Chapter 9 Black #2
“I’m not sure we need to give Jaden more access to sharp knives,” Scott commented, inspiring some soft laughter among everyone, but when I glanced over at him, he wasn’t laughing.
He looked oddly serious. When I could feel my returned glare begin to harden, he finally softened his and stepped closer to place a wrapped box in front of me.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I ripped off the wrapping paper to find Scott had gifted me a rather large jigsaw puzzle of Mount Everest. I cocked a brow before glancing back up at him. “Thanks,” I said, trying not to sound too sarcastic.
“No problem. That should keep you plenty busy for a while,” he replied with an odd smirk.
I didn’t know I needed to be kept busy.
“Alright, my turn,” Darren suddenly jumped in, standing from his seat to pull out a small wrapped box from his breast pocket.
Oh, look, more jewelry.
Pulling away the paper, I flipped open the lid to find a silver necklace with a white eight-carat diamond pendant cut into the shape of a heart. But it was the word “Mother” plated across the stone in little pink diamonds that really caught my attention.
Goddammit.
I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as I stared at the necklace, and my skin suddenly felt incredibly hot with anger.
“Pretty,” I said before closing the lid and setting it back on the table. “A bit premature, but still very pretty. Thank you.”
I could hear the annoyance in Darren’s breath as he reached for the box and pulled the necklace out.
Stepping behind me, he draped the jewelry over my chest and secured it around my neck.
A sickening weight of denial sank into my skin just below my collarbone, heavy and cold as it hung from my throat.
“Oh, that looks beautiful, Darren,” Carla purred. “What a thoughtful gift.”
I eyed the words “shut the fuck up” in Carla’s direction, but I doubted she could read that deeply into it.
I sucked in a breath as Darren’s lips pressed into the back of my neck, his hands running along my bare shoulders to light my skin on fire.
“I think it suits you now, perfectly,” he drawled, a hint of danger in his low voice.
Begrudgingly, I swallowed back my disagreement, hoping the moment would pass quickly so I could find a way to accidentally chuck the stupid neckless into the ocean.
And I was soon granted that reprieve when a four-tier round cake of white frosting and rose gold trimming was brought out and placed on the table in front of me.
It sparkled in the candlelight, my name written across the middle in bright pink letters, while thirty gold candles covering nearly every inch flickered in the night.
And then everyone started to sing.
I sat there awkwardly as everyone around me sang in celebration of my birthday, except for Darren, of course, who had returned to his seat beside me.
He was too busy enjoying the spectacle of my poorly concealed discomfort, smirking quietly in response.
After a subtle eye roll, I looked away from him and blew out the obnoxious number of candles spread throughout the cake.
Once the cake had been cut and passed around, the attention finally divided among the crowd, leaving me a few short moments to breathe as I choked down small bites of cake. While the crowd remained distracted, I took the opportunity to quietly step away.
“I’m going to run to the bathroom,” I told Darren as I stood from my seat. But before I could step away, Darren snatched my hand, halting me in place.
“Running away already?” he asked, a hint of arrogance in his voice.
“To relieve my bladder? Yes. Unfortunately, pregnancy can have that effect,” I retorted sharply.
Darren stared back at me for a few harsh moments before he released my hand.
“Don’t take too long,” he warned.
I nodded as I stepped away, Camaro following close behind as we maneuvered through the crowd with Sloane at our backs.
I headed downstairs toward the primary bedroom, where I could pee in our private bathroom in peace.
With the silence finally filling the room, I had a few seconds of clarity that I had hoped would help ease my anxiety. But they didn’t.
It was my damn thirtieth birthday, and I still couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe how long it had already been, how much of my life I had already lost. And I hated wondering if I would ever get any of it back.
This pregnancy had changed everything and nothing at the same time, and I still had no idea how to cope with either.
After washing my hands, I stared at my reflection, eyeing the stupid heavy diamond dangling below my collarbone.
To anyone else, it was a beautiful symbol of status, a token representative of a future I was terrified of.
And soon, the room I stood in became smaller by the second, the air thinning with each breath I took.
