The Downside to Perfection ✔

Chapter Two

HE COULDN'T PICK UP HIS life where he'd left off for multiple reasons, the first being that at the time he disappeared, he'd been studying at Stanford University and returning there after three years would be tough. He could probably go back if he wanted to, but going back to Stanford wouldn't give Jason the feeling of moving on from his past, but of pretending it didn't exist. And because Doctor Lorraine advised against going back to Stanford, the choice was easily made.

Instead of being at school, Jason was given the chance to work at his dad's company. It had always been the plan for him to follow in his dad's footsteps and now was the time to execute it. However, his dad was the second reason Jason couldn't move on; Malcolm felt the need to guide his son in everything in his life now and barely left him alone.

Which was how Jason had ended up here, in a Dynalogic office. His own Dynalogic office. Every day when he walked in, he saw his name next to the glass door, followed by the title Chief Financial Officer. The title and the office were things he had to get used to, just as he had to get used to people knowing his name. Before the kidnapping, only his friends had known his name, and most people had regarded him as "King's son", or even "prince" as he had been nicknamed.

And although Jason figured that it wouldn't take too long to get used to this new life, it had somehow taken him six months, and yet there had been no progress. Instead, he wandered in his father's kingdom, and he didn't feel like he belonged here.

Besides, there was another thing that stopped him from moving on from his past, and that third reason was personified in the girl before him. Her name was Stephanie. She'd introduced herself as a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle—something that didn't have to be repeated because she and Jason had met ten times already but she'd done anyway. She seemed very proud of this fact and she took her role as a representative of the media very seriously.

Stephanie spoke like she was being filmed for a live news broadcast. "It's been a few weeks since the wedding happened," she said. "How are you now?"

The wall he was forced to sit against was cold, Emily was whimpering. As much as the cuffs allowed him to, he rubbed her hands in an attempt to calm her down, but he could feel her whole body shaking from the cold, or perhaps the fear.

Her question had gotten him out of autopilot and startled him. The way Stephanie asked it, it didn't seem to be the hardest question to answer, but to him, it was.

"I'm all right," he said. It was easier to lie. "Emily is too. We're still friends, we talk regularly, and the wedding is behind us now."

"That's great," Stephanie said, and she smiled. Jason remembered that smile; this girl always smiled after every answer and question, yet those smiles never reached her eyes and were gone just as soon as they'd appeared. "And now that you mention the wedding, let's talk about that."

As if it wasn't what you came here for, Jason thought. She was only interested in the events of his life; the interview had never been about him and who he was.