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“You’re not Kyle?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.
“No. My name is Jonathan and that man in there is my father.”
“You said he lives in Sacramento! You said he sold insurance and—”
“Yeah, I lied. He lives here. And he doesn’t sell insurance. He owns an import business.”
“Why the hell would you—”
“Please, just let me finish.”
I need to say this quickly. If we stay out here too long, my father will come looking for us. I’m sure he’s already texted his guys to let them know I’m here.
I lower my voice. “My father tried to kill me.”
“What?” Sage scrunches her face and tilts her head, which she does when something doesn’t make sense. I know her so well. I’ve never known anyone as well as I know her.
“I know it sounds crazy but I promise you it’s true. It’s why I had to go on the run and hide out in a small town where nobody knew me. It’s why I had to change my name and find a new identity.”
“Why would your dad want to kill you?” She sounds skeptical. She doesn’t believe me.
“Last May I saw something I shouldn’t have. My dad did something. Something bad. And I found out he’d been doing other bad things. I can’t tell you what they are. All I can tell you is that when my dad found out I knew the truth he told me to keep quiet but he didn’t trust that I would. So he hired some guys to kill me. There were two of them. They held a gun to my head.” I hear the nervousness in my voice just talking about that night.
“You’re making this up.” She uses a hushed tone but it’s filled with anger. “You lied to me and now you’re making up this story to cover your lies.”
“Sage, I promise you, I’m not lying.” I hold my hand out between us. “Look at this. Look at my hand shaking. That wouldn’t be happening if I wasn’t scared for my life.”
She pauses a moment, that skeptical look still on her face, but my shaking hand and anxious voice must convince her that at least part of my story is true because she says, “If they held guns to your head, then how did you get away?”
“It was a warning. If I didn’t keep quiet they’d be back, and next time they’d shoot me. I packed a bag that night and got the hell out of there. I left my car behind and took trains and buses until I reached Kansas City. I didn’t plan to stop there. It was a last minute decision. I’d never been to Kansas and didn’t know anyone there so I thought it’d be a good place to settle down for a month or two until I figured out how to go back without being killed.”
“Is that when you got the motorcycle?”
“Yeah. I took some of my dad’s money before I left. He stashes cash all over the house. I took as much as I could because I didn’t know how long I’d be gone.”
“If this is all true, why would you ever go back?”
“For Cain, my brother. He’s 12. I don’t want him in that house with my dad. I don’t think my dad would hurt him but I never thought he’d hurt ME and look what happened. I don’t want Cain accidentally seeing something and having the same thing happen to him that happened to me.” I take a breath because I’ve been talking so fast. “I’ve been trying to find a way to get him out of there while also trying not to get killed. That’s why I got the gun. In case they found me, I needed a weapon, and I couldn’t get one legally.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before? You know you can trust me. I would never tell anyone this.”
“Maybe, or maybe youwouldin an attempt to try to help me. I know you, Sage, and I know what a big heart you have. You wouldn’t be able to just stand by and do nothing. You’d try to do something, or tell someone, both of which could get me killed. Orbothof us killed.”
“Okay, I might’ve told someone but I would’ve told you before I did it.”
“It doesn’t matter. You know now and I’m asking you to stay out of it. There are other people involved. They’ve been trying to help.”
“What other people?”
“Can I have your phone?” I hold my hand out and look around to make sure no one’s coming for me. She hands me her phone and I see several missed calls from Hank. “Why didn’t you answer this?”
“Because it was a wrong number.”
“It wasn’t a wrong number. It was Hank. He was trying to call you because he couldn’t call me. He needed to warn me that my father had left Boston.”
“Hank? You mean, Hank, the guy who mows your lawn?”
“Yeah.” I call his number as I talk. “He found my money stash and I didn’t want him reporting me to the police so I had to tell him what’s going on.”
