Becoming Us Read online

  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.”

  I glance at the front of the card. It’s from Sinclair Pharmaceuticals, the company that made the hallucinogenic drug that turned my mom into the person she became. I’ve always wondered who else got that drug. They wouldn’t make it for just one person. So who else did they silence with those pills? And what other drugs do they make that are meant to harm people instead of help them?

  On the card, under the company logo, it reads William Sinclair, CEO. As the head of the company, William knows exactly what goes on there, which means he knows they make drugs like the ones Royce gave my mom. It’s another reason not to trust him. And yet I want to. I want him to be good. I want an uncle. I want more family.

  “Are you going to tell Grace that we met?” I ask him. “Or do you want me to?”

  “How often do you talk to her?”

  “I try to call her every few days just to check in and make sure she’s okay. I worry about her living alone. Plus, I know she’s lonely without Arlin around.”

  He gives me a slight smile. “It’s good that you call her. I’m sure she appreciates that. I don’t call her nearly enough myself. Maybe once every couple weeks, if that.”

  “Really? What about Sadie and her sisters? Don’t they call her?”

  “No.” He lets out a harsh laugh. “Those girls only call her when they want something their mother won’t buy them. But Victoria buys them whatever they want, so no, they don’t talk to their grandmother much.”

  “I didn’t know that. Now I feel bad. I should be calling her every day. I didn’t because I didn’t want to bother her. She always seems busy but I guess she was just acting that way.”

  “It sounds like you two have gotten to know each other the past few months.”

  “I spent a lot of time with her and Arlin last spring when Garret was—”

  “When I was acting like an ass in front of the entire world,” Garret says, interrupting me. I forgot that William doesn’t know what went on last spring and how Arlin orchestrated the bad publicity stunt that ended up saving Garret from the organization’s plan for him.

  “That was a difficult time for me,” I say, playing along. “But Arlin and Grace helped me get through it. I got to know them both really well. I went to their house almost every weekend.”

  “Their house in the Hamptons?” he asks.

  “Yes. We spent a lot of time on their sailboat and Arlin taught me—” My voice cracks and my eyes are all watery. Dammit. Every time I think of Arlin, this stupid crying starts. “He taught me how to sail. Sorry.” I wipe my eyes. “I just miss Arlin a lot.”

  “I do, too.” William pauses, then says, “You know, maybe we should get together sooner rather than later. I’m flying out first thing tomorrow morning but perhaps we could have dinner tonight.”

  “Yeah. Okay,” I say, without giving it much thought. I feel Garret squeezing my hand and when I glance over at him, he’s giving me a look like I shouldn’t have agreed to dinner. Maybe he’s right. I just met William and as much as I want him to be good, the truth is he could be bad like his brother. Grace said he’s not, but what if she’s wrong?

  “I need to go back to my hotel and make some phone calls,” William says. “When I’m done, I’ll stop by your place and we can go.”

  “You know where we live?” Garret asks.

  “Yes.”

  “Because you were spying on us.” Garret says it in an angry tone.

  William nods. “I wasn’t, but Walter was.”

  “Did Walt take our garbage?” I ask William.

  “I’m not sure. You’d have to ask him.” William goes out in the hall and says something quietly to Walt. Then the two of them come back in the room.

  “Did you take our garbage?” I ask Walt.

  “Yes. Several times. I was looking for receipts, bills, that type of thing.”

  “Did you put it back after you looked through it?”

  “I did. In fact, that time you saw the garbage can was empty, I had to hurry and replace the bags before you checked it again.”

  “That explains it.” I look at Garret as I say it.

  A few weeks ago the garbage can got knocked over by the wind and when I went to pick it up, nothing was inside. But Garret insisted there were two bags of garbage in there and when he went to check, they were there. I couldn’t figure out how they just appeared like that.

  William is standing by the door. “I have your number so I’ll call before I stop over.”

  “No,” Garret says. “Don’t come to the house. We’ll just meet you there.”

  He nods, then disappears into the hallway, with Walt right behind him.

  I turn back to Garret. “So I guess that was my uncle.”

  2

  GARRET

  William Sinclair is the absolute last person I expected to find in that room with Jade. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but definitely not him.

  “I can’t believe that just happened,” Jade says. “I’m not dreaming this, right?”

  “No, it really happened. You just met your uncle. He’s lucky I didn’t beat his face in for luring you here like that. I searched every damn room in this building before I finally found you.”

  “How did you know to come find me?”

  “I was talking to Sara and she said she’d noticed Walt only showed up at the coffee shop when you were there, like he’d been keeping track of your schedule or following you. I got worried and went to find you.”

