The Darkness of Perfection (16 page)

“Four,” she whispered, stunned by my knowledge.

I nodded. “Four, of course. Not to mention your own broken ankle and cracked rib. I’m glad you weren’t hurt worse, Jayden. I’ll never forgive your mother for being so careless with your safety.” I kissed her head, reassuring myself unnecessarily that she was safe and here with me now. I wanted so badly to kiss her fully, but that would have to wait. Everything was a step to whittle away at her resistance. Kissing the top of her head, her brow, her cheek, even her neck or shoulder wouldn’t be perceived as threatening to her, but it allowed her to grow used to my touch. “You know all those years they pretended to be happily married, they really could have been. Your father paid the price for your escape. If only he’d had better control over his wife. She should have never been taught to drive.

It gave her the means to escape.”

“Wha-what do you mean ‘he paid the price’?” She stared at me with her wide, green eyes, so filled with the turmoil she was feeling, knowing the answer but needing to hear it anyway.

“Simple, he got a bullet to the back of the head for his stupidity,” I shrugged.

“Did you-“

I threw my head back and laughed. “No silly girl. I was only fourteen. My father shot him,” I said, laughing again. Then I got very serious. “I was a child then and couldn’t stop the events that took you away from me, but know this: I’m not helpless any longer. Your father promised to give you to me the day you were born. You’ve always belonged to me, Jayden, and if you ever try to run away again I will stop you and I’ll hurt anyone who helps you.”

I let my threat sink in as tears tracked unheeded down her face, falling onto my arm. I needed her to understand one final point before we could begin moving forward, and turned her to face to the laptop sitting on my desk. She cried as she watched image after image pop up on the screen of her family, her home, her friends, even her favorite teacher.

“Please don’t hurt them,” she cried.

“You know the words I want to hear to keep them safe, Jayden, and you’d better be sure before you say them, because you know how I feel about liars,” I warned.

I wanted her promise. Even though I could have just told her no one was looking for her because they thought she was dead, I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her that I’d faked her death. It wasn’t necessary at this point. I had enough control over her just with my threats. Later, if she continued to talk about her family coming for her, I would use it. No sense in playing all my cards this early in the game.

Her words were spoken so softly, I strained to hear them.

“I promise.”

“It’s all done Mr. Harrison. Everything is wired and in place like you ordered. If you’ll just open the program now, you’ll be able to see how it works or if you want the angles adjusted anywhere.”

I nodded absently and typed in the code on my laptop that brought up the security system I had installed in our home. It was state of the art and included surveillance cameras in every room. I would be able to see Jayden as she went about her day taking care of our home and eventual family. The screen changed as I brought up each camera showing the workers moving around putting the final touches on the house.

We stood around my desk, the blueprints to the house and the land survey spread out in front of us.

We referred back to them several times while I got a feel for the new system. The one in my father’s home had been upgraded in recent years but was still limited since it was installed after construction. I had the advantage of bare walls and raw land to run wiring anywhere necessary to achieve the desired results. When Jayden and I move in there wouldn’t be a single corner she could hide in or escape from. I could relax now, knowing that I had done everything in my power to protect her. This system was just the final step.

“And the perimeter?” I asked, studying the screen and analyzing the land survey.

“Cameras are mounted under the eaves so you can observe the area around the house as well,” he assured me.

He pointed out the location of the cameras along with the ones mounted further away from the house.

Our home was sitting on thirty fenced acres and I wanted to be certain that the security cameras covered as much ground as possible. Granted, it would have been easier if there was less ground to cover. Ten acres, like William had claimed for his home, would have been more than enough room, but thirty meant she’d never see the fence that protected her.

I didn’t want Jayden to feel like our home was a prison and this would give her that sense of freedom without me having to worry all the time if she wasn’t near the house. I knew my mother liked spending as much time outside as my father allowed her, puttering in her garden, and I wanted to give Jayden that same freedom without seeing the walls that kept her sheltered.

“I want-”

We were interrupted by the door to my office opening and I looked up to see my brother coming into the office. I rubbed my forehead wearily, resigned to facing yet another argument with him. He’d come by several times already over the last month and I was growing tired of his continued interference in my life.

I turned my attention back to the contractor, ignoring William for the moment. I’d heard it already so to wait a few minutes wouldn’t kill him. But I might, I thought snidely.

“Make the adjustments we’ve discussed and I want additional cameras mounted in the trees here and here,” I stated, pointing out two weak areas in the system near the back of the property. A little-used gravel road ran along the stretch of property that connected to a county road three miles away, but it was still a risk. “The gate is being installed today, so with the additional cameras mounted on the walls, we should be good.”

The contractor began rolling up his set of plans and shook his head, laughing. “When everything is done you’ll be locked up tighter than Fort Knox. You could store gold bars on your property completely secured.”

“I have something more valuable than gold, Mr. Gibson,” I winked. “My wife will live there and I want to know she’s completely safe and protected, even when I’m not there.” I shook his hand and ushered him to the door. “I want those modifications complete by the day after tomorrow. The furniture is being delivered on Thursday and I want to move in next week.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Harrison. Nothing to it.”

I shut the door behind him and walked over to the bar to pour a drink. I was going to need it to get through another conversation with William. “Want one?” I asked, raising the decanter in the air.

