by J Marie
Darren stood and examined my bowl.
“Holy shit, you actually finished something?” he said amused.
“They’ll write about it in history books.” I yawned as I laid myself down onto the pillows.
His smile was genuine when he bent down and placed his hand against my cheek. It was warm and took up the entire right side of my face. I stared up at him with big doe eyes, losing myself in the deep blue of his own. Somehow, his gaze had grown softer, and suddenly, I didn’t feel so scared. He then broke the connection and kissed my forehead.
“Go to sleep, princess. I’ll see you in the morning … with a whole new attitude,” he said, the final part a warning.
I nodded slightly before sinking further into my pillows and burying myself under the sheets. I heard Darren collect my tray and walk out of the room, gently shutting the door behind him. I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was only 8:30 p.m. A little early for me to go to bed, but I was exhausted and had had enough of the day already. I closed my eyes and burrowed deep into the bed for some quiet solitude.
Chapter Twelve
Negotiate
Smack … smack, smack … SMACK. Sounds. Wooden sounds clashing against each other. Strikes—bo strikes. Pain. Screaming. Grunting. Blood. And then Darren’s stormy gaze as he took my body from me. Over and over again.
I jolted from my bed, my breath coming in and out in heavy gusts, sweat covering my face and mixing with my hair while my hands flew out in front of me at the ready. Adrenaline and fear spiked through my veins as I tried to calm my heartbeat from the throes of the nightmare. I looked around the room, frantically searching for intruders. Thankfully, I found none, only noticing the soft light that peered through the windows. It must still be early morning. Glancing over at the clock, my thoughts were correct as it read 7:32 in the morning.
I took a single deep breath and sat up, resting my elbows on my raised knees, and placed my head in my hands. I needed to calm down. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe slowly through my nose, but all I could see was the fight I had with Darren in his training room—the fight that I lost. All I could hear were the sounds of our bos crashing against each other; the sound echoed in my ears, reminding me of my failure. I should have won that fight, should have been able to end him right then and there, but he was just too fucking good. He was better than I was.
What the fuck were the odds of being bought by someone who trained harder than I did? Who was obviously a better fighter than I was? I really hit the motherfucking jackpot of Murphy’s Law.
I furiously tossed the sheets off my naked body, threw on a white silk robe, and walked out onto my balcony, deciding on some fresh air to clear my head. I stepped out onto the cement in my bare feet, the cold stone waking me with every step. The sun was beginning to rise, and it was already painting the sky with beautiful pale pinks, purples, and yellows. Of all the rooms in the house, I really did love the view from my room. I would have a perfect show of the sunset and sunrise every day … but the thought of that only made my heart grow heavy.
I sat down on the cushioned bench and continued to gaze out at the water. The birds were chirping away to their morning song while the seagulls sang their own tune above the water. It was peaceful, serene … and a total fucking lie. This was not a place of tranquility. This was a prison—my prison—and nothing more. With Darren as my warden, I didn’t know exactly how my future would play out here, but now that I knew what he expected of me, I could learn to evolve.
I thought about the family he wanted to have with me. The fact he wanted me as his wife had me all sorts of confused, but I quickly realized it didn’t matter what Darren thought or wanted because none of that was happening. This situation was only temporary.
Eventually, I would find a way out. I was determined and fierce, but the one thing I needed to learn most was patience. I wasn’t going to escape him overnight. I probably wasn’t going to escape him this month … or even this year. Escape might not even be a one-time thing; it might come down to a few attempts here and there before I finally figured it out. But I feared Darren’s retribution. I was afraid of what he might do to my family. If I wanted my compliance, then that was certainly how I would do it. Hell, that was how he’d gotten to me back at the warehouse with Kayla, but she wasn’t a part of the equation anymore. My family was my Kryptonite now, and Darren had already threatened one of the most important members of that family. I had so much to lose, and he only had everything to gain.
I would have to remove my family from the equation. Thankfully, my family was small so hiding them might not be terribly difficult. I just didn’t know how in the hell I’d be able to reach them without giving away their location. If I reached out to Jason, I was afraid he wouldn’t listen to me and just try to find me instead. My mother would be too hysterical to contemplate anything I said, and Jason would be pissed if I called Jordan over him. I would have to figure something out eventually, but I had plenty of time to plot and prepare.
Until then, I needed to focus on gaining Darren’s trust. I could give it to him that he had won only one of the many battles ahead of us and I was fine with that. As long as he didn’t win the war, I would be okay. I could survive him. I would survive him.
When the sun had risen fully, I decided it was probably best to get ready for breakfast with Darren. I took a quick shower, did my hair and makeup, and selected a burgundy sundress and black flats for today’s slave uniform. I really hated wearing dresses, especially with only a barely-there thong to cover my ass. I felt so vulnerable and exposed. With my manicured nails and attire, it almost seemed like my wardrobe was designed to discourage me from fighting, but Darren should know better than that. It didn’t matter if I was wearing six-inch stilettos or if I was bare-ass naked. I would fight no matter what I was or wasn’t wearing. I could kick anyone’s ass in a dress; I just preferred to do it in pants.
