“I will doeverything I can to fill it,” he answered withconviction.
I slowly satupfromhis lap andlooked him right in the eye. He was never going to fill it. Hewould only make it bigger.
“And what do youplan to fill it with? More rules? Chains … blood,death?”
“Jaden …” hewarned.
“I’m not trying tofight,” I spoke quickly, my open palms up in the air in surrender.“But I do have a hard time following your logic. If I understoodwhere it came from, I wouldn’t have to question it as often as Ido.”
“Jaden,” hestarted, pressing his hand on his knee and leaning in on it, hiseyes completely focused on mine. “I grew up inaworldthat breedsmonsters. I was taught how to fight, fuck, and rule without fear orregrets, and I’ve never looked back. I know what I do is wrong, butI simplydonotcare. The world ismine for the taking, and I already own so much of it as it is.” Andthen his face got real serious. “I do not have time for weakness,Jaden. I will do whatever it takes to secure my interests andinvestments and should a problem ever dare present itself, I willeliminate it without prejudice.”
I just stared athim intently, trying to piece him together. His hand gentlycaressed my bruised face, his thumb tracing along my cheek as hiseyes softened their gaze at me.
“To put itbluntly, I am simply a man who takes what he wants, when he wants,because he can, princess. I can’t make it any plainer thanthat.”
And then his eyescould no longer hold my gaze. I looked away from him, suddenly sadand somewhat disappointed. But Darren didn’t let my mind wander faras he slowly leaned in for a deep and sensual kiss – the kind ofkiss that made me forget my own name.
Both of his largehands now held my face in place as his tongue dipped into my mouth,claiming everything it could touch. Before I realized it, he had mepinned underneath him with my hands against the side of his muscledrib cage. He kissed me with a gentle urgency, telling me that hewould miss me tomorrow when he left.
After dismissingthe guard, he fucked me under the stars in a way that I couldalmost describe as making love. He was soft and gentle, caressingme and kissing my entire body with love and adoration. It feltstrange to me, but I didn’t object, preferring a light rainstorm toa thunderstorm for once.
I didn’t arguewith him for the rest of the night, and when we were boththoroughly satisfied, he carried me up to his room where we fellasleep without a word. He held me close to his chest for the entirenight as if he was afraid to letgo;as if he was afraid I might slip away. Hehad no idea how right he was.
ChapterThirty-Seven
Prepare
The followingmorning, Darren and I had breakfast together after another longfucking session. He informed me that the Russians would arrivearound 1 p.m. to fix my nail and fill in the rest as well as trimmy hair. I tried hard not to smile at the sweet smell of victoryknowing my manipulation could still work.
I asked if I couldpick the color again, butthis time,he said no. Apparently, he didn’t care too much for the darkblood red color I chose last time. Darren also confirmed thatnothing in my schedule would change while he was gone. Breakfast,lunch, and dinner would still be at the same times, and I was tolisten to the guards unless I wanted to spend the remainder of hisabsence in my room. I was to be in bed by eleven, and he forbade meto use his gym until my hands healed. Too bad I had the slowesthealing skin ever. It was my stupid porcelainpigmentation.
But it didn’treally matter. After today, he probably wouldn’t allow me to doanything ever again.
When breakfast wasfinished, Darren stood, buttoning his suit jacket and reaching outfor my hand. I reluctantly took it, and he swiftly pulled me frommy chair to him. He looked down at me with a serious look in hiseyes, and it almost made me retreat into myself, but I refused toshow it. Darren then took my face in his hands and kissed me. Icould sense the anxiety in his kiss as this would be the first timehe would be gone for this amount of time. A lot could happen inthree days, and I was going to make sure of it.
When he releasedme, an intense glare emanated from his eyes.
“Please, behaveyourself, Jaden,” he practically pleaded. “Because if you tryanything while I’m gone, I swear to God …” He let it waver for asecond and continued on, shaking his head. “If you think I’m badnow, you have no idea how much worse it will get should you tryanything foolish. Do not disappoint me,” hefinished.
None of this was asurprise and my mind was already prepared for it. What it wasn’tprepared for was the loss of my family.
“I understand,” Ifinally answered.
“Good girl,” heapproved, placing his lips against my temple.
He finally kissedthe top of my head and pulled back. “I’ll see you in three days,”he said and then walked out the door.
And as soon as Iheard the door shut behind him, I released a gigantic breath ofrelief. Come nightfall, I would be the fuck out of here. I felt allmy anxiety begin to build inside of me, and I needed to get a holdof my nerves before they destroyed me. I had a couple of hoursbefore the Russians would be here, and since Darren had uplifted myban on going outside, I went for a run on the beach to clear myhead.
I ran until Icould hear my heartbeat drumming away in my ears. My blood wasrushing, and I felt myself begin to panic. What if I failed? Whatif I got caught before I managed to get my message out? I didn’teven want to think about how bad it could getthen.
To cool myselfoff, I literally just plopped myself in the water and floated overthe sand. I pulled myponytailout and let my hair flow through the water, my wet strandsnow floating around my face. The water felt perfect as it cooleddown my core temperature and relaxed myanxiety.
My body driftedalong the shore with the water. As it pushed me toward the sand andpulled me back into the waves, I closed my eyes to listen to thesound of the ocean and the birds above me. I was calm, peaceful,and ready for what had to be done. But after a few minutes of pureserenity, I was interrupted.
“Miss Jaden!” Iheard one the guards call out to me. “You are not wearing properswim attire! Please exit the water!”
Say what? Iactually had to be in a bathing suit to go swimming? Since the fuckwhen?
