Jaden (Jaded #3)

I grabbed the backpack the police gave back to me and threw it over my shoulder. As we climbed the two levels of stairs and passed both tiers of plants and flowers, I felt like I was marching to my doom. And then my father stepped inside first, and I was transported to some English palace of royalty. Everything was gold and old. It might not have been a fair assessment, but I expected to see a butler emerge from the shadows along with two maids dressed in black dresses with white ruffles. When none emerged, I was relieved, a little bit.

And then we went farther inside, down the long hallway that extended from the foyer, and he turned into a large room. Windows were placed all around the wall. They extended from the ceiling to the floor, and white sheer curtains draped over them. They all had gold bordering on the ends, and I sighed again.

The place was cold and impersonal.

“Neil?” A soft feminine voice came from behind us.

He turned with a wide smile on his face. He held a hand out, and she came forward with a graceful smile. Her feet barely touched the floor as she glided toward us. As she took his hand in hers, she looked at me and stopped short. The lively mirth in her eyes fell away, and her smile vanished. She looked down to the floor.

I snorted.

Even her blond hair was pulled into a classy-looking bun. Fucking Mary Poppins had arrived as my father’s glorified secretary. When his hand skimmed down her arm and fell away, I was pretty sure they were sleeping together, too.

“Sheldon.” He didn’t disguise the admiration in his tone. “This is Bethany Maller. You should be very nice to her. She’s going to be your best friend here.”

“Really?” My tone went flat.

She looked back up, but jerked her head to the side.

I sighed on the inside. She couldn’t even meet my gaze. I held back my snarl, but this was going to be my best friend? This was going to be my jailor.

“Yes.” His chest puffed up with pride. “She’s a machine, Sheldon. She’s the one who arranged everything for your stay with us. She has been in touch with the university, and she’s the contact with the police as well. They know you’ll be staying with us and have allowed it, but you mustn’t leave the gate. You can explore within the gate, but you can’t leave.”

“Am I on house arrest?”

“Your bond was five million. I was able to post it so soon with the promise you wouldn’t leave the estates. Don’t make me lose five million, honey.”

I folded my arms. “Don’t call me that.”

He drew upright. “I’m sorry. Sheldon.”

I fixed Beth with a stare and stuck out my chin. “I want to see my friends. Denton Steele. Bryce Scout. And Corrigan Raimler. You got those names in your steel-encased brain?”

“Sheldon!” My father’s voice whipped at me. “You will not be rude to her. I will not tolerate that attitude.”

Then I turned my dead eyes to him. “What are you going to do, Pops? Send me back to jail?” I shrugged. “I’ll get someone else to post my bail then. You’re not the only ‘Daddy’ Warbucks I know.”

“Sheldon. My god.” He grasped my elbow. “Maybe you haven’t grown up—”

“Excuse me? You show up out of nowhere, post my bail, and bring me to some reclusive hiding place you’ve got going on. Then you tell me what I’m allowed to do and not do? Pretty sure I can go back to jail, get bailed out by Denton or Bryce, and I’ll still have a life. This isn’t a life. This isn’t a country where you can dictate my every move.”

I spun on my heel and started to march away, but his words stopped me. “You’re not safe.”

I froze and remembered the paparazzi mob at the police station.

His voice was gentled. “You’re a hit, Sheldon. My little girl got famous, but you’re hated along with that. People think you killed your friend. They think you killed Marcus now. They think you’re behind all of it.”

I whirled around, pale. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “I didn’t kill Grace. And Marcus stalked me. He killed two of my friends.”

Beth cleared her throat; it was dainty. “Uh, well, I talked with the detectives assigned to your case, and they’re pulling all those cases back up. They re-examining everything, Sheldon.”

My chest rose up and down. I had a hard time getting air. “You’re saying they think I killed them? That I killed Leisha and Bailey?”

“You have a history of bullying people.”

“I bully bullies. Never them, never people who can’t protect themselves. That’s despicable.”

My father came forward. His eyes were sad. “You have a history of doing that very thing, Sheldon. You and Corrigan. Both of you were very hurtful to other students in high school. I received a lot of calls from the school’s administration. I just never told you. I paid many of those parents to remain quiet, and they have been, but it’s different now. The rules have changed.”

My chest hurt. Something was pressing down on it.

“All your ghosts are going to come out. Everyone who’s been hurt. Everyone any of you hurt—you, Corrigan, and Bryce included. All three of you ran your school harshly, and you know it, Sheldon.”

“I protected myself.” My voice was a whisper now. Something grabbed my heart and squeezed it. I felt it crumpling as I tried to breathe. “If they tried to hurt me, I hurt them back. That was it. That’s all I did.”