“Sure,” he replied. He was standing at my desk looking over the blueprints and the pictures on the computer since I hadn’t shut down the system yet. “Have you heard the term ‘overkill’, Nicholas?

Why don’t you just put her in a white jumpsuit and send her to fucking Huntsville? The only things missing from your plans are bars on the windows and razor wire on the walls of the fence.” His derision came through loud and clear in his comments.

“They’re being installed on Friday,” I deadpanned, setting his glass down firmly in front of him. I turned the laptop away from his prying eyes and logged off the system, then began putting away the blueprints. “Is business slow that you have all this time to keep bugging me, or was there a purpose to your visit?” I remarked, gruffly.

“Fuck, Nicholas! What the hell happened to you? You used to actually care about Jayden.” He paused to take a swallow of his drink and pace in agitation before turning back to me. He slammed his glass down, sloshing the contents of his glass onto my desk and propped his hands on the smooth wood. “Do you care at all how terrified she must be with what you’re doing to her? And my God, you let her family think she’s dead! That alone is probably killing her. The longer you keep her the more damage you’re doing to her. You have got to let her go before it’s too late. I’ll even help if you want.”

I stood through his tirade, pretending nonchalance, knowing it only aggravated him more, while inside I seethed with building anger. I drained my glass in one gulp and slammed it down on the desk in front of me. “Fuck you, William, and the white horse you rode in on! Go peddle your shit and play hero somewhere else. First off, I was joking about the bars and razor wire. It’s my fucking home, for God’s sake, not a prison. Do you or don’t you have security at your own home to keep Grace protected? So why should I do any less for Jayden?”

“I love and protect my wife!” he shouted. “I didn’t make her a damn prisoner in her own fucking home, Nicholas. There’s a difference. Grace is free to come and go from our home. You’ve built a ten foot high wall around your property so Jayden is a virtual prisoner. You’ve got cameras mounted inside your house so she can’t take a piss without you knowing about it. What are you so afraid of?

Huh?”

I’d reached my boiling point and snapped. “That she’ll fucking get away, okay?” I shouted back at him. “Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear? I won’t give her the means to escape. She was given to me the day she was born. She’s always been mine. Her bitch of a mother stole her from me and ruined everything. If Jayden had never left she’d be my wife already. I intend to use every means at my disposal to undo all the damage that bitch caused, including making sure she can’t ever escape me again. She will be my wife and we will be happy.”

William glared at me in anger and frustration. “Do you hear yourself? Jayden is a human being, not a pet. You can’t make her love you. All you can do is threaten and terrify the poor girl until you have her so brainwashed she doesn’t know which end is up anymore.”

“Like you don’t condone it every single day with the girls you’ve got running through the warehouse.

So don’t get all sanctimonious and self-righteous on me,” I sneered. “And I haven’t done a damn thing to hurt Jayden.”

His jaw snapped shut and he stared at me, his eyes narrowing in disbelief. “Are you saying you haven’t kept her locked up in that damn cage you had built all this time? You haven’t hit her or physically hurt her in any way?” he asked, his words spoken slowly so I understood exactly what he was asking.

I walked around my desk and dropped heavily in my chair. I resented his constant interference in my affairs and that my own brother would think I was capable of hurting Jayden. Hell, it’s why I refused to send her to the facility in the first place. I knew what went on there. I’d seen it. The girls that were run through the facility were treated no better than cattle to slaughter. The only difference was there was no merciful killing at the end for them. Depending on their value, they were either sent to brothels around the country or other parts of the world where they’d spend their lives on their backs or they’d be sold to private buyers to be mistresses or wives depending on the buyer’s needs.

It was an ugly business, but if we didn’t provide the service someone else would. There would always be another monster out there willing to put their boot on the neck of their fellow man. Our family just happened to be the one wearing the biggest boot. It wasn’t something I was proud of or would ever want to admit to in polite company, but it was what it was. Our family had been in the business of buying and selling since before my father was born. William had been running the business for several years now, since he got out of college, so why get upset over what I was or wasn’t doing to Jayden?

Why did it matter to him?

My eyes narrowed suspiciously as I faced him. He was staring, waiting for my answer. I could almost see the tension radiating off of him. “Why do you care so much what I do to Jayden? Are you coveting my fiancée? Is that it?”

William drew himself up to his full height, indignation pouring off of him. “Are you insane? I love my wife with everything in me. Get over yourself, Nicholas,” he chuckled darkly. “That statement alone shows just how delusional you’ve become. Jayden isn’t your fiancée. She’s your fucking prisoner. Now answer the damn question. Have you raped-?”

I stood quickly to my feet and slammed my fists down on the desk. “Finish that sentence and I’ll bury you, brother or not. Not that it’s any of your fucking business, but no I haven’t. I never locked her in the cage. I haven’t hit her. And I certainly haven’t raped her! She’s going to be my wife, you bastard!

She’s not a fucking whore!” I waved my hand at him dismissively, gesturing for the door. “Now get the hell out of my office.”

His shoulders slumped, his expression filled with remorse as he faced me. He came around the desk to stand beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder, squeezing slightly. “I’m sorry, Nicholas. I just don’t know what you’re capable of anymore. I never would have thought you’d go as far as you have.