Page 114 of Survival

She would never be happy with me as long asshe had something else to hold on to. I could see that she wastrying to make me happy, but it was for her own self-interests andbenefits. She knew what she needed to do to make things easier forherself, but the simple factwas shehatedit. Jaden hated bowing down to me, but it wassomething she was going to have to get used to, and eventually, shewould. She’d only been with me barely a short couple of months, butalready there was so much improvement and so much potential.

I looked down at Jaden, feeling her softskin beneath my fingertips. She flinched a little in her sleep whenmy hand grazed down her back, still sore from my belt yesterday. Icouldn’t be surprised that she had climbed the tree to retrieve herkite; she’d probably done it all the time before me because she wasfearless—another trait I loved about her. It wasn’t as if I didn’tthink she was capable or coordinated enough to climb a damn tree,but the simple truth was it was still dangerous, and anything thatthreatened her safety had me raging inside.

Daniel had fallen out of one of those treesa longtime ago when we were youngboys. He’d broken his arm then and our father had been furious,just as I was now. I had reprimanded the guards watching her andmade sure they knew Jaden was never to climb another fucking treeagain.

The sun started to shine through the windowsand the light poured over Jaden’s hair, igniting the beautiful redsand coppers that reminded me of fire. The fire I loved so much.

Eventually and reluctantly, I rolled out ofbed, careful not to disturb her, and headed downstairs for myworkout. After a good run andwarm-up, I sparred with Scott for a while in theoctagon; he and I were too equallymatched for one of us to actually surrender. We would eventuallyjust tire each other out.

Two hours later, I went back upstairs tofind Jaden still sleeping in my bed. I took a quick shower and gotdressed, Jaden now finally waking up by the time I was done. Shestretched her naked body as I fastened my black chrome Rolex aroundmy wrist, her slight wincing hard to ignore.

“Good morning,” I said to her as I went toput on my jacket.

“Morning,” she said quietly, looking away. Ihated when I couldn’t see her eyes.

And then my phone started to ring. I pulledit from my pants pocket and answered, walking away toward my closetand out of Jaden’s earshot. I noticed she had been trying to listenin on some of my conversations lately. She thought she was sneaky,but she couldn’t hide much from me.

“Yeah?” I saidinto the phone.

“Darren,it’sHagen.We’ve got a bit of a situation you’re going to want to handlepersonally. We’re on our way over to you now.”

I pinched thebridge of my nose. It was too early for this shitalready.

“What’s thesituation?” I asked.

“It’s about yourgirl.”

My head perked up.Well, now he had my attention.

“What’s yourETA?”

“Fiveminutes.”

I hung up thephone and headed out into my room. Jaden was still sitting on thebed, staring out the window.

“Go get dressed.”I pointed at her as I headed for the door.

She gave me astrange look but didn’t argue as I left the room, closing the doorbehind me. I didn’t have time to deal with her questions; ifsomething was up concerning her, then I needed to know rightfucking now. I gathered Scott and together,heand I and two other guards made our wayout to the front of the house. Hagen was just pulling up in hissheriff’s vehicle.

He stepped out,nodding in my direction as he began to head toward me while his menpulled a man from the backseat. They dragged him over to where westood and dropped him to his knees in front of me. I looked down atthe man and instantly recognized him. He was one of the gardenersI’d hired to care for the grounds of my estate. The fuck was thisshit?

“What the fuck isthis?” I waved at the man as I looked at Hagen.

“Well, you see,this gentleman right here claims you’ve got a girl locked up inyour house who’s been missing for months. Says you abuse her andwon’t let her leave,” Hagen said casually.

If I hadn’t beenso pissedoff,I wouldhave started laughing.

“Is that so?” Isaid, looking down at the man who now cowered in fear. “And whatevidence does he have to support this wildclaim?”

“Says he’s seenher several times on the news and recognized her. Says he knows shedoesn’t want to be here and that she’s in trouble. He wanted tohelp her.”

I felt myshoulders bulge with pure rage as I looked down at the puny fuckwho actually attempted to have Jaden taken away from me. And what’smore, she probably played a part in this. She probably fuckingbegged him to.

“Please,señor,” theman began to plead in a heavy Spanish accent while his handsremained cuffed behind his back. “Please, it’s misunderstanding.I-I’m sorry. Please, I havefamily.”

I just glared athim, unconsciously baring my teeth while I thought about rippinghis throat out, but I had to confirm somethingfirst.

“Get Jaden, now,”I told Eric, one of my guards, and returned my attention to Hagen.“Has this fucker told anyone else about this?” I askedHagen.