Chapter 15
Jagger looked out the window of his bedroom with a smirk on his face. It had been a week since the graduation, and his little plan was working out perfectly. A smile formed on his pale lips as he changed into his red silk pajamas. He had a picture of Ally and Amber on his bedside table that he kept glancing at.
"Soon, one day, I will own it all including you, Amber," Jagger said as he held the picture in the glass frame. He had been keeping her from Slade all of these years, and it worked perfectly.
"Now, my darling," cooed Jagger as he held the picture frame in his hands, "Tell me, who actually came up with that plan for world domination? It was me. Tell me who actually grabbed Chazz by the collar and threw him to the ground. It was me. You only believed the worst in him as I directed this play." He could only laugh at his genius. This had been his plan for years, and it was all coming to a close very shortly as long as Slade didn't figure out the truth.
"You hate him," announced Jagger loudly as he set the picture in the glass frame on his round wooden bedside table. "You should hate me though. You did always hate the businessmen, not the politicians who 'made the world a better place.' Amber, you are so naïve."
"That bastard," muttered Slade as he overheard his brother as he passed Jagger's room in the large hallway. The businessman never knew that his only companion at this time was a backstabbing jerk, but he supposed most politicians were full of lies in the first place. Slade knew what he had to do.
He rushed to his room and grabbed his phone. He felt his heart race rapidly almost slamming against his chest. Slade was actually nervous about calling the girl. He wondered what the worst that could actually happen was, but his imagination took over his mind.
Perhaps, she would answer the phone and be overjoyed that he called to tell her what was going on, but Amber wasn't the trusting type. Funny, she certainly trusted Jagger almost as much as she had trusted Slade in the past. Slade also knew that she could possibly hang up on him, disgusted at what the business man would say.
But there was no time for Slade to consider the consequences. He wasn't going to allow Jagger to rule over his former best friend. He quickly dialed Amber's number and waited for someone to pick up.
Ring, Ring, Ring
"Hello, this is Allison Rhodes," a small voice said. Slade rolled his eyes thinking I doubt I have the time to ask for Amber, but it must be done. I have to tell her. He took a deep breath.
"Hello, this is Slade Rhodes. Is Amber there? It's important," he replied attempting to keep calm as he noticed the folded paper that he had been given about the eviction. Maybe, he should help those people if nobody else could do it.
Ally sighed and said reluctantly, "I'll go get her."
"Thank you," responded Slade anxiously as he began to wait for Amber Grace Rhodes to speak with him. The eldest Princeton had to be diplomatic to convince her what Jagger was up to.
"Hello, this is Amber. What do you want, Slade?" a harsh voice said. Slade recognized the owner's hatred of him overgrowing. It doesn't matter if she hates me, it matters that she knows the truth he reminded himself.
"I don't want anything," Slade replied coolly, "I just need to talk to you about something important." He felt his heart begin to demolish his rib cage. What was making him so nervous?
"What about?" asked Amber a tad concerned. Slade explained exactly what he overheard from Jagger's room. He knew the story wasn't going to do much good, but he didn't know what else to say.
"And you expect me to believe that your brother is actually some control freak?" Amber asked with a deep reflection of sarcasm in her tone.
"No, I don't," replied Slade, "I knew you wouldn't, but it's the truth whether you like it or not. Remember, he's a politician, and politicians are snakes. After all your studying, you should know that." He felt his words burn against his tongue. He sat very still as he waited for her to reply.
"I do know, but it's Jagger," replied Amber still unconvinced.
"I fucking know who we are referring to," snapped Slade, "but he's a Princeton like I am. That means he'll do whatever to get what he wants. You may not trust me, but you did before, and I never lied to you. So why should you trust someone who is lying to you? Tell me, Amber." He felt himself grow weak in the knees. He couldn't breathe at the moment.
"Slade, I don't know what to say," Amber said, "It's logical, but why? I honestly don't understand. I'm sure that it'd be worse with two people attempting to control the world at once than it would with one. Slade, I need to talk to you face to face about this."
"I wouldn't expect anything else," stated Slade making sure that he was putting an emphasis on the obvious statement.
"So where do you want to meet?" asked Amber, "In this case, I'm sure the sooner the better if you are right." Slade knew in his heart he had to do this. There was no other way around this.
"Your house, I'll be there as soon as I can," he answered calmly. He shut the phone after they said their goodbyes. He refused to defend his brother any longer. If Amber ever decided to refuse Jagger's lies, then maybe the world would make a bit more sense.
As soon as he arrived at the Rhodes's home, he knocked on the door and was soon greeted by Amber. Slade wiped the sweat from his brow wishing that it wasn't so humid outside. He was led by the young woman to the couch.
"I'm sorry if I interrupted your work," said Slade looking at all the loose papers on the coffee table and the chairs cascading to the floor. Amber nodded and rolled herself into the ball.
"Slade, I don't know what to say. This doesn't make any sense to me at all, but I honestly never looked into your brother's psychology before. Why does he want all of this to begin with?" asked Amber nervously. She clutched her mug tightly letting the heat of the tea to warm her hands.
"Well," explained Slade, "He's madly in love with you, and he wants power. If you two got together, he'd have free publicity and possibly only good things to be said while I'm the scapegoat. He wants to rule the world. First, it was brother project and now it's gotten out of hand. You were right all those years ago, and I wished I believed it then." He sighed as he rested the back of his head against the back of the couch. He looked over at Amber who was staring at her mug of green tea.
"What do I do?" she asked quietly as fear began to make her body shake. Slade moved over beside her and brushed her brown hair from her eyes. Having hair in people's eyes had always annoyed him, but he loved seeing her grey eyes from underneath her glasses.
"Come over to the Princeton corporation tomorrow evening and bring Ally. Don't worry, Jagger will be furious at me, and everything will come out into the open. He won't be able to deny the truth, and then, you won't have to worry," explained Slade as reassuring to the editor as he could. She had just found out she had been betrayed by someone so close to her.
"What about you? What will he do to you?" she asked worried looking up at Slade who was standing. He could only grin.
"Look at me," he said, "I have nothing to fear, and I have nothing to lose." He left in preparation for tomorrow night's events.
Mew Kazurinu: Can you say Plot Twist? I sure can. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will write chapter 16 as soon as I can.