Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jasper
Something’s up with Juliet. I’m not sure what, but she’s been quiet all morning. Even quieter than she was at dinner the night before. And I can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something from me.
That feeling nags at me all day, until I finally give in and call Maxwell after I put Juliet to bed. “I need a favor,” I say the moment he answers the phone.
“What kind of favor?”
“I need to talk to Tori.”
There’s a brief pause, and his tone is significantly more guarded when he finally speaks again. “We’re just getting ready for bed. What do you need to talk to her about?”
“Juliet. She’s acting strange and I need to know if she said anything to Tori that might help me figure out what’s wrong.”
“I assume you’ve tried asking Juliet herself.”
“Yes. She just smiles and says everything’s fine. But she seems so…” I pause, struggling for the right word. “Sad. She just seems so fucking sad and I don’t know why.”
“All right. I’m putting you on speaker.”
I dig deep for patience as I listen to him moving around, murmuring softly to Victoria before returning to the phone. “Uncle Jasper has some questions for you, little thief.”
“Hi, Uncle Jasper.”
“Hello, sweetheart. I have something really important to ask you, and I need you to be honest with me. Okay?”
“Um. Okay.”
“When you and Juliet were playing, did she tell you about anything that’s been upsetting her?”
“Oh. Um… I don’t know.” Her voice trembles a bit, and I know without even being able to see her face.
“Victoria. Tell Uncle Jasper the truth, right now.”
“I can’t,” she wails. “Juju will hate me forever!”
Despite the sudden racing of my heart, I force my tone to stay calm for her sake. “No she won’t, sweetheart. I promise.”
“She’s my only friend! I can’t tell her secrets!”
“If those secrets are hurting her, yes you can,” Maxwell says, steel infusing his words. “And you will, right now, unless you’d rather have this conversation over Daddy’s knee.”
“Daddy, no! I don’t want a spankin’!”
“Then tell Uncle Jasper what you know.”
“Sh-she wants to go home. Back to New York. She misses her friends and all the fun stuff they used to do together. I told her she should t-talk to you!”
My heart sinks into my stomach. I could have sworn Juliet was learning to be happy here on the island. With me. Was it all an act?
“Thank you for telling me, sweetheart. I’m going to go talk to her now, see if we can’t get to the bottom of this.”
“She’s gonna be so mad at me,” Victoria whispers, and my heart cracks at the sadness in her voice.
“No she won’t. I’ll make sure of it. Just trust your Uncle Jasper.”
“Okay. I trust you.”
Well, that makes one Little girl, at least.
And that’s what eats at me as we say our goodbyes and I head for the stairs. The fact that Juliet didn’t trust me enough to talk to me. Despite our rocky start, I thought I’d made it clear she could always come to me with her hurts and worries.
Apparently not.
I push open the door to my bedroom, and my heart stutters in my chest at the sight of her, curled up on her side, the moonlight casting a pale glow on her face.
She looks so peaceful, I don’t have the heart to wake her. The morning is early enough for the conversation we obviously need to have.
Stripping down to my bare skin, I slide into bed beside her, pulling her close and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Sleep tight, little princess. Daddy loves you.”
Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll force her to tell me all her secrets, and then I will make sure she knows her place is here. At my side.
With her Daddy.
Juliet
Daddy loves you.
Those words echo in my mind as I slip from the bed we share and tiptoe toward the door. Jasper obviously bought my pretend sleeping bit, which is the only reason he said that. If he actually meant it, he’d say it to my face.
I cling to that thought as I ease open the bedroom door and head for my nursery. Because if I let myself believe, for even a second, that Jasper Blackwood might be in love with me, I know I’ll lose the war raging inside me. The war between the part of me that desperately wants to return to my old life, and the part of me that loves being Jasper’s Little girl.
None of the clothes I have are exactly “adult” in nature, but there are a few outfits like the overalls we wore to the farm that don’t necessarily scream “baby”. I set an outfit aside to change into, then stuff as many of those clothes as I can find into a small teal suitcase I found tucked away in the far corner of my closet.