  “But if you hadn’t found me, you don’t think William would’ve done something to me, right?” Jade has this sad look on her face and I know it’s because she’s so desperate for William to be good, and not bad like Royce. She wants to know more of her family and she was counting on William to be someone she could trust. She was hoping he’d accept her and eventually love her the way Grace does.

  “Jade, I don’t know William well enough to say what he’s capable of. I’ve only talked to him a few times before today. But he’s a member and that means—”

  “I know,” she says quietly, her eyes on the floor.


  I want to tell Jade he’s a good man, but I can’t. I have no idea what he’s like. My dad’s known him for years but they’re not close friends.

  “Did William tell you anything else about Walt? I mean, before I got here, did he tell you anything?”

  “He just said Walt’s been working with him for the past 12 years. Why?”

  “I think Walt’s connected to the organization. If he works that closely with William, he’d have to be.”

  “I was thinking that, too.”

  Jade goes out in the hallway to check that they’re gone, then comes back in the room. “Did it seem strange to you the way William just left like that? It’s like he was in a hurry to get out of here.”

  “He just needs time to process what we told him.”

  I don’t want to tell Jade this because she’d feel bad if she knew William thought she was a liar. But honestly, I don’t think William believed her story about Royce, even after I showed up and confirmed it was true. He acted like he believed her, but I could see the doubt in his face. In his mind, he had Jade pegged as a criminal and now we told him his brother is the criminal. It’s a lot to take in. It may take some time before he believes it.

  When William said he had to make some phone calls, I’m guessing that means he’s calling people to verify our story. It’s what rich people do whenever someone claims to be a relative. This happens to my dad all the time. People claim to be his long-lost cousin or uncle or aunt. When you have a lot of money, you have to be careful.

  But the only people William can call to check our story are Grace and my dad. They’re the only ones who know the truth.

  I get my phone out.

  “Who are you calling?” Jade asks.

  “My dad.” I swipe through the phone and call his number.

  “Why?”

  “Because your uncle’s going to call him in a few minutes.”

  “Why would he—”

  “Hey, Dad.” I walk over and shut the door.

  “Garret, I’m busy. You need to make this quick.”

  “I think you’ll want to make time for this.”

  “What is it?”

  “You’re never gonna believe this, but William Sinclair just showed up at our school.”

  “He knows about Jade?”

  “He does now. He’s had his security guy following her. He thought Jade was trying to pull some kind of scam to get money from his family.”

  “Did William speak with her?”

  “Yeah, we both did. He took Jade to a room in one of the buildings here on campus and accused her of trying to con his family. I don’t know the whole story. I got here late. But anyway, Jade told him who she was but I’m not sure he believes her.”

  “You’re not?” I hear Jade behind me. I turn around and see the disappointment in her face.

  “He believes you, Jade. He just needs to check out your story.”

  “Why would he think I lied?”

  “He doesn’t. It’s hard to explain.”

  I don’t know how to say this without hurting her feelings. This has nothing to do with her. It’s just about the rich not being able to trust people.

  My dad must’ve heard Jade talking because he says, “Put me on speaker, Garret.”

  I put the phone on speaker. “Go ahead.”

  “Jade, you have to understand that people such as William and myself are contacted by strangers claiming to be relatives all the time. William is just making sure you are who you say you are. I would do the exact same thing. It doesn’t mean he thinks you’re lying. It’s just something we’ve been taught to do from a young age.”

  “He said I looked like Sadie. Why would he say that if he thought I wasn’t related to him?”

  My dad explains. “I’m sure he wants to believe you. It’s just a different world for us. We have to keep our guard up. When William calls me, I will assure him that everything you said is true. And obviously Grace will as well. It’s unfortunate that William didn’t talk to her in the first place. How did William find out about you anyway?”

  “He took over Arlin’s finances and noticed that money had been transferred into an account for me last spring.”

  “What did you tell him about Royce?”

  “I told him what Royce did to my mom.”

  “Everything, or just part of the story?”

  “I told him about the rape and then Garret told him how Royce drugged her and killed my grandparents.”

  “What else does he know?” my dad asks.

  “What do you mean?” Jade stares at the phone, confused.

  “Garret, how much does William know?”

  My dad’s referring to what happened at our house the day Royce was shot. William doesn’t know Jade was there that day. Nobody knows that, except the people who were actually there; the clean-up crew, the doctors, my dad, and me. And Grace knows because Arlin told her.

  “He doesn’t know about that,” I say to my dad.

