Page 30 of Stand: Part One

I’d had it for weeks, but I knew if I saw what had occurred right under my nose, I didn’t know what condition I would leave Jaden in once I was done punishing her. I thought it would be better to wait until she was fully recovered before I unleashed that kind of unbridled wrath on her.

But evidently, Scott was too impatient for that.

I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose, dreading the answer.

“Tell me it’s not her.”

Grumbling, Scott slid the tablet over, pausing the security footage of a small blonde woman standing at the counter of a pawn shop. The hood of her jacket covered most of her head, but from this angle, it was impossible for her to hide not only her pretty face, but the sparkle of the little blue diamonds collaring her neck.

I closed my eyes as a blinding fury seeped through my veins like an acidic poison, disturbing every cell in my body. Without thinking, I grabbed the arm of the chair closest to me and whipped it across the room, finding only a modicum of satisfaction as it splintered to pieces on the floor.

“FUCK!”

Planting my hands on my hips, I paced the room, trying my absolute damnedest to keep myself from going upstairs and throttling Jaden until her blood soaked through the fucking sheets. That conniving little…

“This doesn’t necessarily mean Jaden had a hand in it,” Scott reminded me.

I lifted my head and glared at him. We both knew better than that.

“She still had the fucking collar on,” I grumbled, throwing my hand up as I continued to pace. “So somehow she was able to block the tracking signal.”

“And it’s likely been removed by now,” Scott added. “This was months ago.”

I stopped pacing and turned to look out the window, thinking back to the day Kayla and Jaden were kidnapped.

“Tony had a blocking device on him. She must have gotten ahold of it somehow.”

“So either she stole it from Tony, or she stole it from the men Jaden claimed had killed her.”

Or Jaden helped her steal it.

“If they planned to relocate Kayla, they would need the blocker with them. But why bother? If they weren’t planning on returning her, why not just remove the damn collar? It was their fucking design, for fuck’s sake. It shouldn’t have been hard.”

My thoughts were laced with suspicion. Kayla didn’t have the training. I couldn’t see her successfully escaping a fucking playpen, let alone the clutches of another captor.

“Maybe she escaped before they could take it off,” Scott answered.

I frowned. “The fact that she would be able to escape at all is already hard to believe. But successfully escaping with the blocker? Even less likely.”

“But not impossible.”

No, not impossible.

Jaden had destroyed that entire building, an unlikely accident on her part. Which conveniently destroyed any security footage from inside or out.

“Jaden could have just as easily found Tony, taken the blocker, and then handed it and her ring over to Kayla. Then destroyed the building and any evidence of her involvement along with it.”

That was far more believable than Kayla escaping on her own.

“But why risk the exposure by giving her the ring?” Scott asked. “It couldn’t have been useful in Kayla’s escape.”

“No, but the money Kayla could get for the ring would help her evade recapture and disappear forever.”

Scott sighed as he sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I hate to say it, but that sounds like something Jaden would do,” he said, his tone almost apologetic. “But if she did help Kayla, you’ve got to take the win that she didn’t go with her when she had the chance.”

That was the only redeeming lining keeping me from breaking more bones in her body. Even if she had helped Kayla, she still chose to stay. At least I hoped that was the circumstance. The opportunity of escape might not have been suitable for two people at the time.