I only met Darren’s eyes for a second before my handreleased the railing, and I was somewhat amused to see shock andpossibly concern over his face as he jerked forward to stop me.
My landing was not soft, but as soon as my feet hitthe hard marble flooring, I instantly bent my knees and rolled withmy remaining momentum in the direction of the door. I rolled up,grabbed the handle and yanked the door open, thankful as fuck thatit wasn’t locked. But as a noisy alarm blared in the background, Iquickly realized why the door remained unlocked as I sprinted pasttwo armed guards standing just outside the door.
“Hey, wait! Stop!” they shouted, but I was alreadyat a dead run by the time they realized what was going on.
My heart continued to race as the adrenaline pumpedthrough my veins. I ran around the fountain, pumping my legs asfast as I could when I started to hear a familiar loud, angry voicebehind me.
“Jaden!” Darren shouted as he raced after me. Now,the adrenaline was really rushing and I instantly kicked up mypace.
Other voices shouted around me, and I listened tothe sounds of dogs barking and heavy footsteps all around me,orders bellowed from all directions, the clicks of guns clatteringin my ears, all of it sending me into overdrive. Would they reallyshoot me?
“Don’t! Stand down! I’ve got her!” I heard Darrenshout. He must have been telling his guards to fall back. What thefuck for? What the hell was he doing?
No sense in sticking around to find out.
Shooting off from the circle drive, I took off intothe night, driving right into the shade of the trees, seekingshelter in the shadows. I had hoped to bide some time to put a plantogether. Maybe if I could make it to the gate, I could flag a cardown or something.
What the fuck kind of plan is that supposed tobe?
Just what the fuck was I doing? What the fuck did Ithink was going to happen? That I’d just walk out the front doorand everything would be allhunky-dory? This was by far the stupidest thing I hadever done. I was only originally running because I irrationallypanicked from a dream, and now I was running because I knew who waschasing me.
Darren was hot on my heels now. I could hear him inthe distance behind me, his loud footsteps heavy with anger anddetermination. Damn, he was pissed, and the aggression in his voicehad scared the shit out of me. I didn’t want to be me when he foundme, but that ship had sailed now. I was committed to my escape, andI had to follow through with it.
I knew he could hear me running through the woodslike an animal; there was no stealthy way around it,but at least,the darkness of the trees wouldshadow me from his sight.Atleast,until he got close enough.
And then it suddenly occurred to me. Why hadn’t hejust activated my cuffs? He could have stopped me in my tracks andfound me aseasily ashe hadbefore,yet he continued to pursueme freely. He could even just track my signal if he wanted to, notmuch work involved here. What the fuck was he doing?
He’s hunting you down, girl. Run …
Fear laced through my veins as I came to realizethat was exactly what he was doing. He was enjoying the chase,probably hoped all along I would give him this opportunity, but itonly made me kick up my pace. I could hear Darren getting closer ashe raced after me; luckily his bigger body couldn’t maneuverthrough the woods like my smaller frame could. I weaved in and outof the branches, ducking when I needed to while he just bulldozedthrough all of it. And yet, it didn’t even slow him down. Shit, hewas fast.
But then I saw the gate in the distance, thegold-platedembellishmentsshiningin the moonlight like thebeacon of hope I needed. A fresh spike of adrenaline renewed me,especially since I saw headlights coming from my far right in thedistance. Here was my chance!
Darting in and out of the trees, I tried to confuseDarren, but the noise of my steps gave me away. My hope was turningto panic as I felt him on my heels now. He was so close that Iswore I could feel his breath on my neck, which only made my eyestear up from my impending failure and the anticipation of hisbrutality. He was going to catch me. I could feel it.
I sensed his arm reaching out for me, but as Iturned to dodge his attempt, he maneuvered just as quickly andkicked up his pace. Darren’s strong arm finally snaked around mywaist like the boa constrictor I had just dreamed about and liftedme right off my feet.
“Gotcha,” he breathed and I screamed inaggravation.
Not even missing a beat, I shoved my elbow back intohisfaceand clocked him right inthe corner of his mouth. His teeth cut into my elbow, but it wasworth the grunt he madefromthecontact. Even my legs refused defeat as they kicked at his lowerbody with everything they had, but it didn’t seem to matter. Darrenhad caught me. Fuck.
I fought against his hold, but his arms were likesteel bars that continued to tighten around my body, and I couldsee myself slipping back into the nightmare I had just tried to runfrom.
“Stop! Get the fuck off me, you son of a bitch!” Iscreamed at him, but it all went unnoticed.
Once Darren was done dragging my fighting body outof the woods like some errant toddler, he slammed me down on theground hard and pressed his body on top of mine.
“Just where the fuck do you think you’re going,huh?” he spat, pissed off but still amused at my stupid attempt.Fuck, he wasn’t even breathing heavy, and here I was trying to suckdown as much oxygen as I could. Damn, how fit was this guy?
“Getting the fuck away from you!” I shouted, tryingto catch my breath.
“You and I both know that’s never going to happen.Your life is with me now, Jaden, accept it and move on.”
“Like hell it is! One way or another, Iamgetting the fuck out of here!”
“Yeah? And just how the fuck are you going toaccomplish that, huh? I can trackyourevery move, Jaden, and I didn’t even need to use myphone for that. An electric current awaits your perimeter breaches,and even if you somehow managed to find some sort of success, whereare you going to go? You don’t even know where the fuck youare.”
“I’m a smart girl. I’ll figure it out,” I spat.