Heart pounding, I strip down to my diaper and pause. I might as well get rid of it now, seeing as how there won’t be anyone around to change me later. There’s no point in keeping it on just to take it off when I’m on the ship.
But even though I tell myself I should be happy to be rid of the damn thing, my chest aches as I peel the diaper away and wad it up to put in the trash. There will be no more diaper changes, no more doctor’s visits, no more bottles. None of the things I’ve endured over the past few weeks in my brother’s house.
Which is exactly how you want it. Stop being a baby and get a move on.
Spurred on by the voice in my head, I wheel my suitcase to the bathroom and grab my toothbrush and everything I can find that I might need during my travels. I have no idea how long I’ll be stuck on the ship, and I don’t want to arrive back in the states a stinky mess.
With my bag packed, I open my nursery door and peek out into the hallway. The coast is clear, at least for now, so I creep toward the stairs, pausing again at the top to listen for voices.
Nothing. Everyone else must be gone or asleep.
Thank god.
It takes me several minutes to get down the stairs, as every noise makes me freeze in place, holding my breath as I wait to see if I’m about to be discovered. But eventually I make it to the bottom of the stairs, and then to the front door.
As far as I can tell, there’s no security system installed. Which, I suppose, makes sense seeing as how the island is so self-contained and all the residents go through such extensive background checks. The lack of a security system actually makes me feel much better about sneaking around outside in the dark all by myself.
Feeling bolder than I have in days, I open the front door and step outside into the cool night air.
Freedom .
Excitement bubbles in my chest as I pull the door firmly shut behind me and begin my trek down the front steps to the driveway. I probably should have tried to find out where they keep the keys to my brother’s cars, but I don’t dare risk going back inside and wasting precious time snooping around.
Besides, the island isn’t that big. Surely it won’t take me too long to get to the docks, right?
Wrong, I realize within the first half hour of walking. Not only is the walk taking much longer than I anticipated, I realize as I’m strolling along that I have no idea where the docks even are. I have a vague idea of where town is, as I’m pretty sure I’ll end up there if I just keep walking straight.
Maybe if I can make it into town, I can figure out where to go from there. I have to figure it out, somehow, or else I’ll miss my one chance to escape.
Not only that, but I can only imagine how furious Jasper will be when he realizes I’m gone. For the first time, I’m forced to consider exactly how much trouble I’ll be in if he catches me before I can sneak onto the ship. I’ll never sit comfortably again if that happens, and the scenarios my imagination conjures are enough to have me picking up the pace.
One way or another, I have to find that ship.
Jasper
Half asleep, I reach for Juliet. The little brat must have rolled away from me during the night, and I miss the soft weight of her in my arms.
But when I don’t feel her, I pry one eye open to see where she’s gone to.
Only to find the bed beside me empty.
“Juliet!”
Rolling out of bed, I stumble to the bathroom, my heart pounding. A quick glance around dashes the hope I’d had that maybe, maybe she’d just needed to potty and didn’t want to wake me to change her.
I race for her nursery, flipping the lights on as I rush in.
Empty. Again.
Where the hell are you, princess?
Returning to my bedroom, I grab my phone from the nightstand and dial Richard’s number as I hastily pull on clothes.
“What’s wrong?” Despite the lateness of the hour, Richard’s voice is alert, ready.
“It’s Juliet. She’s missing.”
“Missing? How?”
“I don’t know! She’s not in my room or her nursery. I’m going to call Evander and have him send out a team while you check the house.”
“Alice and I are on it.”
The call ends, and I hit the button to dial Evander. “I swear to god, Jasper, someone better be dead for you to be calling me at two o’clock in the fucking morning.”
“Juliet’s gone. I can’t find her.”
“Fuck.” All trace of sleepiness is gone from his voice. “I’ll send a team out. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”
“None. Please, Evander, we have to find her.”
“We will.” The conviction in his tone soothes my nerves, but only a bit. “Check every inch of your house, closets, everything. Last time we had a Little girl go missing she was right under our noses. In the meantime, I’ll put everyone in town on alert as well. Don’t worry, Jasper. We’ll find your little one.”
Praying he’s right, I end the call and hurry down the stairs to begin the search.