off, a reminder of how strong he was, and how fucked I was. You’d think it would
amp up my fear of Darren, but in reality, it only made me want to kill him that
much more.
“Miss Jaden,” Blondie finally called, interrupting my thoughts. “It’s time to
head back to the house. Dinner will be served in an hour, and we need to get you
ready.”
“Right,” I said and turned toward the direction of the house.
“Ah, I would leave the stick,” Blondie suggested.
I looked down at it, finding it completely harmless, but agreed with him and
placed on the ground where I would be able to find it again. I then headed back to
the house, my stomach now in knots as I worried about Holly. I’d probably broken
her nose. Fuck, I was such a shit.
When we got back to the house, I didn’t see Hank or Holly and was instead
escorted straight to my suite. I took a shower, made my hair into soft beach waves,
put on a little makeup, and changed into a silky pink sundress. I was kind of hoping
I’d catch less shit if I made an effort to please Darren with my appearance.
When I was ready, I was escorted by Blondie—still no Hank—to the dining
room. Darren was not there yet, so I sat down and waited for the impending storm
to arrive.
10
RED
I stood in the sunroom, scratching my chin and contemplating Jaden’s latest work
of art. Dark colors of black, gray, and red smeared beautifully across the canvas
while a giant red blotch bled down the center. As if I had painted it myself, I had no
trouble translating it … because it was the exact same shit in my head as well. The
only difference was I reveled in my darkness, while Jaden was still trying to
understand her own. Darkness—with the only color dominating it all being the
same red that dripped down Jaden’s painting. Red represented all the best things in
my world—passion, anger, love, hate, blood … Jaden’s hair. No wonder it was my
favorite color.
Holly had conjured up this interesting exercise, and I knew Jaden would hate it,
but at least the result was interesting to regard. Maybe I’d have her paint once a
week just to see if the colors would change. Holly had a bunch of other stupid shit
she wanted Jaden to do besides her physical therapy, all of it designed to either
keep her busy or change her mentality on what was important. Part of it was for her
to accept her place and learn to find happiness in it, no matter how minuscule it
was.
The fact that Jaden had punched Holly in the face wasn’t exactly a surprise, even
if it was by accident. Her body was getting ready to fight again, and it needed to be
curbed … or perhaps just controlled.
My world was too dangerous to allow Jaden to become soft, which was why the
desensitization was so important. The fact that she didn’t even blink when I told
her about Benito had me wondering if she had planned it. She knew what I would
do to anyone who fucked with her, and she seemed to have used that to her
advantage. I was more impressed than I was pissed since I didn’t want anyone so
susceptible to Jaden’s manipulation guarding her to begin with. She was simply
exposing my weakest links when they couldn’t handle her anymore.
What a fantastic system.
A killer existed somewhere inside Jaden, and it was slowly exposing itself. The
idea of making her more and more like me was becoming too intriguing to resist.
Her talents needed to be consolidated, reformed, and controlled. But even after all
of that was accomplished, one thing would still be missing.
That big red blotchy thing in the middle of the canvas.
It was time to increase her dependence on me. She’d love to hate me until she
didn’t know the difference anymore, and then I would tilt the scales in my favor.
She’d be mine forever.
Turning on my heels, I left the painting behind and headed to the dining room
where my lovely, angry little redhead was waiting. She was sitting right where she
belonged, her knee silently bouncing under the table—her nervous tic. She must
think I’d be pissed about what she did to Holly. She did break her nose, but Holly
would live, and everything would resume as planned.
Watching Jaden from the hallway, I couldn’t help but notice all the things I loved
about her. That gorgeous hair, her soft skin, her small yet solid frame, and how
carefully she studied her whereabouts. I knew she was listening for me, waiting for
me to come in and start raging about Holly, but I had no intention to do that. At
least not anymore when Jaden finally snapped her head around and saw
