Jaden (Jaded #3)(4)

My throat went dry at the sight. They were there for me, because I was linked to Bryce and Denton. And because they thought I killed my friend.

The lawyer beside me handed me a newspaper. He spoke in a bland voice, “You’ve been nicknamed already. You’re ‘The Queen Bee Killer.’”

I took the paper and saw the headlines. In bold capital letters was what he said. I saw a picture of myself from school, one of Bryce at one of his games, and one from the latest movie premiere Denton had attended. My stomach twisted, and I crumpled the newspaper into a ball. I glanced at him, disgust in my gut, and asked, “You think that’s funny?”

He shrugged. “You’ll get a lot of coverage from it. It’s a good name.”

“It’s a lie.” I lifted my mouth in a snarl.

The grin didn’t leave, and he shrugged again. “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

My eyes went flat. “Or maybe it’s true. Maybe I did kill her. You want to piss me off? I might gut you here and now.”

His head whipped to mine, and the smirk vanished.

Finally. I relaxed against my seat. That was all I wanted.

He paled. “You wouldn’t. I’m your lawyer.”

I shrugged and smirked this time. “I’m sure there’s more where you came from.”

The other lawyer beside me shifted in his seat, but no other words were shared. After we drove for a while, I lost interest in where we were going. I wasn’t stupid. I knew we wouldn’t be going where I considered home, and I was right when we pulled up to a gate an hour later.

The gate was large, black, and imposing. It was a complete wall. The driver got out and pushed a button near it. A buzz was heard, but the driver bent down and spoke into the button. A moment later, he returned to the car, and the gate slid up. We rolled underneath it, and it went back down. It landed with a thud, and we had to drive another mile before the driveway curved to the right and a clearing opened for us. Everything was covered with a forest, but then we got a view of a mansion.

It looked like a castle, and my eyes couldn’t help but go wide. Whose was this?

The front door opened, and I jerked forward in the seat. My seatbelt tightened, and I was shoved back, but I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t close my mouth. Everything stopped in that moment.

When we slid to a stop and the lawyers got out of the car, I was slower. My body had trouble moving, and my legs were stiff. My arms shook, and my heart raced as I pulled myself up outside the car. I had to hold onto it or I would’ve fallen. I heard my knees knocking against each other. I couldn’t feel them, but I heard them.

“Hello, Sheldon.”

The man before me was in his forties. He was dressed in a black business suit, which fit him like a glove, and he gazed back at me. He waited for my reaction. There were no words.

“Dad?”

He still had his thinning hair, but it was darker than I remembered. A rush of air left me. I lifted my hands and watched how they shook before me. I was detached from my body. Nothing made sense, but my dad was in front of me.

He had left for Europe. I never heard from him again and now . . . he was in front of me.

I stepped closer and studied him. There were crease lines at the ends of his eyes, like he had to squint a lot. There were worry lines on his forehead. His shoulders were the same, maybe thinner, but his eyes . . . I couldn’t look away from them. They studied me as much as I studied him.

He blinked. A shine of tears was there, but he managed a small grin. “How are you, Sheldon?”

“Not good.”

Then he laughed. The corner of his lips curved in. His two dimples flashed at me, but then he shook his head and wiped at the corners of his eyes. “No, you’re not doing well right now, are you?”

“You bailed me out of jail. Those are your lawyers.” Not Denton’s. Not Bryce’s. I twisted around and looked them over again. Another car pulled up behind us, and four more lawyers got out. All black business suits, all with bland features. And then I looked at the house, around the estate. “Who the hell are you?”

Neil chuckled and reached forward.

I cringed and ducked out of his way. “Don’t. Don’t touch me.”

The grin fell away, and he sighed. He looked so tired then. “You’ve had a shock. I can see that.”

“I want to talk to my friends.”

“Your friends?” He frowned at one of the lawyers, the douche bag who had spoken to me in the car. “I thought you said her mother was at the police station?”

He clipped out a nod. “She was.” His gaze slid to me. “She refused to see her.”

Neil reared back an inch. His frown deepened, and he studied me again. “You didn’t want to see your mother?”

I snorted. “Would you?”

A glimmer of a smile flirted across his face, but he ended on a solemn note. “No. I wouldn’t.”

I swallowed thickly. My mind still raced. “I want to see Bryce and Corrigan.”

His shoulders sagged, and a sense of disappointment flared inside me when he murmured, “You’re still friends with them.”

“Yes.” Though he hadn’t said it as a question.

My father jerked his head in a nod and rubbed at his jaw. “It seems that some things have not changed in four and a half years.”