Broken Rules: The Elites Of Weis-Jameson Prep Academy Book 2

by Hart, Rebel

  Silence again, muffled by a big gulp and the ruffle of what sounds like a paper napkin against the guy’s face. “Where?” he asks finally.

  “With Liam and Malcolm Henderson.”

  We hear a pen plopping to a pad of paper, as if he’s not even going to bother writing it down.

  “The Hendersons?” he gaffs. “It’s going to be pretty hard to go after them for anything. They’re quickly becoming even more powerful than your father was.”

  “That may be, but this town still depends on Jameson Automobiles,” Emmett insists. “And if they get their hands on my company, they won’t look out for the people here the way I will. So, everyone’s jobs and this entire economy rests on your ability to save Bernadette and my mother and stop whatever they’re planning. Can you help us?”

  Detective Williams tells us he will see what he can do. We sit side by side on the edge of Emmett’s bed and anxiously wait for him to call back. I squeeze his hand tightly in mine as we watch the sun slowly set outside his bedroom window. We’re both mulling over every possible scenario, the best and the worst. He could call back and say he has Bernadette and is bringing her home alive and well. He could call back and say everything has gone wrong.

  Finally, the phone rings, making us both jump. Emmett flies from the bed, flipping the phone back onto speaker. “Detective Williams?”

  “Emmett,” he answers with a big sigh that makes our hearts sink. “Look, son, I gotta ask you: are you feeling okay?”

  It’s not a question either of us were expecting.

  “Did you find my mom and Bernadette?” he asks frantically, shaking away the odd question. “Are they okay? Did you rescue them?”

  “I’m afraid we couldn’t rescue them…” he says grimly. “Because they weren’t kidnapped.”

  “What are you talking about?” Emmett freezes. My mouth drops. His tone had us both preparing for the worst, but this…this is something different.

  “They were with the Hendersons, alright,” he clarifies. “But they said they were there of their own free will. To get away from you.”

  “What!” Emmett snaps.

  “They said you’ve gone off the deep end since your father died. The Hendersons offered to take them in to get them away from you,” Williams explains frankly.

  “No…no…” Emmett massages the bridge of his nose in confusion. “You saw them!? You talked to them yourself, in person?”

  “Of course,” he confirms, sounding too chipper. “They looked perfectly fine. Said they were there of their own free will. They’re really worried about you, though. Malcolm says you’ve been having some…girlfriend troubles? He mentioned that hasn’t been helping things too much.”

  Emmett looks at me with wide eyes, and I look just as shocked. I’ve been to Malcolm’s house twice now, and it never occurred to me that Bernadette and their mom could both be there—much less of their own free will. To make everything worse, they’re inexplicably trying to pin all of this on Emmett, to make it look like they were escaping some kind of psychotic break down of his.

  “I’m fine, Detective Williams,” Emmett murmurs despondently. “Thank you for all of your help.”

  “You at home, son?” Williams asks suddenly. “Can I send someone over to check on you?”

  Emmett ends the call without answering and looks at me with distant, lost eyes. With a breath of disbelief, he drops to the chair behind him. The phone thumps to the floor from his listless hand.

  “I can’t believe they’d do that,” I say softly, not knowing what else to say. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” he answers dryly. “We have to go to the Hendersons’.”

  “What? Emmett…no!” I protest, flying to my feet. “Out of the question. It’s dangerous!”

  “They’re doing this for a reason,” he explains. “And if they wanted to kill me, they would have done it by now. They’re trying to fuck with me.”

  “But why would your own family do such a thing?” I cry, not wanting to believe it. “You’ve been worried sick about Bernadette this whole time. And your mom…she knew all along and didn’t try to tell you things were okay? She played into your worrying! She made it seem like she was afraid, too!”

  “Welcome to the Jameson family.” He smirks sarcastically, swallowing hard as his eyes gloss over. “Let’s go see what they want. They’re waiting for us now. And anyway, we can’t stay here. Detective Williams or some other cop will be showing up soon to check on me. They think I’m crazy.”

