“Ms. Jaden,” Iheard a serious voice say behind me and immediately turned to theguard now standing in the doorway.
“Yes?” I said,addressing him. It was the same guy who had pulled me out of thehouse the other day. The same guy who helpedtorturethegardener.
“Looking forsomething?” he asked me expectedly.
Crap,they were on to me.
“Oh, I was justlooking for a sewing kit or maybe some fabric glue,” I saidinnocently, shrugging my shoulders. “There’s a tear in my dressthat I’d like to fix.”
I was sure I couldfind a tear in this flimsy material somewhere.
The guard aimedhis eyes at me with a cautious glare.
“Mr. Davis willbuy you a new dress. There is no need to repairit.”
I gave a huff of alaugh, trying to play it off. “Oh, there’s no need for a new dress.It’s just a little tear. I can easily fix itmyself.”
“Miss,” the guardpressed with more warning in his voice. “Mr. Davis will buy you anew dress. Per his orders, please find something else to do withyour time. Otherwise, you will have to spend the remainder of theday in your room until he returns.” With that, the guard left anddisappeared from my sight.
Goddamn, Darren.Now, I had tipped him off. Fuck.
I gave up mypursuit and trudged my way back to my room. What the fuck was Igoing to do now? I had to find something to hold those solesinplace. Otherwise, theywould fall out and I’d be fucked and probably dead. Fuck, what elsecould I do? What resources did I have access to? My hands balledinto fists as I paced my room, my fake-ass nails digging into myskin until the pain rearranged my focus. I opened my hands andlooked down at my nails and a smalllightbulbin my headturned on.
I might not haveaccess to any tape or glue, but maybe some nail glue…
I immediately wentand changed into some workout clothes and headed down to the gym. Ithen proceeded to beat the ever-living piss out of the punchingbags, no gloves required. I sent the bag flying all over the placeas I kicked and punched with unwrapped hands. Darren still had yetto provide me with a proper pair of gloves so this was what he got.I threw several palm-heel strikes at the bag until my knuckles toreand bled, and even then, I didn’t stop, too pissed off and toodetermined to break the one thing that might actually save myfamily. I threw in a few elbows here and there not to make it seemso obvious I was actually trying to break anail.
And then I finallyfelt the snap. It hurt like a bitch when one broke, but it had tobe done. I looked down at my left hand and smiled at the bustednail. Blood and bruises covered my knuckles, but it was aspectacular kind of pain. A worthy pain that resulted in success. Ithen completed my workout with a five-mile run on the treadmill andheaded back upstairs for a long, hot shower.
I redid my hairand makeup, caking on the concealer again to hidemybruise, and made suremy hair parted the same way. I left my busted nail sharp andcracked to make sure Darrennoticed;though I had a feeling the sight of myknuckles would draw his attention first. I’d cleaned all the bloodoff, disinfected it with rubbing alcohol, and applied anantiseptic. He’d probably be furious since obviously he was theonly one allowed to put bruises on me but fuck him. Maybe nexttime, he should provide me with the proper hand protection I askedfor and then we wouldn’t have this problem.
At 5:27 p.m., Imade my way downstairs, sat at the dinner table, and waited forDarren to come home. I was all types of pissed off and anxious as Isat there waiting for him like the good little dog I was. And thenfinally at 5:32 p.m. the master of my universe walked through thedoor talking on his cell phone. His voice was short and clippedwith the person on the other end, making it hard to tell if he wasactually angry or if that was just his serious business voice. I’dheard it often and knew that just because he was serious didn’tnecessarily mean he was mad. It just meant he was dangerouslyclose.
He ended hisconversation and sat down, releasing an exasperated sigh andquickly changed his demeanor. He looked at me with absoluteadoration. It was annoying as fuck.
“And how’s myprincess?” he said to me with a smirk.
I wanted to tellhim to eat shit and die, but we were already going to fight. Mightas well ease into it.
“Tired,” I saidlightly as I shrugged, keeping my hands deliberately in my lap forthe time being.
“Did you trytaking a nap?” he asked me as he stood up and poured himself ashort glass of bourbon from the open bar on the wall beside thetable.
“No,” I said.“It’s hard to sleep when all I get arenightmares.”
Darren gave me aknowing look.
“They will pass,Jaden. Eventually, you will become desensitized to such things andthey won’t bother you anymore.”
“What do you meanI’ll become desensitized? Do you plan to have me sit through moreof those torture sessions?”
Darren took a sipof his bourbon as he casually leaned back against the bar, one handgripping the edge of the solid marble top.
“Yes,” he saidsimply, lowering his glass to look at me.
“Why?” I asked,saddened and shocked all at the same time.
“I’ve recentlyrealized it will benefit the both of us,” hereplied.
