Page 21 of Save Us
“So, why am I here, Mr Fenton? I must admit your call intrigued me, but I am not entirely sure what I can do for you.”
“I think you already know that you and I have a common enemy, two in fact. If it wasn’t for Oliver Lawrence and Carl Steele, I believe Beth would still be alive. I want to bring them down.”
“Revenge, Mr Fenton?” he asks with an air of amusement, cemented by the fact his lips are now curling up into a grimace of a condescending smile.
“Yes, but also prevention, Mr Fox,” I reply with the same confidence. “I want to prevent anyone else from having to endure what Beth went through, what her grandmother went through, and what my daughter and I are still going through. Mayfield is an outdated and draconian organization; you have to admit that.”
“I am still Mayfield, Mr Fenton, what makes you think I want to help you bring it down?”
I contemplate this for a moment or two, as I have been since Stephen’s reporter friend had told me about Fox. Why would this elite member of Mayfield want to help me end it all? However, as soon as Fox agreed to come all the way to California to meet me, my fears were to put to rest. While he might be arguing with me, he is clearly interested, for why else would he be here?
“I, personally, would bring it all down, but if it’s still important to people, then the next best thing is to change who is in power. I was told you wanted to change things, to bring it up to date, to help people instead of treading on them, like it was first intended to be before the Steeles warped it. I hope I’ve been told the truth about your intentions?”
Jonah sighs, then smiles before reaching down to place his mug back onto the table.
“Are you telling me you want to help me, Mr Fenton? Because it won’t bring Beth back.”
“I know, believe me, I know!” I admit and close my eyes to ward off the pain of that admission. “But if it means my daughter is safe from all of that bullshit, and Oliver Lawrence gets what’s coming to him, then so be it.”
“Oliver and I were close once,” he says, to which I nod, confirming I already knew this. “Best friends all through school, right up until he met Carl Steele. Mr Steele had eyed both of us, did his homework, met with both our parents, but soon came to the realization that Oliver represented his ruthless ways a lot more than I ever would. Oliver was more pliable to what Steele wanted in a new president, or to put it simply, someone he could make into a replica of himself. After he had been sold the Carl Steele ‘dream’, Oliver promised to find his lost family, to rebuild his powerful reputation, and to continue his legacy after he stepped away from leadership. It sealed the deal for him to become the next heir of Mayfield. The fact that Beth was a woman made it all the easier for Oliver to make promises to Carl Steele.”
“I bet. She was beautiful too,” I tell him with a sad sigh.
“Yes, I can tell from your daughter, Beth’s mother, and the few photographs that I’ve seen of her grandmother. They prove she must have been very attractive to Oliver. However, I bet your sources haven’t told you that before Oliver and I came to blows, we agreed to second one another,” he explains, instantly sparking my interest. He sees my curiosity and smiles smugly to himself before taking an inhale to hopefully explain what the hell that means.
“Most Mayfield elite second one another. It means that if something were to happen to one of us, his seconder would take over everything. It’s both a security measure and a risk. You have to trust one another implicitly. What’s even more interesting, Xander, is that Oliver must have his mind on other things because it would seem I am still his seconder.”
“So that means…?” I lean forward, almost salivating over this new nugget of information.
“It means in the event of Oliver’s death, I inherit his business, his presidency, even his wife.” He finishes for me with a shrug, knowing that what he’s just said must sound completely insane to normal people.
“Fuck!” I gasp ungraciously.
“Yes, very dark ages,” he says with a smile. “It was intended to protect women who were wives of senior leaders, who are still not permitted to work or educate themselves much higher than school level.”
I shake my head over it all, being completely speechless. Meanwhile, he gets up to stand and walks slowly over to the window to look at the empty beach outside the back of the house.
“Of course, if something were to happen to Oliver, who do you think they will come looking for first?”
“You,” I reply bluntly, for there’s no questioning it, Jonah will be the prime suspect. If for no other reason, Carl Steele would make sure of it.
“Of course.” He sighs in recognition of the fact. “It’s not that I haven’t forgotten that he stabbed me in the back when he threw me out of my own business, or for other things that have caused me to hate him so much. I’ve merely been waiting for the right time to strike. Trust me, Mr Fenton, Lawrence will be gone as soon as I can achieve it without landing myself in the frame for his murder.”
“What about Steele?”
“Ah, well,” he says, turning back and smiling smugly as he does so, “I’m not the only one Oliver has screwed over. Let’s just say, if Oliver goes, it won’t be just his assets I’ll be inheriting. Is this Beth?”
His sudden question has me looking right at him, only to find he’s now staring dead ahead at the wall above me which shows a picture of Beth and me from our school days. It’s the only other picture I have of her in the house, and only for Rosie’s sake. With reluctance, I look up at it with the usual stab of pain striking through the heart.
“Yeah,” I reply sadly, and with my hand anxiously running around to the back of my neck, feeling more and more uncomfortable by the second. Jonah is still Mayfield, Beth is still a raw subject for me, and my daughter’s safety is still paramount to everything. “That’s my Beth.”
Jonah doesn’t even look at me, just continues to study the image of Beth with narrowed eyes, as though taking in her every detail. His expression is so pensive, so undefinable, it’s making me feel deeply unsettled.
“That is Beth Taylor?” he questions me again, pointing at the picture as though he doesn’t believe me.
“Yeah, why?”
Uneasiness spreads through me and I can’t even begin to find the patience to try and sound reasonable. There’s a deep frustration building inside of me getting ready to erupt.