them while I beat the shit out of the bag. The chains suspending the bag clanked
against each other as I kicked and punched until my arms and legs ached from
exhaustion.
Turning away from the bag, I paced in front of it as I tried to catch my breath. A
thin sheet of sweat already covered my body as adrenaline rushed through my
veins. I kept my hands at my hips, eyes on the bag like predator and prey, waiting
for my heart rate to slow before I went at it again.
“You should calm yourself, Miss Jaden.” Clive snickered. “We wouldn’t want you
to break a nail.”
“I’m sorry, Clive, all I heard out of your mouth was you offering to trade places
with my punching bag,” I snapped.
A smirk formed on both their lips, and I wanted nothing more than to punch it
off their faces. “It is unwise to taunt the men tasked with protecting you,” Owen
said smoothly.
I sneered back. “And it’s even more unwise to taunt me, considering what I did
to my last bodyguard, or did you guys not hear about that?”
“What happened to Benito was his own foolish fault. And that decision was
carried out by Mr. Davis, not you,” Clive defended.
“And who do you think reinforced that decision?” I replied coldly.
I could see them both becoming angry now. Good. I was glad to see I could get to
them.
“If a flaw is discovered in a soldier of security, then it must be handled
immediately. Whether you or Mr. Davis discovered that flaw makes no difference. It
is an honor to protect that which matters most to our leader, a job that will be done
with absolute perfection. To be anything less would directly validate a severe form
of disciplinary action to reinforce and ensure the understanding that the subject
must be well protected always no matter the cost,” Clive said confidently.
I raised my brow. “No matter the cost?”
They both nodded.
“What if the cost was your own life?” I asked, wiping the dripping sweat from
under my chin.
“Then we would gladly take the bullet,” Owned replied.
“Really,” I said, having a hard time believing them. “You both would die for me.
You don’t even know me.”
“As I’ve stated before, it is an honor to protect that which matters most to our
leader,” Clive repeated.
I turned back to the bag. “Honor.” I scoffed. “I didn’t know there was honor in
working for a man who sells women as sex slaves.”
I took the rest of my heated rage out on the bag, slamming my fists and feet into
it with everything I had. Inevitably, I was forced away from it and banished back to
my room to prepare for dinner, which I ended up having alone. Shocker there.
26
MISTAKEN INTENTIONS
F or the next two days, I was banished from going outdoors, forced to remain
inside while I watched from the windows as different men in special uniforms
came and went from the trees. I wanted to attack them. I wanted to stop them from
interfering with the innocent animals I knew they were hurting. Clive and Owen
tried to keep me away from the windows as often as they could, making sure I was
preoccupied every minute to the point where I was exhausted by the end of the day.
They wouldn’t answer my questions as to whether the animals were being
exterminated or simply relocated, and it was killing me.
Darren was smart to stay away from me for those two days. It would have been
nothing but fighting, but apparently, he was away on business. How convenient. He
didn’t even tell me that he was leaving, but then again, I didn’t really care that he
hadn’t. I hoped he fucking died.
It was the weekend before I could finally go back outside, but only when Darren
was home and chose the time. I’d been reading in my room when Clive told me I’d
been given the go-ahead for my woodland walks, and I immediately jumped to my
feet. I power walked my ass all the way down the stairs and to the back door, trying
not to seem too anxious as I almost ran into the woods as soon as I was on the
grass.
Safely behind the shade of the trees, I took off at a dead run, heading straight for
the fox’s den. My lungs burned in my chest as I pumped my legs through the
woods, hope driving me forward that my furry little friends were still alive.
Reaching the den, I came to a quick stop at the tree I hid behind and peered around
to instantly hunch in disappointment as I looked over the now destroyed den.
Stomped out completely, nothing was left of the little burrow, just a kicked-in
mound of dirt and grass.
Slumping to the ground, I pulled my knees up to my chest to rest my cheek on
top of my knees. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I wanted to release all my
pent-up rage on Darren’s stupid face with a spike covered baseball bat,
