Chapter 23 Into The Fire
INTO THE FIRE
The sheer look of terror on Jaden’s face immediately brought my dick to life.
The sudden primal urge to conquer and fuck caused the strain in my pants to become an irritation I didn’t have time to deal with.
For a second, she almost looked like a deer caught in headlights, her big hazel eyes wide with shock and fear, her body nearly frozen in place and dressed in combative gear—I saw fucking red.
But upon recognizing that she was in fact still on the grounds, as I had feared—clearly alone, heavily armed, and dressed in combative gear—I saw fucking red.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!” I roared as I stormed my way toward her.
My sharp tone made her visibly flinch, seemingly knocking her from the frozen state she had been in. But when I got maybe fifty feet in front of her, she suddenly regained her full composure and lifted both her hands to reveal two small handguns, each one pointed at me.
And then she started shooting.
Immediately, I knew three bullets had struck the center of my protective vest, compromising its integrity, the impact instantly knocking the breath from my lungs.
One bullet had grazed my shoulder, while another had zipped past my ear.
The realization that my pregnant wife was actively shooting at me forced my body to maneuver out of her range and behind the kitchen island.
My chest ached something fierce as my lungs struggled to take in oxygen.
Getting shot, even with a protective vest, still hurt like fucking hell, and it did wonders for the stab wound in my side.
Removing the now useless vest, the absence of the additional weight made it slightly easier for me to breathe again, but each breath was like inhaling fire.
Fucking Tuesdays…
When the shooting stopped, I waited a few seconds before glancing around the corner of the counter, but Jaden was nowhere in sight.
Frustration and disappointment struck me hard at the fact that for the first time in a long time, Jaden had actively tried to kill me.
While I had hoped she would have learned by now that such an endeavor was impossible for her, the realization that she was willing to try again told me I had still not yet broken her hard enough.
You’d think that after everything I had put her through, she would have abandoned the entire fantasy as nothing more than a silly intrusive thought not worth her time or energy.
But not Jaden…
The hardest part was going to be apprehending my pregnant wife without hurting her or our unborn child while she was actively trying to kill me and then safely relocating her.
You get what you pay for, dipshit. You can’t have it both ways.
And wasn’t that the goddamn truth.
“Jaden, cut the shit and get your ass out here right now,” I ordered as I cautiously stood from behind the kitchen island, hoping she was now empty on ammunition.
I sighed when I was met with silence, rounding the counter to glance in every direction for her small frame that could easily hide behind a fucking fire hydrant. But before I could finish my search, I felt a slight body slam onto my upper back as a cord was wrapped around my neck and pulled taut.
My hands immediately moved to grip the offending cord, circling back to find small feminine hands clutching it tightly. I grabbed her forearms and jerked my body forward, launching her from my upper shoulders to swing her down so that her back landed onto the kitchen island as gently as possible.
Jaden’s surprised face looked up at me as her head nearly dangled off the counter, her chest heaving with heavy breaths.
“I want a fucking divorce,” she growled, then gripped the edges of the counter and lifted her knee all the way to her chest to kick me right in the face with her boot.
I felt the skin of my brow tear, blood dripping down the side of my face, but I maintained my hold of her wrists. Ignoring the blow, I swiftly spun her around so that she was now forward facing me, my hips safely planted between her legs.
“After today, the only thing you’re going to get is a fucking lobotomy,” I retorted angrily.
Maybe everyone was right. Maybe I was a fool.
Perhaps it was time I accepted that the only way I could truly control Jaden was to turn her back into some semblance of a fucking robot again.
My long-term survival might actually depend on it if I wanted to maintain this little family I intended to grow.
Keeping her pinned in place by the throat, I reached around the counter to pull open the drawer containing a hidden sedative specifically calculated for Jaden and her pregnancy.
The propofol was just enough to keep her barely conscious and would give me all the time I needed to move her to a more secure location.
I had these hidden all over the house for reasons just like this.
I had just hoped it would never have to come to such extreme measures.