Around 8:55 a.m., I made my way down to the dining room and found Darren sitting at the head of the table, his phone in hand.
“There you are.” He smiled at me. He was dressed in a raspberry red dress shirt and black tie, his black jacket hanging off the back of his chair with his hair gelled into sleek perfection. Clean-shaven and with the scent of a god. Fucking A, he was gorgeous, and it only made me hate him more.
“Good morning,” I said blankly and sat down at his right.
“Good morning,” he said politely, his eyes glancing over my body as I sat down.
I began to make myself a cup of tea from the set up on the table when he spoke again.
“Enjoy the sunrise this morning?”
I could feel his eyes on me as I paused for only a second. He wanted me to know he was watching me, as if I was surprised.
“I did,” I said, pausing to take a sip of my tea. “Did you?”
“Oh, I was watching something far more beautiful.” He smirked.
Creeper …
“Well, I hope you enjoyed the view,” I replied.
“Oh, I did. Did you not sleep well last night?” he asked.
“Not really … but I’m sure you already knew that, as well,” I said almost sweetly. I stared at him for his reaction. Perfect poker face.
“I’m sorry to hear you’re not sleeping well. Perhaps these will help,” he said, nudging a small silver container toward me that I hadn’t noticed earlier.
“What’s this?” I asked, taking the small container and twisting it open. Inside were a bunch of large, white oval-shaped pills. I looked at him incredulously.
“They’re multivitamins,” Darren said now returning his gaze to his phone. “I reviewed the results of your blood tests from the warehouse the other night and noticed you were deficient in vitamins A, B-12, and calcium. Those should correct the deficiency.” He nodded over at the container.
“Probably thanks to the lovely treatment I endured in that warehouse,” I sneered.
I didn’t know why I said that or why I was starting shit so early, but I still d
idn’t know how to use my mouth filter yet.
“Probably,” he said plainly, not taking his eyes off his phone.
Wow, what an admission. I examined the pills carefully, more suspicion clouding my mind.
“How do I know these are vitamins and not some line of bullshit?” I glared at him. Like I could trust his ass with medication for me.
The glare he returned to me was far more intense and scarier than I thought mine could ever be, and I suddenly felt it softening.
“I’m going to give you three seconds to check your attitude before you regret it. I may be a lot of things, Jaden, but a liar is not one of them.”
I continued to stare at him for a moment, my hands balling in to fists before I turned my eyes to the wall in front of me.
“Now, take your goddamn vitamins before I shove them down your throat,” he threatened and turned his attention back to his phone.
I turned my eyes to the glass of water that was sitting next to my plate. He did say he would always keep his word and that he would never lie to me. If they were just vitamins, then it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe they would benefit me in the end if I really did have some deficiencies. I took a single pill, popped it in my mouth, and washed it down with a sip of water.
“Good girl,” Darren said, his eyes still on his phone.
Fuck you.
I made myself a cup of tea and sipped on it until David came out with my breakfast. He placed a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of sliced fruit in front of me and turned back toward the kitchen without a word. I caught Darren’s eyes shift in my peripherals checking to see if I looked at David, but I kept my eyes on my plate.
I pushed the oatmeal around with my giant spoon, not really hungry as per usual. Darren sipped on his coffee quietly, but I could feel his energy start to spike when I continued not to eat. Finally, I released a small breath from my nose and took a bite of the oatmeal. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Darren relax a little. It was strange knowing I could affect him in certain ways. That would be something to experiment with.
When I was halfway through my breakfast, Darren finally stood.
“I’ll see you in a couple of hours,” he said, putting on his suit jacket.
“Do I have to stay in my room until you come back?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the table.
“Every day until I say otherwise,” he replied, buttoning his jacket.
“How am I supposed to work out then?” I asked, turning my gaze up to him. I was jonesing for a heavy bag and some gloves.
“I think you’ll manage until I figure out a proper routine for you.”
“Proper routine? I don’t need a routine. I can formulate my own daily activities.”
“Are you trying to argue with me again?” he almost growled.
Okay, yeah, I was pushing him a little bit, but it was hard to back down when he was trying to exert control.
“No, Darren, I’m not trying to argue, merely trying to negotiate.”
“There are no negotiations. When I leave the house, you will remain in your room until I feel I can trust you to roam around the house. That’s final,” he said and turned to leave.
“But what am I supposed to do all day?” I said, standing from my chair now.
God, did I sound like a whiny ass child or what?
Darren stopped in his tracks and turned to look at me, an intense glare emanating from his eyes. I just had to keep pushing. Why the fuck would he care if I was bored all day?
He practically stormed back toward me, and my hands came up to my chest in my defense, but he just grabbed my face with both hands and kissed me hard. By the time he was done, I was breathless and confused.
