Page 81 of Guarded from Corruption

He casts a quick look at my mother, then says, “I had been looking for the perfect wife, but no one was right. They were beautiful, but… so demanding. Willful. Then I thought… what if I could create the ideal woman? One who’d do what I wanted? Who would look perfect on my arm? So I started experimenting.”

Ice encases my lungs. Air whistles through a narrowing throat. “What?”

“It took a while to create the perfect drug. One that would make the women docile, but still alert. But once I found it…” His lips curve up. “Your mother was my first successful subject. And she’s perfect, isn’t she?”

“Perfect?” Anger melts away some of the icy shock. “You’re… drugging the women? Conditioning them?”

“Not all of them.” My father shakes his head, sighing. “Not all my clients want to pay for the additional training required. So I offer them women to train on their own. It’s not what I would do, but as long as they’re paying…” He shrugs. “I don’t really care.”

I can’t breathe past the pain in my chest. “You want to sell me? Drug me? Send me off to some man to use me?” Tears burn behind my eyes. “I’m your daughter.”

“Yes,” he snaps. “You’re supposed to bring value to the family. I had men lined up for you. Men who were prepared to compensate me generously for you. But you had to go off on your own. And now—” My father’s lip curls up in distaste. “Look at you. Almost past your peak. Soon you won’t be able to provide healthy children. I had to do something.”

Each word is a dagger flaying my heart. “Do something? Sell me?”

“Come on, Jade. It’s not that bad. All the men who were interested in you—they’re wealthy. Successful. You would have been treated like a treasured prize, just like your mother. You’d have a fulfilling life instead of this ridiculous job of yours, living in a crappy apartment, wasting your prime years…”

His jaw tightens. “Anyway. Enough of this. You ruined everything, so now you’re going to help me recreate a new operation.”

“You’ll be caught.” I take another step back and bump into the mattress. My gaze keeps jumping from the gun to my father’s eyes and back again. “Everyone is going to jail.”

“Not me.” He smirks. “I was so careful. None of my associates ever knew my name. All the payments were in cash. And it’s so easy to hide profits when you own a pharmaceutical company. It’s perfect, really.”

He’s crazy.

“Alright.” My father’s hand clamps on my arm. “I know what you’re doing. Trying to stall. Hoping I’ll change my mind. I won’t. And my patience is running thin. I have a client that is waiting for you. He’s very eager.”

“No.” I yank against him. “I won’t.”

Dimly, I can feel hot tears on my cheeks.

“Yes.” It’s a hiss. “You will. You’re going to make me millions. Enough to start my operation again. And if you fight me, I’ll kill your boyfriend.” His eyes are like ice. “So you’re coming with me now.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

NIALL

Being here makes me feel even more protective of Jade.

Watching someone as sweet and caring as Jade be treated so coldly by her parents makes my heart ache for her.

I knew they weren’t nice people, but this? It’s beyond anything I imagined.

Not once did either of them ask if Jade was okay. They didn’t ask if she was struggling. If she felt safe.

There were no hugs, no comforting touches, no offers of support. Just the little jabs her father kept taking at Jade, like scolding her for not coming here to stay. For worrying her mother, who looked the furthest thing from worried—more concerned with table settings than her daughter’s well-being.

When Jade told me she was a disappointment to her parents, it was hard to believe. Now that I’ve met them, I think they’re the disappointment. Jade is smart and sweet and kind and my parents would have loved her. My dad would have told me to hang on to such an amazing woman. My mom would have taken Jade under her wing.

I’m ready to get out of here. Get out of this cream-colored confection of a room with its stiff velvet sofas and immaculate rugs and fancy-looking clocks all over the walls. I want to get Jade out of this oppressive house and back home where I can give her a massage and make love to her and tell her over and over again how great she is.

Soon. Jade’s been talking to her mother for about fifteen minutes now, and her father just left to check on them. See how their girl talk is going, as he put it with a sneery little smirk, like two women talking is unimportant and silly.

I saw the flicker of hope in Jade’s eyes when her mother brought it up, and I’m hoping, too. Maybe, away from the domineering influence of Garrett Bell, the two women will actually talk. Maybe Jade will get to talk with her mom the same way Shea used to talk to ours.

But I’m not holding my breath.

As I wait for everyone to come back, I scan the room again, this time counting the clocks. There are ten of them, which seems like nine too many, all ticking in slightly different rhythms. I didn’t notice when we were all in here talking, but in the otherwise quiet room the ticking gives it an ominous feel.

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