Chapter 77

JAY'S POV
As I drove into the school compound, the conversation with both Pauline and Davis kept on replaying in my head in as I parked somewhere and waited for the kid. It seemed everyone else had a huge deal going on for them and all I had was a woman I was falling for all over again whose line had been unreachable for hours.
I knew I had a few questions that needed to be answered as I answered Pauline's call but even if we weren't exactly in the best of relationships, I still had to be there for my little sister. I couldn't help but wonder why everyone had secrets they had kept for way too late and were finding it difficult to finally voice out.
'I know you have questions, Jay. But I can't answer them right now, I will but not at the moment. Just do this for me, please" she had pleaded on the call. I wanted to help her but the whole situation felt like there was something else to it. Why hadn't she called her brother?
I needed to know why, 'Peter isn't exactly busy though, why didn't you call him?" I wasn't being wicked, I just wanted to know. Curiosity might have been what killed the cat but it's better to be aware than not to be.
There's this way mum used to sigh back when I was a kid and had kept on asking her questions, that was exactly how Pauline sighed before she answered me, 'He doesn't know about Clarence" Her son's name was Clarence, what was a nice name for a little boy, sophisticated just like his mother.
'Not many people know about him and I would like it to remain that way. Please, just do this for me" Her voice interrupted whatever trance I was about to venture on with my imagination. I wasn't exactly the perfect big brother but I was very reliable and I was also quite good at keeping secrets.
From Pauline, my mind ventured a little bit further to Davis and the reveal encounter. Coming back to Los Angeles for me, was mostly about the reunion and maybe snatching a woman and finally settling down but it seemed with the completion of the first goal, I had strayed completely away from the path that led to the second one and was on a totally different voyage.
The documents Davis had brought were exactly as he had said, they were going to help me understand what he was trying to tell me about the company and the happenings in it. The files had contained a journal which was a record book, sort of, that contained all the legal and illegal transactions that had been going on ever since mum had stepped down from her position, about five years ago.
It wasn't just a list of the transactions, written in the journal were names, dates, addresses, everything in regards to the company was documented in the record book. There wasn't any transaction that had been done in the last five years that wasn't recorded in the journal. Without even bothering to take a proper look, I had seen PETER HARLEY written in bold letters on the second page of the book.
Whatever Peter had done in mum's absence was going to take a lot of time, I didn't have, to uncover. I decided to shove it into the back of my mind and focus on other important things like helping my very distant stepsister pick up a child that didn't even know I existed. How hard could it possibly be?
If I had seen the kid before Pauline spoke to me, I would have questioned his parents. In the same way Stacey was the exact replica of her mother, Clarence was the exact replica of Pauline. Her jet black hair, her eyes, the little boy even went as far as having the same type of smile I occasionally saw on Pauline's face.
'Hi, my name is Jay and your mum sent me to pick you up" I smiled at the kid as I approached him. He looked away from the card he was fumbling and with eyes that looked like that of a doe caught in a trap, he whispered,
'Hi, Jay. My name is Clarence" his response came with a slight move backwards, he was being cautious and i was proud. Pauline might not have been the greatest sister in the world but at least she had taught her son necessary things to do to survive life without her.
Clarence kept on fumbling the car as I buckled him to the passenger seat and watched him wave to a familiar kid, familiar to me, I mean. The kid looked like Melissa's kid but I wasn't sure if it was him so I decided to just ignore it and pulled out of the driveway. I was almost at the gate of the school when I saw someone waving at the car again.
Pauline's kid stretched his hand out the window and waved back at the same not too familiar kid. I decided to take a good look this around, it would be beneficial to me if the kid turned out to be Melissa's kid. One way or the other I had to get through to Amber to find out what had happened to make everyone unreachable all of a sudden.
'I think they're calling out to you" I heard Clarence whisper as I drove slowly past the waving kid. It didn't make sense that a bunch of random kids would just be waving at me, well partially it did make sense, fame comes with way more attention than you can keep up with. It wouldn't hurt to give my little fans a little wave too to acknowledge their presence.
Maddie's voice was one voice I would be able to recognize, even in my sleep and as I leaned out the window of the car I had parked, I came in contact with people I'd been worried sick about. Amber's children.