Time was slipping right through my fingers, along with every ounce of my control, and all I could do was watch.
I needed to get the fuck out.
Bursting through the bathroom door, I bulldozed past Camaro and Sloane and headed for the back entrance to the bow of the yacht.
“Jaden? Are you okay? What is wrong?” Sloane called behind me as she moved to catch up.
I ignored her as I made my way outside and grabbed the railings to suck in huge gulps of the crisp night air.
“Jaden, what is it?” Sloane asked as she looked me up and down.
“That fucking bastard,” I muttered bitterly into the wind.
“Huh?”
“He knew this would piss me off.”
“What would?” she asked.
“Everything!” I exclaimed, throwing my arm into the air. “The party, the surprise, the stupid fucking necklace. He just loves to piss me off!”
Sloane stood there in silence for a few moments as she stared at me.
“I don’t understand,” she stated, her brows furrowing.
I huffed a laugh.
“Welcome to my reality, where I understand very little as to why that psychopath in there loves to rile me up,” I snapped, pointing at the back deck of the yacht.
Sloane sighed as she raised her brows, then turned away to face the water with me. “This is why I never want to marry.”
I snorted at that. “Solid advice.”
Sloane allowed me about thirty seconds of solitary silence to stare up at the stars before disrupting my peace. “We should probably head back to the party.”
I was about to say fuck the party when the sound of a helicopter hovering nearby caught my ears.
Even as we cruised along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, I could tell the helicopter was getting closer, but also seemingly slowing down.
Then, its lights appeared in the distance, its trajectory looking like it would fly right over the bow of the yacht.
Dread spiked in the pit of my stomach. “Why does it look like it’s slowing down?” I asked aloud.
“Because it is,” Sloane answered, her tone suggesting potential trouble.
Great.
But we didn’t get much longer to dwell on it because as soon as I could see the make and model, the helicopter opened fire and started raining bullets down on us.
“Move!” Sloane shouted as she grabbed me by the back of the neck and hauled my body below hers.
Camaro immediately followed as we both quickly moved to hide in the cover of the stairway that led back inside to the main quarters. Bullets ricocheted in every direction as Sloane covered my body with hers while I covered Camaro with mine.
When the shooting stopped, Sloane pulled out both of her guns and returned fire. But by the time she did, four new gunmen had descended from the helicopter, sliding down ropes and unclipping themselves when their boots hit the floor.
Sloane fired off three more shots, sending the men scattering as she yelled back at me.
“Jaden, get inside! Now!”
Moving to grab the door handle, my heart sank as the door refused to open no matter how hard I pulled. That was when I realized a bullet had shattered the security panel that opened the door.
“Fuck! The door is broken!” I shouted over the gunfire. Looking up, I noticed the helicopter was no longer at the front of the yacht, but I could still hear it hovering near the main deck. Seconds later, more gunfire erupted.
“Stay behind me!” Sloane called as I clutched Camaro’s frazzled body closer to me. The gunfire continued on for several more minutes until Sloane cursed under her breath. “I only have four bullets left.”
Well fuck.
“Time to make them count,” I stated, nodding out to the bow where the gunmen were still hiding behind the now shot-to-shit furniture and storage containers.
Sloane growled in frustration. “I could really use some backup over here!” she snarled into the mic of her earpiece, but considering what was still going on at the stern, I doubted anyone would be able to get to us.
Sloane sighed as she stared at me, knowing what she had to do. “Do not move,” she ordered sternly, poking my chest. “I’ll be right back.”
Turning away, she darted from the cover of the wall and maneuvered beyond my sight into the gunfire. Seconds later, I could hear the shouts of two of the gunmen before they hit the floor.
Camaro growled at my side as she sniffed the air, her body moving anxiously in anticipation of an impending threat. And she was right, because thirty seconds later, one of the gunmen appeared about ten feet from us.
Camaro jumped into action before I could order a single command, running for the gunman at full speed and launching herself into the air.
He barely had time to raise his rifle before her body slammed into his chest and her teeth sank into his neck.
Jerking her head back and forth, she violently ripped into his throat, blood spurting all over the floor as the man screamed.