Becoming Us(4)

“So my father didn’t know what Royce had done until he found those police records?”

“He knew Royce had been with my mom, but Royce told him it was an affair, not a rape. And he didn’t tell Arlin about the pregnancy, so he never knew about me. Until he found that file.”

William lowers his head, shaking it side to side. He seems stressed or confused or both.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have told you all that,” I say. “I wasn’t going to. In fact I wasn’t sure if I’d ever meet you. But when you showed up here and started accusing me of all that stuff, I couldn’t just sit here and not say anything.”

“What do you mean he accused you?” Garret asks. “Accused you of what?”

“He thought I had a scam going. He thought I was trying to get your money and Grace’s money.”

“What the hell?” Garret says it to William, whose gaze is still on the floor. “Why would you accuse her of something like that? Jade’s the last person in the world who would ever try to scam someone out of their money.”

“Garret, it’s fine,” I say quietly to him. “It was just a misunderstanding.”

“Where did you even get an idea like that? From that Walt guy?” He turns back to see Walt, but he’s still in the hall. “What’s the deal with that guy? Has he been following Jade around?”

“Yes.” William looks up at Garret. “Walter works for me. He handles my private security. I asked him to gather information on Jade before we reported her to the authorities.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? You were going to arrest Jade? Seriously?”

William clears his throat. “You have to understand that from my point of view, it didn’t look good. As far as I knew, Jade had no connection to my family and yet fifty million dollars had been put into a trust fund for her. It didn’t make sense. The only explanation would be if she were blackmailing my father. It’s not like this doesn’t happen in our world, Garret.”

“Yeah, I know, but you could’ve done some more digging before you just decided she was a criminal.”

“I did. And I found that my mother had also given Jade a credit card and was paying her bills. You have to admit that looks suspicious. And then there’s the fact that your father allowed you to date, and then marry, a girl like Jade. The Pearce Kensington I know would never allow his son to even be friends with someone with her background. I assumed she was blackmailing him as well.”

“And where do I fit in all of this?” Garret asks. “Was I being blackmailed?”

“Sadie told me Jade had something on you. Something you didn’t want to go public and that’s why you had to marry her.”

Garret lets out an annoyed laugh as he shakes his head. “Sadie really said that?”

“Yes.”

“And you believed her? You know almost everything Sadie says is a lie, right?”

“You used to be friends with her. You used to date her. I thought maybe you two were still close. Maybe you confided in her about Jade.”

“Believe me, I didn’t. And Sadie and I are not friends and haven’t been for over a year. Everything Sadie told you was a complete lie.”

“I see.” He stands up from his chair. “Well, this is certainly not how I thought this would go today.”

“It’s not what I was expecting either.” I smile a little.

“Do that again,” he orders, his gaze fixed on my mouth.

“Do what?”

“Smile.”

It would normally seem like a strange request but I know why he made it. I have the exact same smile as Royce.

I smile for William, a big smile this time.

A stunned expression appears on his face. “Did you know you have the same—”

“Smile,” I answer for him. “Yes. I know.”

“Jade.” He extends his hand to me. “It was nice to meet you.”

This is so weird. He acts like we’re done here. So is this it? We just forget this ever happened and go back to our lives? Or what exactly do we do now?

Garret is still holding on to me but he lets me go so I can shake William’s hand.

“It was nice meeting you, too.” Actually, it wasn’t nice. It was a horrible way to meet him, but I say it anyway.

“I don’t mean to be abrupt but I need some time to absorb all this. And then maybe we could meet again.” He reaches in his suit jacket and pulls out his business card. He gets a pen out as well and writes something on the back of the card, then hands it to me. “My cell phone number is on the back. I only give that number to family. Feel free to call me anytime.”