Page 68 of Mine, Forever

I put the cell down before I threw it across the room and took a seat on the sofa. I was seething. Why would he cut me out of dealing with Adora? He knew how much I wanted to hurt the bitch, and now he was taking all of my glory.

My cell rang out to alert me to a message received. I pushed off the seat and opened it up.

Jett:Warehouse. Drilling Adora for information. Make sure you dose the twins again and come down here. Call Chaz if you need help.

The word drilling stopped me from immediately replying. I wouldn’t put it past him to actually be using a drill on her for information. That made me smile, thinking of Adora’s petrified face as Jett hurt her… for me.

Putting the cell down, I grabbed my gun and unlocked the door to the spare room. The screaming instantly stopped, and I heard them whispering to each other before I walked in the room revealing myself.

“Oh my God,” Bree exclaimed, clutching at her chest. The gun was hidden in the waistband of my pants, out of sight. “Ebony, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“Sit down.”

“Where have you been?” Taleah asked. “You’ve been gone for like a year.”

I was surprised they had known that. Not that they would have reached out to me to ask if I was okay, but it was still nice to be thought of.

“Shut up and listen to me,” I said, angrily. “Mother Dearest has put you in danger. You’ve knocked back the help offered to keep you safe, so you’ll need to stay here until we sort this shit out.”

“Whatever, Eb,” Bree began to walk toward me on her way out when I grew angrier. I pulled the gun from its place in my waistband and pointed it at her. She stopped, looking from the gun to me, back to the gun and then at Taleah. “Ebony, what are you doing?”

“Sit down,” I said. “You want to know where I’ve been? I’ve been training to be a hardass, and I will put a bullet through you if you try to escape. Make no mistake about it, I will do what is necessary to keep you here.”

“Where’s mother?” Taleah asked, pulling Bree behind her. She’d always been the big protector of the two.

“She’s talking with Jett.”

“Jett Black? That’s who you’re messed up with now? Jesus, Ebony, are you serious? Do you know what he does?”

“Yes,” I told her. “I’m aware of what he does because I do it too.”

“Ebony, you don’t need to do this.”

“Taleah, don’t make me ruin your career by being stupid.”

She was startled by the tone of my voice, backing up a little bit. Good, she needed to know I wasn’t someone she could mess with, not anymore.

“Take these,” I threw the tub of pills at them. Taleah caught them and looked down at the label before throwing them on the bed. Bree picked them up and was carefully studying them.

“Why?” Taleah crossed her arms over her chest in defiance.

“Take them.”

Bree took two out and looked down at the capsules then back up at me again. “Will I gain weight?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

“It’s a sedative, Bree,” Taleah said, unable to take her eyes off me. “Why do you want us knocked out?”

“It’s just easier to deal with you when you’re knocked out. The screaming is getting on my nerves.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”

I saw and heard the pain in what she’d said making me wonder what she’d gone through being one of the top models in the world. Had she been used and abused like I had when I was younger?

Taleah and Bree both took the pills without any more arguing and laid down on the bed. I waited until they were out and locked the door again.

As I was leaving the apartment, I saw Chaz come in through the door.

---