“I don’t care what you do, as long as you follow my rules and do what you’re told. Your freedoms in this house are privileges you must earn. Remember that, Jaden, and stop arguing,” he said, kissed me one final time and then walked out the door.
I stood there with my hands balled into fists until my nails bit into my palms and my knuckles turned white. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down enough to return to my seat and finish my breakfast. I was too pissed to finish the oatmeal so I polished off the fruit and quickly headed back to my room to do nothing for the next several hours.
Chapter Thirteen
System
She was really starting to piss me off. I didn’t have time for this shit; I had too much I needed to do. I got in the backseat of the custom, armor-plated BMW while my temporary driver, Bernard, drove us out of the estate. Normally, Scott traveled with me everywhere I went, but I needed him to keep an eye on Jaden until I found her a permanent bodyguard I could trust.
I had a meeting with my accountant/assistant in half an hour. Ronald Lessner was a measly fuck of a man, but he was damn good at his job and had plenty of noteworthy connections, which was the only reason I kept him alive. Outside of my brothers, he was a ghost. Not even my closest business partners knew about him. I made sure he had protection 24/7 because if someone ever got to him, I was pretty sure his loyalty to me would be sliced right out of him. But in this line of work, everything was a risk; the risk just had to be worth it, and Ron definitely was, especially since he was also one hell of an attorney.
Bernard drove us to the warehouse and I checked in on the new shipment of girls through the two-way glass wall by the door. There were five of them so far, and as usual, they all looked the same to me. Half the time, I didn’t even bother to learn who they were or where they came from. I had others to make those decisions for me.
We had scouts set up all over the country, prowling in the poverty-stricken cities for optimal targets. The weak, the vulnerable, the naïve—they were so easy to find it was ridiculous. A lot of them ended up being runaways living on the street. They were the easiest to obtain. They hardly even needed to be taken; we just had to convince them with an easy white lie. And with that, my supply was endless. Some stupid rebellious teenage girl was always on the street somewhere, just waiting to be found.
It helped that I owned a small private aviation company with dozens of small planes that carried our shipments from all over the country to the warehouse or wherever else we needed them to go. It was the perfect setup, and with all the business dealings and connections I had, no one suspected a thing. With the right amount of money, you could buy anything and everything … including silence. Once the girls were in custody, they were drugged and shipped away in cargo boxes with padding inside to prevent bruising during the transport. Once delivered to the warehouse, it was just buy and sell from there. And business was booming.
The girls who didn’t sell at the auction were usually the ones who liked to act up during their captivity. If the girls had too many bruises on them, they wouldn’t sell the same way as the others who had behaved. They usually were sold at a discounted price to the brothels in Mexico where they were smuggled across by the Coyotes and never seen or heard from again. Everyone receives the same warning at orientation, but of course, not everyone listens.
We had a good business relationship with the brothel chains in Mexico, receiving a nice percentage from their profits while supporting their supply of the heavily requested blond American girl. Everyone in Mexico had dark hair and tan skin. The johns down there liked to change things up every now and then. Though I couldn’t understand why they would want to fuck a drugged out American idiot anyway. They weren’t nearly as responsive and were a bore to play with. But that was how some of the brothels liked to work. Keeping their slaves as drug addicts ensured their obedience; otherwise, they were denied their next fix until they did their job. Another reason why many of them died after a few months. If the johns didn’t accidentally kill them, the drugs certainly would. But that’s what keeps the demand so high and the revenue never-ending.
The higher ups were usually pretty good to their slaves, as far as good can be described. We used to train the girls in sexual obedience, but most of my clients preferred to train their slaves themselves anyway, so we
stopped bothering. As far as what their training methods were, from what I had been told by them, some were worse than others were, some more sadistic and some more compassionate. The only rule we all had was that the only way a slave could be released from their captivity was through death. I couldn’t have freed slaves running around, trying to undermine my business. So far, no one had broken the rules … yet.
I headed down to give the girls their orientation, all of them staring up at me from their cages, covering themselves as they shivered with fear. Most of them screamed and cried, begging to be released, but I felt nothing. Even the looks in their eyes barely exhilarated me; it just wasn’t the same anymore. I realized I hadn’t even analyzed for the feisty one in the group. Now that I had Jaden in my life, the thought of breaking another slave just didn’t appeal to me anymore. She was the only one whose fire I wanted to taste.
Our next auction would be in two weeks, and I needed someone to handle this shit. I didn’t have the time to keep coming back here to ensure the job was done properly. That was why I needed Ron. He was helping me find my replacement, plus we had numbers to review.
I was walking away from the holding room when my phone started to ring, my youngest brother on the other line.
“Dom,” I said into the phone as I walked down the hall.
“Hey, bro, what’s going on?” he asked.
“About to meet with Ron,” I replied.
“Good. I need to talk to him about the accounts from Willis. Hopefully, he has an update. Anyway, rumor has it that you finally bought yourself some nice permanent tail, huh? How come I have to hear about it from someone else?”
I stopped in my tracks.
“Who told you this?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even. Our auctions were meant to be extremely confidential.
