Chapter 9

"We will pick up Ashley together at the airport, right?" The senator asked her as they stepped into their luxurious mansion. "I wonder how she'll feel when she finds out that she won't be attending the reception like she promised to, again, because there was no wedding," he added before she could give him a negative response, to change the topic. After all the pressure he had given her, it was inevitable she wouldn't want to be near him— to avoid the fights that would still surface another time. 

She nodded to the house tenants that greeted them. "You know how your daughter is, don't you?" She didn't turn around to spare him a glance, she continued walking ahead of him. "We shouldn't let her see them— Charles and that womam, especially the woman, or she wouldn't hesitate to hide a knife in their stomachs." She didn't even laugh at her own joke. 

When they were about to enter their room, the butler stopped Luther. He closed the door behind Harriet after she entered the room, as the butler approached him with gentleman steps. 

"Mr. Palmus was here few minutes ago. I did tell him to wait, but he refused," the man between his fifties told Luther. He gave a direct eye contact. 

The senator had cancelled all appointments scheduled for today. James knew that. "What did he want?" Luther asked, loosening his necktie. 

"All he said was 'it is urgent'." 

How urgent could it be that he had to go to the house? He could have called if it was really urgent, like Blue said, well...he didn't. The possibility of it being a one-on-one, face-to-face conversation was highly possible. 

"Thank you," he dismissed Blue. Luther watched the butler descend the stairs and disappeared. He shoved his hand into his pocket, and pulled out his phone. He gave his phone a shocking look when he saw that he had over five missed calls from Mr. Palmus. 

His phone was put on silence? By whom? 

He didn't remember putting his phone on silence. Though he didn't want any disturbance from no one, he kept his personal number on. Not everyone had access to it. Also, other than him, Harriet was the only one who handled the phone. 

He, finally, decided to call after contemplating. The phone didn't even ring for five seconds, James picked up. "What is it, James?"

"Senator Blade," James called from the other side of the line. 

"I was told that you needed to speak to me immediately. I'm guessing you have a very important thing to tell me." He took two steps away from the door, tucking his free hand in his pocket. 

"No, Sir..." He stammered a bit. "I saw it on the tv— the incidence at your daughter's wedding. I wanted to know how the family was doing." 

Really? 

"Harriet told me you called her," he made that up because Harriet was the one who gave him his phone before they could leave, and it was impossible that James would leave his house just to sympathize with them because Rachael wedding was interrupted. He was lying. 

James had been working with the senator for so long to know his tactics, all his tricks— or at least the ones that had been portrayed before his own eyes. 

He wasn't going to jump into the trap. Also, he wasn't going to make it evident the he knew exactly what the senator was doing. 

"Your phone kept ringing, so I called her to check if everything was okay. I wanted to confirm if what I was watching was true or it was doctored," he said, half of what he said being true. 

So he didn't jump into the ambush like Luther had expected. 

"James," he started saying, "I've known you for a very long time. No, we have known each other for a long time. Let me be straight with you." He paused for a moment. "I don't believe you," he uttered, resting his elbows on the balcony. "Why don't you tell me the real reason you passed by?"

There was a long silence on the line. 

James cleared his throat. "I don't see what's wrong with me showing concern for you when your daughter had been publicly humiliated. I understand why you are acting like this. I would have behaved the exact same way if it had been my daughter." 

He should have felt guilty after such a big speech, well, there wasn't the tiniest of guilt— maybe there was a grain. All of them were politicians, after all. They knew how to trigger people's emotions when it was necessary. 

"I'm sorry, James, but you can't keep what you wanted to tell me from me. I know Harriet told you not to tell me. But you can't be one of my staffs and hide things from me, you know that right?"

Damnit. The goddamn man just won't give up! 

"I know. It's very underwhelming that after all those years, you don't trust me. I have to go now." He hang up before Luther could speak. 

Luther lifted his head up slightly, staring into oblivion. He stood straight, shoved his hand in his pocket and walked to his room; playing with the phone in his hand. He opened the door slowly.

Harriet was sitting on the bed, staring out the window; her back turned towards him.

"You knew he was going to call, didn't you?" He asked her, closing the door. He stood there watching her back. She didn't answer. "You knew exactly what he wanted to tell me, so you put my phone on silence, because you knew you'd be the one he would have called next. So you could persuade him not to tell me."

Harriet got up from the bed. She stood in front of him and stared into his beautiful eyes. "Don't tell me you don't believe in coincidence anymore."

Luther scoffed. "Coincidence is never planned, is it?" He gave her a questioning look. 

"All I'm doing is protecting you, Luther—one of my duties as a wife. The only reason you don't trust the people around you is because you don't trust yourself. Stop that, Luther." she emphasized the last statement in a whisper. 

"It's you who should stop hiding things that I should know from me." He raised his voice at her. "I don't know why you're behaving like this out of a sudden. I don't care to know why. But if you continue, you will lose my trust."

"I'm wondering if I had it before," she stated in a mild tone. "You know that I didn't start this, Luther. You know." 

"Don't use Ashley's event to crucify me," he warned. "You would have done exactly what I did."

"So don't crucify me for what I'm doing now. You would have done the same if it had been you." She opened the door, paused for a moment. "You will be glad that I'm doing this, momentarily." She walked out. She didn't want to fight with him again. 

They had to be there for Rachael. How would they be if the keep fighting? So one person had swallow the bitter pills in the main time. 

Luther released a sigh, staring at the door.