Page 210 of Stand: Part One

“Exactly, something you should have done to Jaden a long time ago,” he replied, his voice taking on a dark note.

I snarled at his growing arrogance. “I did, asshole. Don’t you remember? Her robotic devoted submission bored me. And clearly Katherine’s dull mousy subservience does the same for you, otherwise you wouldn’t feel the need to force your dick down every warm hole you see. I’m not so desperate since I happen to have a wife who actually satisfies me so that I don’t need to look elsewhere.”

Daniel scoffed. “And look at what that satisfaction is costing you,” he argued, gesturing his hands through the air at my leg. “She disrespects you at every turn, practically tries to kill you, and you let her do it because you’re clearly so damn pussy-whipped!”

If he didn’t watch his own disrespect, he was in danger of ending up with his own stab wound as well.

“Watch it, Daniel. In case you weren’t aware,” I nearly growled, “that was the first time she’s acted out since I brought her back from the country estate. There are bound to be slip-ups from time to time. Slip-ups I enjoy punishing her for.”

“Ok, ok, drama aside, congratufuckulations, Darren, that’s awesome news, but can we please get back to the real reason we’re here?” Scott interrupted. “I don’t have time to listen to the two of you bicker all day. Rip each other’s throats out later. Right now, we have some serious problems on our hands.”

“What the fuck happened now?” I snapped.

“The brothels in Vegas were attacked all at once. Everyone is dead, and the girls are all missing,” Scott replied.

I sighed as a massive headache began to pound against my temples. With my wound clean and dressed, I sat down in my chair and pinched the bridge of my nose. This was the last fucking thing I needed right now.

“Looks like Matt is finally upping his game,” I commented, closing my eyes as I rubbed my temples. “Is that all?”

Daniel scoffed. “Is that all?” he mocked. “Darren, those whores could go to the fucking cops! We need to find them.”

How was my brother still this much of an idiot?

“They’re not going to go to the cops, you fucking amateur, because those whores are either dead or being sold elsewhere,” I assured him. “Matt wants us dead, not behind bars. We wouldn’t be in there for very long, and he knows that.”

“What if it’s not Matt?” Daniel argued.

I lifted my gaze and stared him down. “It’s Matt, and you know it.”

“There’s another problem,” Scott added. “The turf is now swarming with feds. We can’t move on it.”

I sighed, unsurprised there would be an investigation, and it would be a long time before those properties could be operational again.

“I’ll reach out to my contact and have him pull some strings. Those buildings are owned through a chain of shells and registered to a dead man. We have nothing to worry about. We’ll wait out the fire, and if anyone tries to move on our turf in the meantime, we’ll orchestrate another gang war to keep them occupied.”

Daniel’s eyes widened. “That’s also a significant amount of money lost, Darren!” he chided angrily. “Especially for that region.”

“We can afford it,” I reminded him.

I watched as his face started to redden. “I don’t care if?—”

The doors to my office suddenly burst open, and the small frame of my wife barged in with an attitude like she was ready to set the place on fire. Camaro quickly trailed in after her, growling to herself.

“Mrs. Davis, stop!” Sloane called as she marched in behind her, but Jaden ignored her. “I’m sorry for her disruption, Mr. Davis,” she said as she tried to snatch Jaden’s arm, but she twisted out of her grasp easily.

“Back off, Sloane!” she barked, yanking her wrist away.

“Jaden, what the fuck are you doing?” I growled, my agitation with her defiance reaching an end. “Get upstairs. Now.”

“You wanna fuck up my world?” she snapped at me, eyes blazing with retribution. “Fine! Then watch me fuck up yours.” Her voice held an odd tone of confidence, her white teeth bared with an animalistic ferocity my cock was more than ready to tame again. “Recognize this?” She lifted a book she had been holding by her side, showing me the front cover of something I hadn’t thought about in years. I narrowed my eyes at the tattered paperback version of Lord of the Flies by William Golding. “Your favorite book, right?” Jaden continued. She then opened the paperback and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “You’ll never guess what I found in it.” Holding up the folded paper, she tilted her head and glared at me. “A goodbye letter from your mother.” Her words had me pausing, wondering if I had heard her correctly. A goodbye letter? “Here, Daniel,” she said, handing him the paper.

I rounded my desk as Daniel unfolded it and started to read. Standing shoulder to shoulder, I looked over the words that were allegedly written by our own mother before she’d been killed.

The room was silent as Daniel and I absorbed the message she’d written just before we’d lost her. But the more I read, the hotter the rage grew in my blood.

How in the hell was this even possible?

“What the fuck,” Daniel whispered under his breath.