I managed to getone more good elbow jab across his face, but it didn’t even fazehim. Instead, the growl that manifested itself accompanied by theintense glare of Darren’s eyes made me feel like my entire worldwas about to end. He didn’t even hold back this time. He straightup close-fist punched me right in the face and that was it. Lightsout.
~*~
I stood overJaden’s unconscious body, my chest heaving up and down with rage asI fought to control myself. I had lost it, completely fucking lostit, and silenced Jaden’s defiance in a way I never thought I would.I knew I would probably regret it in the morning, but I was toopissed to give a shit at the moment.
The buzz of thedrill silenced while the pleas and cries of the stupid fuckinggardener continued and I couldn’t stand the pathetic sound of itanymore. I grabbed one of the throwing knives I kept in my jacket,turned, and swiftly threw it right into the gardener’s jugular. Iwould have shot him, but the sound of the gun without a silencerwould have shattered everyone’s ears. His screams instantly turnedto gurgling as he began to choke on his own blood. I watched as thelight faded from his eyes, satisfaction filling my soul knowing themeddling piece of shit was dead.
“Clean him up,” Iordered my men as I reached down and liftedJaden.
I threw her overmy shoulder and headed out of the basement shed. I took her backinto the house and down to the black room where she would remainfor the rest of the day. Placing her in her cage, I made sure theside of her now bruising face laidonthe cold floor of the cage in hopes ofbringing down the swelling by the time she woke up. Locking thedoor of the cage, I stepped back to admire my beautiful girl as sheslept away her pain.
Now that I hadcalmed down, I felt like an asshole for hitting her like that. Ihad warned her so long ago that if she didn’t listen to me, I couldsnap and then I’d really hurt her. Today was exactly what I meant.I guess I couldn’t really blame her for attacking me like that; Ihad just told her I was going to kill her entire family. I probablywould have done the same thing. The problem was she should haveknown better. She should have known she wasn’t going to win againstme, yet she went after me anyway like the stubborn little girl shewas.
My poor littleJaden. So much fury in such a tiny body. She probably wouldn’tspeak to me after this for a while, which was probably a goodthing. Nothing good ever came out of her mouth anyway, unless itwas my dick.
I pulled out myphone and dialed Scott, whom I had left with my guards to helpclean up the gardener and ensure my orders for the miserable fuck’spathetic little family were carried out.
“Yeah,” heanswered on the first ring.
“Meet me in myoffice,” I said, heading for the stairs and hungup.
Time to startmaking preparations for Jaden’s family.
ChapterThirty-Four
Deal
I woke upshivering with a massive headache and a dull pain throbbing in mycheek. I opened my swollen eyelids to find myself surrounded bydarkness, but I knew where I was. I was back in mycage.
I curled intomyself, wrapping my arms around my legs as I began to shed thenecessary tears over today’s events. That was the most gruesome andtraumatic thing I had ever witnessed. I wasn’t completely sensitiveto blood and gore. After working at a personal injury law firm forso long, I had seen some pretty disgusting autopsy photos andinjuries, but nothing compared to this. I could still hear thegardener’s screams echoing in my ears. It was as if I was backthere, in the basement, watching him suffer because of me. I criedharder then, my body shaking with grief and guilt as I blamedmyself for the horror of that poor man’s final moments of life. Ididn’t even know how it ended.
In a way, I wasglad Darren had knocked me out. It meant I didn’t have to continuewatching the torture show that I would never forget. But now, I hada new horror to panic for. Darren had revealed he really wasplanning on killing my entire family. It had been a month since helast revealed the idea to me, and I thought maybe he had dropped itsince then, but apparently I was wrong. The thought of him forcingme to watch them die as I had watched the gardener had me panickingall over. Time was of the essence now. I had to warn them. I had toget a message out, but I didn’t know how.
I certainlycouldn’t use another person as my messenger. Darren would just killthem and ensure I had a front row seat to that show, too. I had tofigure something out. I had to get this goddamn collar off me! Ididn’t think I would be able to escape Darren entirely. Even if Isomehow destroyed the collar, I had a strong feeling Darren wouldstill find me. I couldn’t make this escape about me. I had to makeit about them, about my family. I just needed to warn them to run.If I could do that, if I could accomplish that one single goal,then that would be enough for me. I would take whatever punishmentDarren would rain down on me for running because it would be worthit a thousand times over if it meant my family would be safe fromhim.
But what if thatwasn’t enough? What if, even after I successfully escaped, Darrenstill found them? I couldn’t force my family into that kind oflife, of running all the time, if it could be avoided, especiallyif it meant Darren would eventually find them anyway and then makeme watch them die. I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t surviveit.
Maybe what Ireally had to do was just bite the literal bullet and accept mylife as it was. Maybe if I made a deal with the devil andsacrificed myself for them, he would spare them and I couldliveonknowing they would,too. Maybe that would finally be enough for me.
After what feltlike days later, Darren finally returned to me. I remained in thesame position, curled up on my side, my arms wrapped around myselfas I stared off into the distance. I refused to even acknowledgehim.
I heard himrelease a heavy sigh as he reached down and unlocked my cage,opening the door and waiting for me to exit. I stayed right where Iwas. Even though my body was sore and cramped from the small space,I’d rather stay in there for the rest of the day then spend asingle moment with Darren.
“Come on, Jaden.Let’s go,” he urged me, snapping his fingers. His voice was soft,but I could tell he was losing his patience. Still, Iremained.
Another sighescaped him as he rolled his eyes and bent down to the opposite endof the cage. He quickly lifted it up with one hand and I inevitablyslid out of the cage and onto the carpeted floor. Darren was quickto seize me before I could retreat to the safety of my cage andhauled me to my feet. I tried to jerk away from him, but his handsheld my upper arms, preventing me from moving.
“Stop it,” heordered softly, annoyance tagging along in hisvoice.
I halted myprotest, finding it pointless as I stared off blankly at his chest,my lips curling backindisgust. I felt his warm hand gently grip my chin and lift myface toward him, exposing my bruised cheek so he could get a betterlook. He stared at it for quite some time, and I noticed somethingin his eyes that I had not expected to see—regret. Did he actuallyfeel bad for hitting me like that? I’d never seenhimcare afterhe’dbackhanded me, but I guess actually punching me with a closed fistwas something entirely different to him.
I took this momentto examine his cheek as well, the one I had slammed my elbow in. Hehad a small purple and red markonthe bone, but it apparently didn’t botherhim as much as mine did.
Darren lightlytook my face in his hands and sprinkled tiny kisses against mybruised cheek. I felt my body tremble with anguish as he tried tocomfort me for what he had done. A single tear slid down my cheekover my bruise and Darren kissed it away, his thumbs tracing alongmy jaw, making it that much harder not to crumble before him. Itjust made me sick to my stomach.
“I’m so sorry,Jaden,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean for this tohappen.”
“Like this is theworst thing you’ve ever done to me,” I repliedbitterly.
