I sighed in frustration as I continued to hold my brother in place, his body beginning to fight against me.
“Sloane, take Jaden upstairs.Now,” I ordered.
Just as she began to physically escort Jaden away, naturally, she started to protest and pulled her arm from Sloane’s grasp.
“No, wait!What’s going on?”she continued as Sloane took her arm again and began to drag her down the hallway.“Darren, tell me what’s going on!What happened?”
Her pleas were ignored as Sloane hauled her toward the stairs and up to our bedroom, Camaro whining behind them as she followed.Daniel’s eyes followed them the entire time as he tried to free himself from my hold, but I was still much bigger and stronger than him.
When I knew Jaden was out of earshot, I released him and took a single step back, giving me the space I needed to slam my fist into his jaw, knocking him onto the floor.
Standing over him, I pointed down at him in righteous fury.“If you ever go against my orders again, so help me, Daniel, you will not come back from it.”The scowl he gave me from the floor was full of outrage and nothing short of murderous, which meant absolutely nothing to me.“Brother or not, I will end you before I let you compromise one more goddamn thing in my life.Now either you can get with the program and help me track these assholes down or you can get the fuck out.”
With that, I turned away and left him there to stew in his own stubborn stupidity to join Scott in the search, which was far more valuable than fighting with a rebellious man-child.Family immunity did not exist in my world for a reason.I would not allow Daniel to undermine me in my own fucking home while I ruled the empire he lived under.Hell would freeze over before I let that happen.
6
BREAKING NEWS
* * *
Iwas going to run a hole in the carpet.I’d been chewing on my lip like bubble gum and pacing back and forth for the last half hour trying to decipher what the fuck just happened.
I knew what I’d heard from that hallway.There was no mistaking it.They were on to Jason and Kayla.Darren knew much more than I thought he did, which terrified the shit out of me, and my heart could not calm down.
How much did he know?How much more was going on behind the curtain?
Darren had known for months that Kayla had escaped, and rightfully suspected I had been involved, but he had waited for the right opportunity to reveal it and use it against me.If he did know about Jason moving against him, was he planning on doing the same thing?Wait for the right opportunity to completely shatter my soul so there was nothing left of me?
He’d waited for me to finish healing from my gunshot wound to confront me about Kayla.Maybe he was waiting until after I had the baby…
But I already knew he was hunting Jason and what he would do to him if he ever found him, so why would it matter now?
Or maybe…
Maybe he didn’t want me to think that Jason was succeeding.Or at the very least, hope that he was.If anything, he’d want to discredit Jason at every turn, so instead of mentioning his failures of catching him, Darren just didn’t mention him at all.
Based on what little I overheard from the hallway, Darren must have thought they were close by with the cloaking device.It was the best explanation for the signal disruption and the only reason I could think of that would easily explain Jason’s and Kayla’s involvement.
From what I remember Tony telling me before he met his well-deserved demise, I had to be within one square mile of the device in order for it to disrupt the signal.Had Jason come to test it?To see if it still worked?No doubt he had to be watching the house somehow, waiting to see if the entire estate would react, and apparently, it didn’t disappoint.
Relief, anguish, and fear ripped across my heart at the thought of Jason being so close by yet still so far out of reach.Hopefully, he got the fuck out of Dodge when he had his confirmation.But the closer he was to me, the closer he was to the horrific death I knew Darren would subject him to.And I couldn’t let that happen.
“Jaden, you’re going to ruin the carpet,” Sloane commented from the couch.
“Fuck the carpet,” I snapped, continuing to chew away at myself mindlessly.
Camaro barked a whine at me from her bed, but I ignored her, my anxiety too high to focus on anything else.
“Stress is bad for the baby,” Sloane prompted.“You should relax.”
How the fuck am I supposed to relax knowing Darren is so close to catching Jason and Kayla right now?
My eyes suddenly shot to the balcony of my den, my gaze narrowing on the sparkling ocean in the distance and the dark clouds climbing over the horizon.What if they were out there, hiding among the waves?Or maybe even under them?
Transfixed, I moved for the doors, my fingers stopping on the handle when Sloane’s hand suddenly gripped my shoulder.
“You are to remain inside until further notice,” she said quickly, gently pulling me away from the door.