matthew said, refusing to break Jade’s glittery stare.

“You’re acting irrational,” David continued, his voice rising.

Behind him, Matthew heard the front door of the hotel squeak open and closed. He let out a slow sigh. Of course, they’d have an audience for this big blowout. It was for the better, though. At least everything would be out in the open now. Everyone would see Jade’s true colors. Matthew couldn’t back down. He realized that to his dad, he would never be able to do anything right. Therefore, Matthew would protect his family, even if he had to protect them from themselves.

“What’s going on out here?” Ruth’s calm voice pierced through the anger charging the air. Matthew heard his mother walk down the steps. “We can hear you shouting from inside the hotel. David, where have you been?”

Matthew heard Ruth take in a sharp breath.

“What happened to your face?” she asked, and then suddenly she was at David’s side, canting his head to the side so she could get a better view of the purple darkness encircling one of his eyes. Her fingers hovered over the dried blood streaking his neck as though she couldn’t bring herself to touch it. “You have a huge lump on the back of your head,” she finished.

“Dad and Jade thought it was a good idea to sneak out