Page 119 of Promising You
“I see. Well, I’ll speak with her. If you’re sure she’s okay, you can go now.”
“Jade, keep using the crutches,” Cunningham says. “Don’t try to walk on that knee. And call me right away if you have any of the head trauma symptoms on that sheet I gave Garret. Do you have any questions before I go?”
“Um, no. No questions.” I don’t want the doctor to leave me alone with the old man, but I don’t know what else to ask him. He exits out the door, shutting it so fast I can’t see what’s on the other side.
The old man walks over in front of the couch. “So, Jade, let’s try this again.” He holds his hand out and smiles. It’s a warm, friendly smile but I’m still leery of him so I don’t smile back. “I’m Arlin Sinclair. Your grandfather. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
I cautiously shake his hand as he takes a seat on the leather ottoman that’s in front of the couch. He doesn’t seem nearly as scary as he did earlier when he was wearing his long black coat and was accompanied by his two ominous henchmen.
He’s in his mid- to late-seventies, with a full head of thick white hair. His hair is a sharp contrast to his skin which has a deep, golden-brown tan like he just got back from vacation. His suit jacket is off, leaving him in a white dress shirt, blue striped tie, and black pants. He’s average height and has a bit of a paunch in front.
“Are you going to kill me?” I blurt it out and it sounds crazy, but when I’m nervous I tend to spit out whatever’s in my head. And if he truly is going to kill me, I want to know.
“No! Of course not.” He puts his hand on my arm and I snatch it away. “I want to help you. I have no intentions of doing you any harm.”
“But you kidnapped me.”
“I didn’t kidnap you. I’d hoped to talk to you at your school, but then you passed out. I called Dr. Cunningham and he told me to bring you here right away.”
“Who were those guys you had surrounding me?”
“They’re my security men. I was in Manhattan earlier and I always bring them with me when I go there. When we stopped at Moorhurst they didn’t want to wait in the car, so I told them they could wait outside. But I can see how they might’ve scared you.” He shakes his head. “I should’ve made them wait in the car.”
“But your son tried to killed me. Aren’t you here to finish the job?”
“No. That’s not at all what’s happening here.” He lets out a long sigh. “Let me start by saying that I’m sorry, Jade. For everything Royce put you through. I didn’t know what was going on until after my son’s death.”
“What do you mean? You didn’t know he was trying to kill me?”
“I didn’t even know you existed until Royce was gone.”
I don’t believe the old man. He has to be lying. “Your son raped my mother and left her on the side of the road to die. You’re saying you didn’t know about that? Yeah, right. I’m sure you were the one who helped him cover it up.”
“The story Royce told me was that he and your mother spent one night together and afterward she claimed it was a rape in order to get money from us. He said the rape story was completely false. And I believed him. As far as I knew he’d never forced himself on a woman. He had no criminal record. And you have to understand, we have people trying to extort money from us all the time. When it happened, Royce was married with a child on the way. He didn’t want this to destroy his marriage. So yes, I did help Royce back then, but I was relying on what he told me. If I’d known the truth, things would’ve been different.”
“Like how? You would’ve let the real story come out? Let your son go to prison?”
“I don’t know what I would’ve done. It was a long time ago. The point is that I didn’t know about you, Jade. Royce never told me your mother was pregnant.”
I still don’t believe the old man but I play along. “So when did you learn the truth?”
“After Royce died I was cleaning out his office and found the combination to his safe. When I opened the safe, I found a file that contained information about you and your mother as well as details from that night. I saw the original police reports. But until I saw that file I had no idea that’s what really happened.”
“What were you doing at Rockefeller Center that day you bumped into me? Were you following me?”
He nods. “Once I learned what really happened years ago, I was concerned for your safety. Even though Royce was gone, I didn’t know if he had people who might come after you. So I’ve been keeping watch on you.” He places his hand on mine. “When you were in New York, I purposely bumped into you because I wanted to see you. I assumed if I approached you and told you who I was you’d want nothing to do with me, given what Royce had done.”
I yank my hand back. “If you knew I didn’t want to see you, then why did you come to my school today?”
“Because I need to talk to you about some things. Do you have other questions before I begin?”
“Does anyone else know what he did? Did other people see what was in that file?”
“Luckily, no. If they did, you probably wouldn’t be here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He sighs. “At first I feared the organization knew. They hold on to secrets like this to make sure people follow orders. It’s blackmail basically, but they prefer to call it an incentive.”
