Page 124 of Promising You
“Arlin Sinclair. He said he’s my grandfather.”
Garret looks surprised and a little confused and then it suddenly hits me. “Do you know this man? Your family is friends with the Sinclair family and you dated Sadie, so I guess it’s possible.”
“Yeah, I know him. He’s been to my house a few times. So that’s who bumped into you in New York? I don’t get it. How did he know about you? Does he know what Royce did to your mom?”
“He claims Royce told him it wasn’t a rape and that my mom just made up that story to get money from him. Arlin said he didn’t know anything about me until just recently. I don’t know if I should believe him. Do you know anything about this guy?”
“He’s retired. Does a lot of charity work. When I dated Sadie, she said he spends a lot of time with his grandkids. Takes them each on a trip every year.”
“So do you think he was telling me the truth?”
“I really don’t know him that well but my dad does.” Garret gets his phone out. “I’ll call him. We should tell him about this. I don’t like Arlin just showing up like that.” He starts to call his dad but I stop him.
“Wait. Let me tell you what else he said.”
I start from the beginning and tell Garret what Arlin said about this secret organization and his dad’s involvement in it.
“Do you know if any of this is true?” I ask him when I’m done.
“It’s true that my dad is involved in some kind of secret organization, but I don’t know much about it. I only know it exists because a few years ago I heard him talking about it with my grandfather. When I asked my dad about it, he admitted he’s a member but he wouldn’t tell me anything else.”
“I think they do stuff to get people elected. Like maybe rig elections to get whoever they want in office. Like Royce.”
“There’s no way my dad or this group could pull that off, even if they wanted to.”
“I’m not so sure about that. If you heard Arlin today and saw the way he looked when he talked about it, you’d know something strange is going on there.”
“Did Arlin come out and say they were rigging elections?”
“No, but he acted like the organization had spent years getting Royce set up to be the next president. Something about him being chosen. And then your dad ruined their plans.”
“So Arlin knows my dad killed Royce?”
“The whole organization does. They helped him cover it up.”
“Then why haven’t they done anything to him? Why hasn’tArlindone anything to him?”
“Arlin said it isn’t up to him to punish your dad. It’s up to the entire organization. He said they’re definitely going to punish your dad for what he did to Royce but that they wouldn’t harm you or Lilly.”
“So what are they going to do? Does he know?”
“He said they have plans. For you.”
“Me? Like what kind of plans?”
I scoot back on the bed and lean against the wall. “I don’t know. Apparently they aren’t final yet. He just said they have plans for you. And formeif I don’t cooperate.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You should really talk to your dad. I need to know if any of this is true.”
“Jade. You’re not telling me something. What is it?”
“He said if this plan they have for you gets finalized, I have to break up with you or they’ll ruin my future. They’ll get me kicked out of school and they’ll destroy my reputation so I can never get a job.”
“Okay, I’ve had enough of this asshole.” Garret gets up and puts his coat on. “Where did Arlin take you? I need to go see if he’s still there and have a little chat with him, man to man. Straighten this thing out.”
“No, don’t. Just talk to your dad.”
