I could feel my jaw grinding my teeth in frustration.“Then perhaps I will allow you to assist in the selection of your next husband so you might borehimwith your questions instead of me.”
Katherine folded her glossy pink lips, looked back down into her lap, and nodded.“I understand,” she murmured.
“Good.Make sure to keep your little mission to yourself.If Jaden knows, she won’t trust you anymore and you’ll become useless to me, and you know how I feel about useless things,” I warned her.
She nodded solemnly.“Of course.”
“I suggest you get to it then,” I said, pointedly turning away to my desktop and officially dismissing her.
She quickly stood from her seat and hurried back toward the door, Sloane catching one last glance from me before escorting her out and shutting the door behind them.
“You know she’s going to end up telling her at some point,” Scott commented, the hint of amusement lingering in his tone as his eyes remained focused on the reports.
“I know,” I replied, sighing as I turned my gaze to the security footage of Jaden laying on the couch in her little den, just staring blankly into the open space.“And it doesn’t matter,” I continued.“Even if Katherine were to tell Jaden, she would still comply just to save Katherine’s skin.And that’s good enough for me.”
Of course, I preferred it if she came to terms with her pregnancy naturally, but if a threat was what she needed to get her ass in gear, then so be it.Either way, she would learn to bond with the baby, whether she wanted to or not.
“If you say so,” Scott replied, the slight chuckle making me want to cut his tongue out.I just killed my fucking brother because he raped my wifeyesterday.I was not in the mood for anyone’s humor.
“Why don’t you tell me something useful, like an update on those investigation reports?”I shot back at him.
He groaned, flinging the papers onto the table.“There’s nothing to tell.Just more bureaucratic bullshit and chasing tails that don’t exist.”
“Good.Let’s keep them running in circles.Once I finish this shit with Matt and his little side fuck, we can focus on wrapping up the investigations and getting Triguard back on track.”
Scott looked up from his task, his mouth a thin line as he leaned back in his chair.
“You’re not going to tell Matt about Daniel?”
I almost rolled my eyes.As if that would solve anything.
“And let Matt think he won?Absolutely not.Plus, it wouldn’t change anything.I’d still be gunning for him regardless, and he knows this.”
Scott nodded as his eyes wandered the room in thought.He knew the score.And he knew the game wouldn’t end until one of us was dead.
Glancing back to the computer screen, I focused on the one thing that my entire world centered around, and sighed internally.So much had changed since she’d come into my life, and it was only because I was willing to make those necessary changes in order to keep her at the center where she belonged.
All along my desk were photos of her—our wedding, our honeymoon, candid shots of her day to day.I still found myself scrolling through the very first set of photos I took of her for the auction catalog all those years ago.My favorite pieces of her artwork hung on the walls of my office, the drawings and paintings a reflection of her mindset I had no other means of accessing.
She was everywhere to me, the very air I breathed, and even though that air was rife with deadly toxins, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My obsession with this fiery little demon had cost me so much more than I could have ever anticipated, and yet…I didn’t give one flying fuck.I’d torch everything I owned if it kept her tied to me, and then I’d rebuild our lives from the ashes.But the fact that I was absolutely willing to do all of that just for her violently pissed me off.
I had killed my own brother for her without a second thought, and regretted none of it.
Jaden shouldn’t have this much control over me, this much power, but she did, and there was simply no way around that.I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would blindly chase this woman right into my own damn grave and not regret a single step.
Did that mean I loved her?Was that what this uncontrollable compulsion meant?No, it couldn’t be that, because deep down, I knew the truth.Whatever it was that I felt for this wild little menace could not be love.Because whatever I felt was so much worse.It was ugly, and black, and toxic.And a goddamn death sentence for us both.
But I signed our names on the dotted line anyway, dragging Jaden down a path that led us both straight to a hell built from the bones and blood we’d violently ripped from each other’s battle-torn bodies.It might be dark, ruthless, and chaotic, but it was ours.And no one else’s.
The sound of my phone ringing stole my attention from the security footage just as Sloane and Katherine came into the picture.I internally groaned as I checked the caller ID, answering the phone before I changed my mind.After having delt with enough drama in the past week for an entire lifetime, I wasn’t in a hurry to take on more, but his call was never one to be ignored, no matter how much I wanted to.
“Lewis,” I answered in greeting.
“Sir, I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s urgent.Unfortunately, I have some very disturbing news to report,” he replied, his voice slightly shaken.
Of course you do.