Sweet Liar (Candy #2)(46)

“Is everything okay?”

“Sure.” He scratched his cheek, and I looked at him like I didn’t believe him, because I didn’t.

Laughing softly but without much humor, he sipped from his mug. “Can I tell you something I’ve never told anyone before?”

My body stilled at the thought, and I nodded.

“I’m a disappointment to my father.”

I hadn’t expected that.

“Unlike yours, my father wanted me in the organization, but he also wanted me to be different. He says I’m more like my mother than him, and he doesn’t mean it as a compliment. He means I’m too soft, which is probably why he didn’t tell me he was coming to your house tonight. He knew I’d try to stop him.”

I recalled them arguing outside the front door that first night, and wondered how much Jonah had been protecting me from his father. “The fact that you’re not like him is a good thing, in my opinion.”

He said nothing. Instead he looked down at the mug in his hand, seeming to regret what he’d revealed. “You should try to get some sleep,” he finally said.

After opening up, he was now shutting down, and I didn’t want to let him. “How come you haven’t asked me if I learned anything at my dinner with the Hoyts?”

He gave me a sideways glance. “Would you tell me if I did?”

“Probably not.”

Despite my response, I found myself wanting to discuss it with Jonah. I could have used his advice. He was smart and levelheaded.

He watched me a moment longer before rubbing his hand over his cheek. “My father won’t wait long, Candy. He knows you talked to them. You’ll have to tell him something soon.”

Those words reminded me once again who he was aligned with.

I’d been quiet for so long that he gave me a searching, hopeful look. “If you tell me what you learned, you won’t have to tell my father.”

He made a good point, but he had no idea what secrets I was keeping. The door between us kept opening and closing. We both wanted it open, but outside influences kept forcing us to close it again.

“I think you were right before. I should try to get some sleep.”

Jonah nodded knowingly, as if he’d never expected me to reveal anything to him.

“By the way,” I said as I stood to leave, “the fact that your father thinks you’re a disappointment says more about him than it does about you. It’s hard to imagine any parent being disappointed to have you for a son.”

As I walked back to my room, I knew that before this was over, I needed to reunite Jonah with his mother. He needed at least one parent who would be proud of him.





When I got back to my room, I saw I had a text from the very person I’d been thinking about. Lorraine had sent the full name of the primary doctor involved with the trial, as well as the names of other doctors listed in the files. But she couldn’t find the name of the drug, at least not in the English sections.

I quietly took my phone into my father’s office and got on the computer to look for information. It took one search entry to realize how impossible this would be. There were thousands of doctors with the exact same name as my mother’s primary doctor. Apparently, Yi Zhang was one of the most common names in China, and there were hundreds of hospitals and cancer treatment centers claiming to be the best. I would never find out anything useful this way.

Frustrated, I went back to bed and just lay there, staring at the ceiling, wondering what to do next.

I must have fallen asleep because the next I knew, my room was filled with sunlight and I could hear Jonah in the shower. When I went out into the hallway, the sound of Saturday morning cartoons coming from the living room television made me roll my eyes. Why did boys of all ages love cartoons?

Poking my head in, I saw someone other than Jonah sitting on my couch, but I could only see the back of a head. Although I knew the person was too small to be Victor, I went on high alert.

Slowly I rounded the couch, and Heather and I both spotted each other at the same time.

She sucked in a sharp breath and pressed a hand to her heart. “God, you scared me.” Her big brown eyes blinked rapidly.

“What are you doing here?”

She grinned and pointed to a duffel bag on the floor. “Jonah asked me to bring over some of his stuff this morning.”

“You went to his house?” I asked, which was a pretty dumb question considering the evidence was sitting right there.

“I sneaked in his bedroom window. He always leaves it unlocked.”

So this wasn’t first time she’d done that. That knowledge didn’t sit well with me.

“A lot has happened since I last saw you,” she said evenly.

I snorted at her casual tone. “You could say that.”

“So now you know Jonah is”—she put her head down and whispered—“undercover.” Sitting up straight, she chuckled. “And he just leaves his wallet out right under your nose with his ID in it. Such a rookie mistake. Good for you for taking advantage. You’re smarter than you look.”

I shot her a wry look. “I hear you’re not really in high school either.”

Heather shook her head. “Graduated two years ago, just barely. I’m actually dumber than I look.”

I didn’t know if she was kidding or not about the dumb thing, but I figured she was around nineteen.