Page 172 of Stand: Part One

But deep down, I already knew. My very state was proof enough. I could sense that my hair had already been washed and styled, the softness of it brushing underneath my jawline. My skin didn’t feel tight or caked in grime anymore, and I was wearing a new clean dress.

The signs of failure where all there, just as heavy and debilitating as the anguish radiating in my muscles and bones from the battle that had clearly been lost.

Attempting to regain some ground, I tried to train my focus on anything other than the tremors flowing through my body. Taking slow deep breaths, I wiped away my tears and slowly sat up to study the room I was in.

It was dark, and the bed beneath me was unfamiliar since it was so small. But the large presence in the corner was unmistakable, that black energy of his always palpable to my touch. And that was when I realized Matt’s plan had well and truly failed. Darren had survived. And I was not free.

Oh God. It was true.

I was not free.

“You look scared, my defiant little queen.”

A cold chill shot its way up my spine, the tremors worsening with every silent second that past. Darren stepped forward from the shadows, his imposing stature dominating the small space, reminding me why I was such an idiot for thinking he wouldn’t survive. Reminding me of how goddamn foolish I was.

Had this been years earlier, I might have allowed my terror to sink in at the mere sight of him, my flight instinct activated to flee immediately. But like Darren had already said, it was my fight that always kept me in place to take him on.

Quickly analyzing his features, I searched for the triumphant sneer in his lips that would confirm my worst fears, any semblance of a devious victory that he would taunt me with. But I found none of that. Instead, all I saw was cold, dark fury.

What did this mean? Had Jason not been found? Had he even been there at all? Had my deception been discovered?

No. No, it couldn’t be. I had to believe Jason hadn’t been involved. There was no other explanation for that disaster of an assault. None of the gunmen even knew his name. Something had to have gone wrong.

Slowing my breathing down, I took several large breaths in through my nose to center myself, and then launched my emotions from panic to absolute volcanic anger.

“What the hell did you do?” I shouted from the bed. “Why did you drug me? We were in the middle of an attack, and you left me completely helpless! Why?!”

It only took a single stern look from him to force myself to quiet down, the stormy look in his eyes warning me to lower my voice and remember my place. But I wanted answers. Needed them desperately. And then a solid, heavy step forward had me wincing.

“I drugged you because I had no other choice!” he roared, the deep pitch in his tone causing my body to flinch. Darren rarely raised his voice, noticeably because he just didn’t need to, the coldness in his calm tone terrifying enough. But this time was different. “You deliberately disobeyed me again after I had just told you to run for safety. Instead, you chose to stay and fight, and then had the audacity to argue with me while I was correcting your near-fatal mistake!”

I could feel my teeth grinding to dust as I bit back my retort. Now that I knew I was still stuck here, I had some serious damage control to manage.

“You wanted to leave me buried under a house that had parts of it on fire! What the hell kind of strategy is that?” I argued. “And then you left me completely defenseless! What if you had lost the fight? I’d be completely fucked right now!”

“Watch your fucking mouth, little girl,” Darren growled, causing my back to stiffen. “I already explained to you what I expected and why, and that it was not up for debate. Yet you chose to defy me anyway.”

“I tried to find the panic room!” I continued desperately. “There was so much going on. Bullets were flying everywhere, parts of house had been blown apart, noise in every direction. Sorry if my navigation was a little off while I tried to find it!”

In three long strides, Darren grabbed me by my neck and hauled me up to slam my back against the wall above the iron headboard, my bare feet still digging into the mattress. We were practically eye level now, his face inches from mine as fury ripped his features into something vicious and predatory.

His grip tightened harshly when I started to struggle, the blood flow to my brain heavily compromised. My hands instinctively clawed at his wrist, using him as an anchor to hold myself up, but his arm never moved.

“Keep lying to me, Jaden. It’s doing you a world of favors,” he threatened, his voice deep with malice.

“I did try,” I croaked out on a broken whisper.

“You fucking failed is what you did,” he rasped. “Imagine my disappointment when I found you trapped under a fucking wall with five rifles pointed at your head. If I hadn’t gotten there in time, you would be fucking dead right now.”

I scoffed as I tried to reposition my neck in his grip, barely gaining a centimeter. “First, I have a 100 percent success rate,” I grated, “and now I’m a failure. Just like that.”

I shuddered angrily at the truth, hating that he did have a point. Pinned under that wall frame, I was about to lose that fight had he not intervened when he did. I would have lost Camaro in the mix as well.

But what had followed next was an alarming display of swift and lethal brutality. The violence Darren was so skilled at left me frozen with near disbelief, accompanied by the horror of realizing he was still alive. He was so fast, so efficient, so goddamn deadly it terrified to me think Jason would ever last more than a few moments against him.

“That’s how failure works, you disobedient little brat,” he growled, squeezing tighter and making me wince. “Something you consistently do when it comes to following my orders. And now it’s costing you your safety and my fucking sanity!” His dark gaze bore down on me with an intensity I could feel, his energy searing my skin with the kind of wrath that made me want to shrink away instantly. “Apparently, I’ve gone too soft on you,” he murmured, his eyes scanning me with disapproval. “Clearly too lenient, too indulgent…and far too merciful. Evidently, you’re not nearly as afraid of me as you should be if you’re willing to defy me so easily. That ends today.”

With that, he released me and stepped away, letting me crumple to the bed like a rag doll while I struggled to regain my bearings. But now that he’d gotten his wrath out of his system—for now—I needed to know what he knew.