  Emmett stands and walks indolently out the door with me following behind slowly. I don’t bother questioning him now. Everything he’s said up until now has proven to be true. Malcolm is evil. Vivian isn’t as heartless as she seems. And just as they both told me, I can never understand the weird world they’ve grown up in with their families. Something I believe now more than ever.

  23

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The butler at the Henderson’s manor doesn’t say a word as he opens the door and directs us to Liam’s study, proving what Emmett said to be true. They were expecting us after the visit from Detective Williams. This is all a scheme, but we’re left guessing as to what its purpose is.

  He leads us to a room that looks more like a billionaire’s office in a high rise in a big city than someone’s home office. The floors are black marble with crisp, clean white walls. The furniture is plain and sharply designed, with brightly-colored modern art sculptures lining the shelves, much like the rest of the house.

  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 co
mpany 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.”

  “Now you can be penniless and directionless, just like your little white trash whore,” Bernadette snickers heartlessly.

  With a heavy sigh, Emmett nods, prompting the guy who had been restraining him to shove him towards the stack of papers and force the pen in his hand. In a painfully slow process, Liam flips through each page, pointing out where Emmett needs to sign and initial. It’s ridiculous. Like he’s selling him a car or a house. You’d never know by looking at Liam that I was being held at gunpoint in the corner of the room and that Emmett was signing away absolutely everything his father had left him.

  Malcolm shoves me into Emmett’s arms with violent force once everything is signed. He leads me towards the door, stopping only once to turn back and look at what’s left of his family. They barely even look up to acknowledge him, much less say goodbye. It’s like he’s invisible now.

  “Are you okay?” he asks me softly. I nod and look back at all of them, standing there and flipping through the newly-signed papers.

  “So now what?” Emmett asks from the doorway.

  “So now nothing,” his mother responds, waving her hand dismissively. “I’ve left a little bit of money in your bank. Not enough to survive on, but it will get you by until you figure something else out.”

  “Maybe Ophelia will loan you some money,” Bernadette cackles.

  “What…you’re disowning me?” Emmett asks earnestly. “You already have everything you wanted. W
hy cast me out like this?”

  The snide grin fades from his mother’s face, turning into a cold, dead, and serious stare. She flicks her cigarette into an ashtray and prances evenly over to him, stopping near his ear. “Oh, son. You think I don’t know?” she hums quietly. “You think I don’t know about what you did to your father?”

  “What are you talking about…” he stammers.

  “Your little deal with Theo Nickelson,” she hisses. “You might as well have been holding the gun yourself. You killed your father.”

  I can’t take it anymore. I can’t stand here while she tries to make Emmett feel bad after everything she’s done. “Well, if you’ve been up Liam’s ass this whole time anyway, just waiting for your chance to run the company,” I chime in, “why do you care what Emmett did? You said you were glad Thomas was gone.”

  She shrugs cavalierly. “It doesn’t change the way things work around here. You can’t just take out the crown of the hierarchy around here and expect not to suffer the consequences.”

  “You people are all seriously fucked up,” I blurt out.

  “I knew what you did, Emmett,” Bernadette grunts resentfully. “I came and told Liam. He was the one who let Mom know.”

  “I thought you were smarter than that, Emmett,” Liam scolds. “You know what happens to people who mess with the Elites. You know a thing or two about that yourself, don’t you, Ophelia? So now you’ll walk away with nothing.”

  “And if I were you…I’d get out of town,” Malcolm adds. “Now the Elites will rise back to where we belong. And once the entire town is under our control again, the police, the school, everyone you pass on the street will know you’re blacklisted.”

  “I thought you hated the Elites,” I remind him, feeling stupid for ever buying into his act that he was so different.

  “Only because I wasn’t one of them.” He shrugs.

  Liam nods in agreement. “We refused to be under Thomas Jameson’s rule.”

  “My father and I have always known we could run things better than him,” Malcolm explains. “We planned to take your father down the same way everyone else was going down. But then Theo stepped in and started messing around. But thank him for us, by the way. Killing Thomas turned out to be a much more convenient outcome than just sending him to jail.”