Jaden (Jaded #3)

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.”

“Except you.” My shoulder twitched. What was that about? “What happened to you? I’ve had people ask where you were, but I didn’t know.”

“I left you money.”

“That’s not the question.”

His eyes widened a slight inch, and he stepped back. He grew quiet, and his hand stopped rubbing his jaw. Then he laughed on a rueful note. “My god, you’ve grown up, Sheldon. You were confused and hurting the last time I saw you, but now . . . look at you. You’re a woman. You’re all grown up.”

My jaw clenched, and my hands slammed against my sides. “I’m also accused of murder.”

“Yes, I am aware. That’s why I reached out to you.”

Everything was wishy-washy for me. I knew I spoke how I always did, calm and strong, but my insides were twisting and churning. My stomach was doing constant somersaults, and I felt like a massive army of worms were slithering their way through my body. But at his words, everything stopped. A stone dropped in me. It all clicked into place.

My voice was hoarse. “You wouldn’t have come forward, would you? If I hadn’t been arrested, you never would’ve let me know where you were.”

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.

A wall went over me, and I turned away from him. This was a stranger in front of me. This wasn’t my father anymore.

Then I looked around. “I’m right when I assume I’m going to be staying here?”

He nodded. His jaw clenched.

“Then I need a bag of my stuff. I need my clothes. And homework, I can’t get behind.”

“You won’t. We’ve arranged for all of that, but you’ve been let go from the university. You can reapply after all of this is over. That’s what their representative told my assistant, anyway.” His voice was business-like now. He was the professional diplomat I always knew he’d been with his companies. “My assistant was able to get all your clothes, too.”

“Well.” I pressed a hand to my stomach. I would process all of that later. “Your assistant must’ve been very busy in the last five hours.”

“She was. Beth is the best.”

I felt a kick to my gut. I heard the admiration in his voice.

“I’ll introduce you two, if you’d like to go inside.” He shifted toward the castle.