Matt’s eyes widened with shock and anger.“What?But Sid said—why the fuck would he do that?”
“Because I wanted him to.”Duh?
His brows knitted together as he stared at me like I had just sprouted two heads.Clearly, that was not the answer he was expecting from me.
“What the hell are you talking about?”he asked, his voice tight with irritation.
I could feel my teeth painfully gritting together as that night replayed in my head.
“Darren killed my dog on my fucking birthday.So I made him kill his brother,” I stated plainly.Pausing for a moment to read his reaction, the questions flashing across his face made my lips curl into a tiny grin.“I may not be able to pull the trigger myself every time, Matt, but sometimes I get really lucky with influence.”
He tilted his head as he glared back at me, caution reflecting in his eyes.“What exactly do you mean you made Darren kill him?What did you do?”
“I just took advantage of what you made him, actually,” I answered with a slight shrug, lowering my rifle.“That bullet Daniel took to the head really messed him up.He was irrational, impulsive, argumentative, and he fucking hated my guts.So it wasn’t very difficult to provoke him into attacking me, but he took it a step further by raping me, too.”
Suddenly, the lights clicked on in Matt’s eyes.“Oh shit,” he murmured.
I nodded in agreement.“Darren killed him in the same hour.It was a painful experience for us all, but worth it in the end.Now he has no one,” I added, nodding to the floor behind me where Scott’s body still lay.
Matt leaned to the side to get a better view, his brows nearly hitting the roof as he lowered his gun.“Holy shit, is that Scott?”
I nodded again.“Yeah.I got a new bodyguard after you killed my last two.She turned out to be the best thing that came out of their deaths, so I guess I should thank you for that.”
“She?”Matt asked, cocking a brow.“You’re saying anotherwomankilled Scott?Why?”
I shrugged at his question.“Because he was trying to kill me.”
A narrowed gaze stared back at me, jaw square with impatience.“And why the hell would he try to kill the belovedpregnant petof his master?Or did he figure out the truth of that too?”
I almost rolled my eyes at the unnecessary taunt, but ignored it instead.“Because he finally saw me for the same threat Daniel did.And he knew Darren wouldn’t kill me,especiallywhile carrying his child.”
Matt paused for a moment before his shoulders squared, and he stood a little taller.“Did he alert anyone else before he died?”
I shook my head.“He figured it out after the EMP, so he never got the chance.”
Skepticism flashed across his eyes before he stepped around me to fully enter the lobby and stand over Scott’s body.“Because yourfemalebodyguard killed him before he could?”
“Yeah… and?”
He scoffed at my bemusement.“Well, where is this magnificent warrior?”he asked, his tone almost goading as he turned his head in all directions.“Or did she meet her end elsewhere?”
I hardened my gaze in response to his bullshit line of questioning, knowing full well he was checking to see if the threat of Sloane was still around.
“We got separated, but I know she’ll find me again soon,” I lied, and quickly moved to change the subject.“Where is Jason?”This question was the only reason Matt was still currently breathing.
He huffed a breath as he hunched down to inspect the bullet hole in Scott’s head.“Probably getting his ass kicked by Darren right now.I hope you weren’t expecting your boyfriend to live through that little encounter,” he said as he lingered over Scott’s body.“I warned him against being the sacrificial lamb.”
Sacrificial lamb?What the fuck?
“You know, you’re not funny,” I shot back.
“I wasn’t trying to be,” he snapped, his eyes springing back to mine.“Jason was likely never going to live through any of this, and honestly, with the man he’s become, you might not want him to.”
I could feel my soul jerk in my body from the unexpected whiplash of that comment.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“He’s not the man you met in Rome anymore, Jaden.He’s different now,” Matt answered, the warning in his words chilling the bones of my spine.“That’s what this industry does to men.It turns them into monsters.”