  “Are you sure? You said you walked in late.”

  Shit, that’s right. I hope Jade didn’t tell him.

  “Jade, did you tell William anything about the day I was shot?”

  “No. Why?” She looks even more confused.

  “I’ll let you tell her,” my dad says. “Does William know about my involvement?”

  “No.” Garret glances at me. “I told him you didn’t find out about Jade until after Royce was dead.”

  “I have to go. Someone’s calling on the other line. It’s probably William.”

  “When you talk to him, ask him about Walt, the guy he’s had following Jade. I don’t trust that guy.”

  “Garret, I need to answer William’s call.”

  “Yeah, okay, bye.”

  Jade’s looking at me. “Why are you so freaked out about your dad? Why is it a secret that your dad knew about me?”

  “Let’s talk about this at home.” I go and open the door. “I don’t like being in this room.”

  She grabs my arm. “Wait. Why can’t William know I was at your house when you were shot? Are you saying William doesn’t know what happened that day? But the organization covered it up. So what did they tell the members? What did your dad tell them?”

  “Jade, we can’t talk about this here.” I give her a look that I’m not kidding around. Someone could be listening. Walt could’ve planted microphones in the room. Knowing that’s a possibility, I shouldn’t have been talking to my dad in here.

  “Come on.” I take Jade’s hand and we walk across campus back to the car. She’s quiet on the drive home and so am I. I don’t want to talk about this in the car.

  When we get back, I drop our backpacks on the floor and lead her to the couch to sit down.

  “Nobody knows, Jade. Not William. Not any of them. If they knew Royce came to my house to kill you that day, they would’ve known you were connected to him somehow. They would’ve found out you were a Sinclair. And we couldn’t have them knowing that.”

  “Why?” Before I can answer Jade says, “Because they’d do something bad to William. The organization makes you disclose all information and Royce didn’t tell them about my mom or me. So if they found out, they’d have to punish him. And since Royce and Arlin are gone, they’d punish William.”

  “How did you know all that?”

  “Arlin told me. At the time, I didn’t put it together. But now I get it. I see why your dad couldn’t tell the organization the truth about that day.”

  “It’s not just William’s safety my dad was worried about. It was your safety as well. My dad didn’t want them knowing you’d witnessed what happened that day. The cleaning crew. The doctors. The cover-up in the media. If the organization found out you’d seen all that, they would’ve—” I stop before I say it.

  “They would’ve what?”

  I don’t want to say it. I don’t even like thinking about it.

  She sits back on the couch. “They would’ve killed me.”

  “Which is why
I always tell you not to talk about the stuff you’ve seen, or any of the stuff I’ve told you that I probably shouldn’t have.”

  She’s staring down at her hands, which are fidgeting in her lap. “So what story did your dad give them?”

  “He told them Royce came to the house that day and accused my dad of having an affair with Victoria, and that when my dad told him it wasn’t true, Royce went crazy. He said Royce took his gun out and threatened to shoot me if my dad didn’t admit he had the affair. So my dad said he went along with it and admitted to the affair, which made Royce so angry that he shot me to get back at my dad. And that’s when my dad shot him.”

  “And your dad just came up with that?”

  “Royce was always accusing men of sleeping with his wife. He was paranoid about it and everyone in the organization knew that. Plus Royce had been acting really strange in the weeks before it happened, I think because he was freaked out about you. He thought you knew about him and he thought you’d tell the media and ruin his chance for the presidency. Anyway, the story my dad told them was so believable that nobody questioned it. Then Arlin found that file about you and he went to talk to my dad and my dad told him what really happened.”

  “Why did he tell him the truth? He could’ve just lied.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe Arlin didn’t believe my dad’s story. Maybe he threatened to have the organization look into Royce’s death. If so, my dad would’ve had no choice but to tell Arlin the truth.”

  “But your dad doesn’t want William knowing?”

  “No.” I wish she’d stop asking these questions because I know she won’t like the answers.

  “Why can’t William know?”

  “Because my dad doesn’t know him that well.”

  “Your dad’s been friends with the Sinclair family for years.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean anything. My dad knew Royce since college, but he never would’ve guessed he was the type of person who would do what he did to your mom. Or the type of person who would try to kill his own daughter.”

  “So your dad doesn’t trust William. Is that why I wasn’t supposed to tell William your dad knew about me? I wouldn’t have told him that if I’d known it was such a big secret.”

  “It’s not so much a secret that my dad knew you were Royce’s daughter. It’s the timing of when he found out that’s a secret.”