Grabbing the syringe that was attached to the bottom of the countertop, I bit off the cap between my teeth as Jaden continued to fight and squirm under me. But when she lifted her legs, her knee pressed right into my stab wound, causing me to pause in my actions momentarily as the pain overtook me.
The pause was enough to allow her time to break free from my hold, grab the syringe, and push the plunger, draining the propofol all over the counter.
I groaned in irritation at the wasted sedative.
“You little fucking…”
But I didn’t get the chance to finish my sentence before both her hands flew down to her thighs, and then a slight pinching pain at both my sides caught my attention.
Looking down, I saw Jaden had two of her own syringes in each of her hands, a wicked grin stretching across her face as she looked up at me. Alarm struck my spine like a freight train at the realization she had just injected me with an unknown substance—twice.
Grabbing both her wrists, I pulled them up to the sides of her head to assess what the fuck she had just done and how much time I may or may not have left.
“What the fuck did you just do?!” I growled as I attempted to glance over the now empty syringes still in her hands.
“You’ll see in about thirty seconds,” she sneered before opening her hands and dropping them onto the counter. “I’m sure it won’t be too hard for you to recognize your own product.”
My entire body suddenly went rigid with her answer.
The nerve serum…
As if I wasn’t dealing with enough pain as it was, this little brat just gave me two doses.
FUCK.
Thinking quickly, my only remedy at this point was to locate the adrenaline injections that were also hidden throughout the house.
The adrenaline would help mask the pain that was about to hit me like a hurricane, but I didn’t have much time to act because Jaden was sure to capitalize on the opportunity for as long as she could.
But before I could even contemplate my next move, Jaden shoved her fist up the side of my face, a strange sharp pain instantly slicing through my cheek.
She then pulled her knees into her chest and kicked both feet into my abdomen, shoving me back with the force of what felt like a fucking semi-truck.
My back slammed against the cabinets behind me, and the breath was knocked from my lungs. Enraged, I watched Jaden somersault backward off the counter and reach for the block containing the butcher knives.
Righting myself, I pressed my hand against my stinging cheek to find a long streak of blood against my palm. Glancing across the counter, I noticed Jaden’s engagement ring was now glistening with a ruby red color. My blood.
And it made me smile.
“Attagirl.”
She just glared at me like she usually did, baring her teeth like some wild animal. “Want some more?”
One by one, she chucked several of the butcher knives in my direction, forcing me to duck down and out of the way of her aim. When she ran out of knives, she threw the block next, narrowly missing my head.
“Dammit, Jaden, what have I told you about throwing things?” I warned as I lunged for her.
Moving fast, she dodged my grasp, jumping from the counter to wrench two broken metal pipes barely hanging from the wall that had been blown apart from the water system. I rolled my eyes and sighed with annoyance as she whipped the two pipes in the air, testing their durability.
I groaned as I felt the serum taking hold and exacerbating the pain from my stab wound tenfold. The next closest adrenaline shot was in the wall that had been blown apart completely, leading outside into the side yard. And God knew where the two others in this room had ended up.
Jaden paused for a moment as her eyes performed an assessment quick enough to catch the breath that shuddered out of me from the fire now flowing through my veins.
“Need some Tylenol?” she joked, a smirk curling the corner of her mouth.
“Jaden, for fuck’s sake, quit fooling around and put those down,” I growled through gritted teeth.
Her gaze rose to connect with mine, hellfire now blazing in her eyes as she glared back at me.
“No,” she drawled. “Don’t think I will.”
With that, she charged forward, swinging the pipes in my direction.
I caught the first one aimed at my head, then the second one for my neck, the impact of catching both making my hands feel like I had broken them.
But Jaden anticipated the blocks and immediately lifted her leg to drive her foot into my now exposed side, right into my stab wound.
The explosive pain radiated through my body like twenty hot irons had impaled themselves straight through my rib cage.
And like the smart girl she was, she didn’t stop kicking, bringing her leg back down to force her heel into the side of my knee.
It caused my body to fall forward, my grip on the pipes loosening just enough for her to rip them out of my hands.