Page 214 of The Forbidden Note

The tainted smile disappears quickly, as if he let the mask slip out of place by accident and he just remembered to set it back.

“Contrary to your belief, I do love your mother. No amount of ambition can stop love.” His lips curl up and his eyes flash knowingly. “You, of all people, should get that, Grace. Having a mission, a purpose you want to protect so badly and yet giving one person the power to destroy everything you’ve been building towards.”

My heart pounds in my chest as he holds me captive, a prisoner to his gaze.

“What do you want?” I whisper tightly.

“What does any parent want from their child? To be respected, to be understood and appreciated.” He straightens to his full height and nods. “You took the boys’ judgement of me and ran with it, but you missed the truth.”

“And what is the truth?”

He walks until he’s right in front of me. The custom cologne on his skin swirls around me, making me want to choke.

Eyes darting between mine, he whispers, “I am not a bad guy.”

“Good guys don’t go around saying that. Only the bad ones do.”

He chuckles and puts a hand on my shoulder. The pressure makes me wince. “I love your mom, and I want to be with her. I also love my sons, despite what you—or they—might think.”

“You have a funny way of showing it,” I say, my voice trembling a bit. Jarod Cross is a walking, talking force of nature. Standing so close to him, I realize how easy it would be for him to turn his hand and snap my neck.

He drops his hold on my shoulder and steps back. The easy grin, the one that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, touches his lips. “Do you know where I was before I came here?” He doesn’t wait for me to tell him I don’t care. “At Redwood, in Harris’s office.”

“Harris?” I gasp.

“The police concluded their investigation and found evidence that my boys broke into Redwood and stole some things from the basement.”

His stare turns hard and I glance away.

“It took a lot of convincing for Harris to not expel them all, but I made it happen. Tomorrow, they’ll go to school and it will be like nothing ever happened. I did that… for them. Fully expecting that they won’t care or even thank me.”

My mind races. If Harris has evidence on Zane, Finn, Cadey, Sol and Dutch, that means he knows about me too.

There’s no way I’ll last another day at Redwood.

Tomorrow, when I go to school, it’ll be the end.

“I need to go,” I mumble. My head is already a thousand miles away as I think about what I should do next.

I’m halfway to the door when Jarod Cross calls me back.

“My friend found something.”

I freeze.

“About The Grateful Project,” he adds.

I turn slowly, my breath coming in sharp bursts.

“He thinks the man who went to jail for murdering your friend wasn’t the real killer.”

My heart pinches and I stumble forward. “What?”

“I’ve arranged an interview for you at the prison.” He tips his chin up. “If you still want to accept my help.”

“How? I’ve been trying to get an interview for years. Sloane’s killer… he never wanted to meet with me.”

“He will now.”