I thought it would be. He’s just very … strict.”
“Strict how? Darren brought me here so I could experience the life of someone
less fortunate than me. Is that true?”
Kayla bit her lower lip like she was struggling with her answer.
“It doesn’t look like you’re even allowed on the damn furniture.”
“Only on special occasions,” she said sadly. Her voice shook as she continued. “I
sleep in a luxury dog bed, and if I fuck him well enough and he’s in the mood, only
then am I allowed to sleep in his bed.”
“Jesus.”
Kayla seemed like she was struggling to swallow. “This is the most clothing I’ve
worn in months,” she said, plucking at her little black dress. “Normally, if I’m
lucky, I get to wear lacy lingerie with crotchless panties, thigh-high stockings, and
heels. Otherwise, I wear nothing at all.”
Fucking hell.
“I’m locked away in Matt’s suite all day, and I don’t get to go out unless he lets
me, which is rare. He said he always wants to come home to his slave in his room.
It’s where I belong, he says.”
“Motherfucker,” I muttered under my breath.
“But it’s not all bad,” she said with a shrug. “Sometimes, he lets me have my
morning tea out here on the porch. Sometimes, I get to go on supervised walks
around the yard. Those are always nice.”
Like that was an improvement.
“What do you do in his suite all day?” I asked.
“Read,” she said. “He brings me books to read during the day and schools me on
them later to make sure I retained what I read.”
“What sort of books?”
“They’re always different. Sometimes, they’re on psychology, sometimes,
science or geography. Most of the time they’re sexual but always educational.”
So that was how he kept her mind intact. Had her brain stimulated and
distracted from the horrors of her life by reading.
I dared to push further, afraid of what I’d hear.
“And what happens if you’re not able to retain everything?”
“Then I’m punished,” she said softly, shrinking in to herself.
“How does he punish you, Kayla?”
She closed her eyes and turned her head away. “He hurts me. He hurts me badly.
If I do anything to upset him, if I’m ever disobedient, he’ll make me scream for the
rest of the day. And I’ll spend the rest of the night in my cage until I … beg for his
forgiveness.”
Fuck, not a cage, too.
“I tried escaping, too, once. Never again,” she murmured, shaking her head.
God, I wanted to march back into that house and stomp on Rainer’s throat until
it was crushed under my heel. Sadistic motherfucker.
“I’m so sorry, Kayla,” I said, placing my hand against her back. I didn’t know
what else to do. She sniffled in response.
“So … what’s he like?” she asked me timidly.
I released a breath and curled into myself more than I already was. How to
describe Darren Davis?
“He’s …” I started but had trouble voicing the words. “He’s quite honestly my
worst nightmare. He’s cruel, sadistic, possessive, and very … very unforgiving.”
Kayla was silent for a moment as she nodded in understanding. “Does he hurt
you?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
She nodded in return. “I’m sorry, Jaden. I’m sorry it had to be him.”
I looked down at my lap and felt my chest cave in. “He’s hunting down Jason and
my mom and brothers. When I escaped, it was so I could get to a phone to warn
them to run because he was coming for them. They got away, but he found the rest
of my family. Killed my uncle and is holding the rest of them over my head if I fuck
up.”
“What? Why would he feel the need to go after your family?”
I shook my head. “He thought they were holding me back from accepting my life
with him. He thought if he severed the connections of my old life, I would move on
with the new since I would have nothing left to go back to if I ever got away.”
“That’s so fucked up!”
I nodded. “He’s so fucking diabolical. After I was able to warn Jason to tell my
family to disappear, Darren had some girl drugged and burned to be mistaken as my
dead body back home. I’ve been declared legally dead, Kayla. They had a funeral for
me and everything, and that fucker went! He surrounded himself with my grieving
family, and now, he’s having all of them watched. I guess he somehow decided
keeping them alive as leverage was him being merciful for me.”
“Oh, my God, Jaden. I’m so sorry. What a fucking asshole.”
I shook my head. “It’s okay. It doesn’t matter anyway. He may be scary as fuck,
but that’s not going to stop me from killing him.”
Kayla looked up at me as if I’d lost my mind. “You are?”
“One day, yes,” I said confidently. “I just have to bring his entire empire down
first.”
“How the hell are you going to do that?”
“One little domino at a time,” I answered.
She smiled. “I knew, after all this, you’d still be tough as nails.”
“What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger, right? We’re still alive. I’m not
going to stop fighting until I’m dead if that’s what it takes.”
“I wish there was something I could do to help you,” Kayla muttered.
“You can,” I answered. “You can stay strong for me. I’ll get us out of this, Kayla.
It might take a few years, but I won’t give up. Just don’t let that fuck face allow you
to forget who you are.”
Kayla smiled at me, hopeful
