Page 64 of Spark

How long would it take before Darren’s enemies made a move against him? Targeting me in an attack to get to him? It obviously wasn’t unheard of. That war was over ten years ago. People change. They grow up to have big egos thinking they can rule the world and everyone in it, and Darren was no exception. Eventually, some little monster was going to take the throne of his father and stir up a whole bunch of shit when they tried to stake their claim in the underground. Darren wouldn’t stay young forever, and the task of staying at the top of the food chain would eventually weaken him. This was such a stupid live fast, die young life. Did anyone ever live long enough to grow old in this business?

I needed to get more info on Darren’s family life, especially his childhood—what his mother and father were like. I wondered if maybe his mother had left a journal behind somewhere, anything to give me an idea of the past. Maybe that was my key to unlocking my future.

Through my meditation, I kept hearing something shifting in the bushes. I winked an eye open toward the sound to find a bush about ten feet away from me jerking oddly every few seconds. That was when I caught the soft orange color rummaging in the bush. I narrowed my focus on color until a small fox carrying a dead rabbit in its mouth finally emerged. Fascinated, I’d never seen a fox in the wild before. It was orange outside its body, but mostly gray bushy fur everywhere else. It looked at me for a few seconds before it finally took off at the corner of the clearing and disappeared into the trees.

I hadn’t been stupid enough today, so I got up, intending to follow it, but lost it just as quickly as I saw it. Wandering the woods for a while, I studied the layout of the woods, trying to leave the memory of the estate behind. Eventually, I caught the sound of yapping and yelping off in the distance. Following the sound, I finally came across the source and immediately ducked behind a tree. Gently turning, I quietly peered around the tree to find a den of gray foxes eating the remains of the dead rabbit I had seen earlier. There were four of them, three kits and what was probably the mother. Two of the kits were fighting over the bones of the rabbit while the third chewed on a small hunk of meat that hung from its teeth. The mother laid on her side, her eyes scanning the area around them in high alert.

The kits were adorable; though they weren’t very small, they were still fuzzy, gray poofy balls with claws and teeth. They were fascinating to watch, finding I could lean against the tree for hours without moving just to focus on something other than what was waiting for me back at the estate. But it was getting cold, and the sun was itching for a setting. My stomach rumbled in protest of not being fed, and I decided it was probably time to head back and face the music.

Trudging back to the house, I prepared my apology, ready to accept whatever came my way without complaint with the assurance it wouldn’t happen again, but I could never guarantee that. Fucking hell, this was going to suck.

23

Waiting

* * *

I was getting sick and tired of the constant ticking of my dark chrome Rolex, reminding me that Jaden still wasn’t back yet. It’d been nearly three hours, and I was ready to start pulling my fucking hair out. I made the decision to let her go, to let her run from the session so she could have a moment to collect herself and come back in one piece. Apparently, that took three fucking hours.

I’d had my dinner at the kitchen island while I stood and watched out the window, waiting for Jaden to emerge. I was furious, anxious, and worried. For all I knew, she could be lost with a broken leg somewhere and was in dire need of help, but that was a stupid assumption. Jaden was not a helpless little girl, yet for some reason, I kept treating her like one.

I’d modified her cuffs to measure her heart rate, body temperature, exercising habits, and even her sleep patterns. After a while, her pulse had slowed to a deep calm, jumped again, and then relaxed again. I wanted to know what the fuck she was doing out there, but I fought with myself to give her some privacy. Clive and Owen wanted to argue and go after her, but angering myself even more, I denied them. Sid told me this might happen, that she would run like this, even though she knew not to. In a way, I’d expected it, too, though I was shocked to hear her bring up my mother.

She’d compared herself to her more than once, but I didn’t want her thinking she’d share the same fate as her. It would never happen. I would burn the world first.

What pissed me off more was the fact that she thought she’d been testing me before. I’d known what she was doing the entire fucking time. It’d be a cold day in hell if ever she were a step ahead of me. I knew her too well, knew how the wheels in her cute little head turned. She’d become too compliant to the point of annoyance, and I knew she was doing it to make a point. I missed the fire, the tension, the way she hated me with so much passion I could practically feel it claw at my skin when I fucked her. Now, she was dull, unemotional, and irritatingly robotic. And I knew it was my fault.

I liked control too much, needed it too much. Control was safe, reliable, and brought with it every advantage possible. If I wasn’t in control, then someone else was, and I’d be damned before I let that happen. In my world, you couldn’t afford to look weak because the moment the sharks smelled blood in the water, there would be nothing left but a throne to claim, and I’d already claimed so many as it was.

Jaden had yet to understand why I couldn’t yield. Eventually, she would. When the darkness of my world revealed itself to her, she would. She would also learn that playing games with me was never a smart idea, especially if she was trying to undermine me.

At long last, I caught sight of the magnificent red shine of Jaden’s hair as she walked out of the woods and toward the house, seeming calm and collected. Unharmed. I couldn’t help but release a small breath of relief, but it was short lived as the anger returned to replace it.

“Sir!” Clive yelled from the living room as he came to my side.

“I see her,” I said, my narrowed gaze never leaving her small form as she trudged toward the house.

Following her every move, I stormed my way toward the door right as she walked in. She stopped abruptly when I cornered her, and actually flinched like I was going to hit her. She had good reason to. I wanted to smack some sense into her, but it angered me for some reason that her first instinct was to flinch, rather than raise her hands in defense as she normally would… because she was going to let me hit her.

Fear washed over her beautiful face as her amber eyes landed on me. I knew I was probably unconsciously glaring at her, but I was pissed and wanted an explanation.

“Well?” I said, lifting an eyebrow and crossing my arms over my chest.

Jaden folded her lips and gulped back her trepidation before she finally spoke, her eyes raised with determination and responsibility.

“I’m sorry for running. I didn’t mean to take off like that. I just sort of… panicked. I just needed a moment to collect myself before I did something… worse,” she said confidently.

“You were out there for three hours, princess. You missed your dinner, and you worried the shit out of me,” I said sternly. I sounded like an angry parent, chastising their child.

“I know. I’m sorry. I would have been back sooner, but I don’t exactly have a way of telling time out there.”

“What did you even do out there?”

“Meditated mostly,” she murmured with a shrug. “Wandered for a while until I calmed down. I know I messed up, and…” She sucked in a breath and eased out her exhale before meeting me head-on. “I’m prepared to accept whatever punishment I deserve for my behavior. I won’t complain, but you should at least know it was more out of panic and frustration than it was defiance,” she stated.

I sighed. I should have known that therapy session with Sid was going to lead to trouble. Forcing Jaden to talk about her emotional turmoil was never going to work, but neither was allowing her to bottle up everything. She needed an outlet—one that didn’t require aggression, but, instead, was something that made her smile. But I was too fucking busy to devote that kind of attention to her. I’d have to plan something for her, but I had no fucking clue what.

Pulling her into my chest, I wrapped my arms around her and held her close, inhaling her in and allowing my own raging heart to relent. I felt Jaden’s small hands slowly reach around and place them at my back, permitting herself to melt into me. I could feel her body begin to tremble slightly. She was scared—afraid of how I’d punish her for running off like she did. In a way, it was a good start. She was coming to fear the consequences of her actions, and that was the way it should be. But first, I needed confirmation of something more important.

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