Chapter 9 Black #3
But then the fourth gunman appeared from behind a crate, his gun pointing at my dog.
Moving quickly, I dove for Camaro, rolling to the floor so I could snatch the dead guy’s gun and aimed it at the fourth gunman.
He went down after I fired off two shots, forcing Sloane to suddenly reappear with an angry look on her face.
She then turned back to fire an additional bullet into the guy’s head and then beelined it for me.
“I told you not to move,” she scolded as she reached down to pull me up from the ground. Gunfire continued from the other end of the yacht, telling us both the evening was far from over.
“I know, but—”
“You’re fucking pregnant, Jaden,” she continued sharply. “Act like it already. If you and your fetus die, all three of us will be entering the afterlife together, and so will Camaro. Understand?”
I chewed on my lip for a second before acknowledging that I had been reckless and nodded. But it was Camaro, and I knew I was capable. Still, Sloane had a point. I didn’t want to see my dog end up as Darren’s fireplace rug if I lost this pregnancy.
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Good. Now, come on,” she said, pulling me to follow her as she led us back to the door with the busted lock.
She tried several times to get the lock to disengage, punching in code after code, but nothing seemed to work.
“Blin!” she cursed in Russian, groaning in annoyance before pulling out one of her guns to reload.
“This is the only door back inside on this level,” Sloane said calmly as she pulled the slide back to load a bullet into the chamber.
“The only way to get you somewhere secure is to go up the ladder to the second level, which unfortunately is near the damn main deck.”
I frowned at her plan. “Camaro can’t climb ladders.”
Sloane took out her second gun to reload it. “My job is to protect you, Jaden, not Camaro.”
I returned her warning with a glare. “Where I go, she goes.”
She sighed heavily as she cocked the Sig in her hand and looked down at me. “I know. Now, let’s go.”
Taking my arm, she led me around the side of the yacht, random rounds of gunfire and shouting ringing in my ears.
But as we scaled along the side of the walls, a loud explosion blasted through the air, rumbling the entire yacht and lighting up the sky.
A loud splash followed, and I couldn’t stop myself from peering further out and seeing the remnants of a burning helicopter sink into the water.
“Was that an RPG?” I asked Sloane as we watched the helicopter disappear into the darkness of the water.
“Most likely,” she said as she shoved me back against the wall. “Now, stay low.”
I followed Sloane’s lead until we came to the ladder, but by then, the gunfire had died down, causing her to pause for a moment.
“Stay behind me,” she ordered, peering around the barrier to check the scene. “Clear!?” she called out.
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
“All clear!”
After enough guards had given verbal confirmation that the area was secure, Sloane allowed me to follow her onto the main deck.
The gruesome scene I walked out to was nothing short of typical Darren bullshit.
Bodies were littered everywhere, blood splattered on the shiny polished wood, bullet holes in the walls, and casings scattered on the floor.
Before I could finish assessing the scene, I felt Darren’s hands grab my face and wrench me to him.
“Where were you? Are you hurt?” he asked intently, panic lighting up his eyes as they scanned over my entire body, looking for signs of injury or distress.
“I’m fine,” I answered, attempting to swat his arms away.
“There’s blood on your leg,” he pointed out, anger in his tone.
“It’s not mine.”
At that, he turned his stern gaze to Sloane. “What happened?”
“After using the restroom, Jaden wanted some fresh air on the bow. When the helicopter appeared, we retreated back to the doorway just before the gunfire came. A stray bullet struck the security panel, so the door-lock could not be disengaged. I instructed Jaden to remain within the safety of the doorway while I terminated the four assailants that had descended from the helicopter.”
“Then how did she get blood on her leg?” Darren asked, his voice clipped.
“Darren, I’m fine—”
“As long as it wasn’t hers, I was unconcerned until her safety had been secured.”
My stomach tightened at her words, but I tried not to react at the fact that Sloane had just lied for us both. What I had done would no doubt get us both in trouble, and I actually kind of liked Sloane. But she lied — right to Darren’s face — without skipping a single beat.
Who the fuck is this woman?
Darren’s hardened gaze turned back to me, an accusatory glare piercing right through my already cracked exterior. I forced myself to quickly compartmentalize the growing panic behind the lies and shrugged off the anxiety like I would an itchy blanket.
“Have you seen Camaro’s muzzle? She tore some guy’s throat out, there’s blood all over her fur. It’s probably from that, I don’t know what the big deal is.”
Darren’s eyes then shifted over to Camaro, who clearly still had blood coating her teeth and fur while some of it dripped onto the floor. Despite the graphic display, Darren didn’t look entirely satisfied.
“Have Sid ready and waiting for us at the house. I want him to check her over immediately,” he told Sloane. She nodded and stepped away to make the phone call.
Darren then ushered me over to the couch at the back of the stern where I could easily look out onto the water and told me to sit down. “Stay here,” he ordered, then turned away to address Scott.
“Wait! Where’s Katherine?” I asked, worry suddenly hitting me as I hadn’t seen her at all yet.
“She’s inside. She’s fine,” Darren answered and then paid me no more attention as he walked off.
