“My grandparents weren’t well enough to take me and no other family members cared enough to try. I was in the foster system until I was 15. I would say that it was worse than my whole family dying in the fire, but of course nothing can beat that. But it was close.”
“Only 15? Is that when you were working at that paper mill factory in Brooklyn?”
“When I told you I bought that building, I wasn’t telling you everything.”
“The owner? Neil Thompson. He adopted me.”
“I met him through a big brother program and he let me work there, to keep me out of trouble. He found me sleeping behind the wooden piles one day and realized I wasn’t going to school. He said I could continue to work there every afternoon, as long as I provided proof that I’d gone to school that day. By the time I was 18, I was managing the factory. He took me in, clothed me, fed me, taught me. Loved me. The day before I turned 18, Neil legally adopted me. I have two fathers who gave me life.”
“Where is he now?”
“He died from a sudden heart attack when I was 20.”
“Oh my god, Kaine.”
“He left me everything.”
“He didn’t have any family?”
“He has a younger brother, Jacob. They were estranged. Jacob is not a good man and Neil spent most of his life covering for him and bailing him out. But he wouldn’t let Jacob near his company or money. Jacob isn’t thrilled I inherited everything, even though I’ve set him up with a trust fund. He’s gotten more than he ever would have if Neil were still alive.”
“Do you see him?”
“Only now and then when he wants something. He’s greedy but relatively harmless. That is, until now.”
“Why, what happened?”
“It’s… nothing. Just work stuff.”
“Kaine.” I say, a warning tone in my voice, and he lays back down and gives me a sheepish look.
“Sorry. Force of habit. You know my new product?”
“Of course.”
“Well, I’ve been getting threatening letters and packages.”
“Kaine! What are they threatening?”
“That’s just it, I don’t know. I don’t know if they’re threatening to launch the same product or just want to sabotage ours. I don’t know anything.”
He runs his hand through his hair, his agitation, his frustration clear on his face.
“Oh my God, can they do that?”
He shrugs, “I don’t know. I don’t know what they have. It could be a hoax, but from what I’ve seen, it’s not.”
“So, what do they want? Are they blackmailing you?”
“Strangely enough, no. They haven’t asked for anything, just seem to be taunting me.”
“You think it’s Jacob?”
“He’s the most likely suspect. But. Dylan… er, I have some people looking into it.”
I smile. “You can say his name. I might stab him in the eye with a fork if I ever meet him, but you can say his name.”
I settle back down and in his arms.
“Jade, you know everything that’s important to me. You might know the past now, but you’re what’s important. My future.”
“I believe you, Kaine.”
***
Kaine comes with me when Henry drives me back to work. His hand never leaves mine in the car even when he helps me out of it. My fingers entangle with his, making me dizzy with something that is deeper than joy. I’m enveloped by a warming, grounding sense of contentment.
“What’s going on?” Kaine asks me as we walk towards the entrance. There’s a crowd of library staff and some people I recognize as regulars standing near the alleyway.
“Harriet!” I call out, seeing my friend leaning against the wall, looking bored without her phone in her hand.
“Yay! Jade!” she says, her face brightening into a smile as she runs over to me. “And Myst-, er Kaine. Hi, Kaine,” she corrects herself, catching my glare.
Kaine laughs, “Hello, Harriet. What’s going on here?”
“Oh, false fire alarm. One of the smoke alarms wouldn’t stop beeping so they kicked us all out to take care of it.”
I quickly glance at Kaine who immediately reverts to work mode. “Oh? Who’s in charge of that?”
“Like who’s the fire warden?”
“No, I mean, never mind. Is Harold around?”
“Er, yeah, somewhere. I think he was talking to the hot firemen dudes.”
“Okay, I’ll go look. You stay here.”
“What was that?” Harriet turns to me.
“I dunno,” I shrug. “He owns, among other things, a company devoted to fire safety. I guess it’s like his version of porn seeing firemen here.”
“Speaking of porn…” Harriet starts.
“We weren’t really,” I cut her off before she takes the conversation in a direction I’m not prepared to go.
“Speaking of porn… why’s your hair all… like that, and where’s the scarf you were wearing this morning… and ohmygod you just had a booty call.”
“Shush.”
***
“I’m here from Ash Industries.”
I look up from my perch on the counter the next day, half expecting to see Kaine.
But it’s definitely not Kaine, unless Kaine has taken to not shaving and wearing a dangling emerald earring in his left ear.
“Um, okay. What can I do for you?”
“I’m here to take care of the installations,” earring man tells me.
“What installations?”
“The installations Mr. Ashley specifically ordered yesterday.”
“Um, okay. You’re going to need to talk to my manager.” I turn and walk to Harold’s office. “Er, Harold? Something about installations from Kaine’s company?”
“Oh. Great! Send them in.”
“They’re in.” I follow Harold out of his office. “What’s going on?”
“Well, Kaine came to talk to me yesterday about the smoke alarm situation thing. Then he told me about this new product his company’s launching and he offered to outfit our building with the new smoke alarms. We wouldn’t have to pay for it, some sort of deal thing subsidized by his company and the city. Whatever. And as a return favour, we’re letting his company hold the launch of their new product at the library next week.”
“Oh. That’s sounds like a great idea.”
“Good, because you’ll be in charge of the function,” Harold informs me.
“What?”
“It’ll be great publicity for the library. Everyone’s still following your story, and now there’s a happy ending.”
I groan.
The last thing I want is MORE publicity.