Relieved that at least Katherine was okay, I sat in silence, looking over all the chaos that had ensued on my actual birthday. Blood, death, and destruction. Just another Tuesday.
Camaro sniffed at the random bodies, growling as she walked by until she came across one that I actually recognized—Carla’s.
While I wasn’t exactly a fan of hers, seeing her chest riddled with bullet holes made me feel a twinge of guilt for how she had met her end. I found myself staring at her glassy open eyes, trying to remind myself that she chose to work for an evil man. And sometimes this was the price you paid.
So what does that say about Sloane?
I didn’t get much time to linger on the question before I noticed a body begin to move near the swim platform behind me.
I couldn’t quite tell if he was one of ours or one of theirs until his arm moved toward the direction of the open deck with a small pistol in his hand.
And then I realized his aim was pointed in Darren and Scott’s direction, but with Camaro directly in the line of fire.
Without thinking, I bolted for Camaro and shoved her out of the way just as a gunshot rang out.
We slid along the floor onto the other side of the deck, Camaro barking and growling in shock while ten more gunshots rang out, sending the gunman’s body to fall back over the swim platform and into the water.
But even as the threat was now over, a lingering sting along the side of my rib cage brought a cold sweat down my spine.
Do not look at it. Don’t draw attention to it. You know you’re fine.
I knew what getting shot felt like, and this definitely wasn’t it, but still, a graze would be problematic.
Maybe it’s just a scratch?
Thundering footsteps approached me, Darren stopped to glare at me with a dark, venomous look. Sloane quickly reappeared behind him.
“What happened?” she called, looking between Darren and me.
But Darren said nothing as he stared down at me, then held out his hand for me to take. I stretched up my arm that wasn’t trying to conceal a wound to place my hand in his, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t matter.
Pulling me up to stand, he yanked me away from Camaro, who quickly stood back up and began to sniff the floor again, searching for more danger.
“I’m fine, I’m okay,” I tried to reassure him.
But the fury emanating from his eyes told me everything was so not fine.
I could feel the heat from his body simmering against my skin like the dark warning of a smoldering volcano ready to erupt, and you couldn’t reason with a raging volcano. “Really, I’m fin—”
But he cut me off mid-sentence to grab for my other arm and wrenched it away from my ribs, revealing the small blood stain in my clearly torn dress from where the bullet had grazed me.
Fuck.
“I’m okay. Everything’s okay,” I reassured quickly, but my voice came out like a desperate plea instead, fear paralyzing my tongue.
Darren said nothing. He just stared intently at my wound while his eyes blazed with the kind of wrath that only I could muster—the kind that brought pain and brutal retribution. But I would endure it for Camaro if that was what I had to do.
“I’ve warned you for the last time, Jaden,” Darren said, his voice dark with menace and disappointment. “But you’ve left me with no choice.”
He then turned toward Camaro, lifted his gun, and pulled the trigger. Twice.
“NO!” I screamed as I rushed for her, but Darren held me back as I watched her yelp and then slip over the edge of the yacht, swallowed up by the dark water.
“NO, NO, NO! CAMARO, NO!” I continued to scream, fighting against Darren with all that I had so I could dive into the water and find her.
But the yacht continued its voyage, leaving Camaro behind to disappear into the deep depths of the ocean.
I fought Darren until I collapsed in his arms, unable to catch my breath as panic seized my entire body. Hot, angry tears dripped down my face in ugly globs of despair while my heart ripped itself into shreds at the bottom of my sickened stomach.
“How could you do that?!” I screamed in anguish. “How could you do that to me!”
Darren released me only to fling me into Sloane’s arms, who held me upright.
“Because you refuse to listen!” he roared back. “I’ve warned you time and time again to stop risking your life for a dog, and you refuse! Even as you carry our child inside you! And if this is what it takes to get you to prioritize your own life and the life of our baby, then so be it!”
“I fucking hate you! Do you hear me? I hate you!” I screamed, attempting to rip myself from Sloane’s arms so I could claw Darren’s eyes out. “You don’t even deserve a fucking child! It’s better off dead than having you as a father!”
Darren’s features went from menacing to instantly cold as ice. Before I could say another word, his hand whipped out and snatched my jaw, preventing me from uttering another syllable. “That sounds like a threat, little wife. Is that how you want me to perceive that?”
He was countering my threat with his own, the very same one that he made before if he ever suspected me of trying to trigger a miscarriage.
But what difference would it make if he locked me up for the rest of my pregnancy now?
I was already dead inside. How a fetus could thrive inside a corpse would be Darren’s problem to figure out, not mine.
“I am not going to watch you torture my child,” I spat through my clenched jaw.
Darren huffed a laugh before releasing my face from his grip.
“You don’t have to watch anything, Jaden.
If you refuse to participate in motherhood as expected, that’s your choice.
I sincerely doubt you’ll be able to resist our child anyway, but if you insist, then fine.
I grew up without a mother and prevailed all the same. Our child will too.”
I felt my chin and my heart hit the floor in absolute disbelief.
“Happy fucking birthday, princess.” And with that, he walked away to leave me a shattered mess that melted to the floor, wails of misery scorching up my throat as my glossy eyes searched for a sign of hope in the blackened water.