Page 19 of Monster
“So, I found a job,” Eden announced later that evening. They were once again in the living room and while Eden held Liam on her lap, intermittently cooing at him, her best friend was polishing off the rest of her meal.
“You did?” Jenna raised an arched brow, her puzzlement written clearly on her face. She was still trying to understand how Eden’s mind worked; how one could be so opposed to simply basking in the luxury that surrounded them. Despite her best efforts, Jenna could not prevent the small stabs of jealousy that had been frequent as of late when she thought about Eden. If a man of Dominic’s caliber wanted to cage her in his twenty six thousand square foot home and shower her with innumerable gifts, while only asking for the pleasure of her body every now and then, Jenna knew she would’ve spread her legs open in a heartbeat. She couldn’t understand why Eden fought so hard against it. Why go out and bust your ass looking for work when you had a sugar daddy that could support you? Why runaway to nothing when you had such an abundance of wealth waiting for you right here? Not only that, but Eden had a child with Dominic, a surefire way to guarantee her livelihood for years. Yet with all this, Eden wanted to leave. She wanted a life of misery and hard work.
Eden smiled brightly ignorant of the resentment that afflicted Jenna. “Yeah, it’s a waitressing job at Carver’s Grill on North Main Street,” she divulged. “It’s only part time for now, but I can make really good tips. If it’s going to be a problem watching Liam, I can find a sitter—”
Jenna snorted. “What and let someone else watch my little butterball? Don’t worry about it, Ede. I told you I’m here for you. Do what you have to do; I’ll watch Liam whenever you need me.”
“I feel like I’m taking advantage of you. Are you sure you’re okay with this, Jen? Please don’t feel obligated—”
“Eden,” Jenna interrupted, looking pointedly at the other woman. “I’m good. If I wasn’t, I would’ve told you by now. Don’t stress about Liam, he and I are used to each other now anyway. Bringing in someone new might mess that up.”
“You’re the best, Jenna. Thank you. Did you hear that, Lee, Auntie Jenna can watch you while Mommy’s working. Yay, Auntie Jenna!” With Eden so absorbed in speaking to the infant on her lap, Jenna’s resentment abated somewhat at the image. Regardless of her own complex emotions, Jenna was glad to know that at the very least she could take joy in watching her best friend with her baby. Eden had done a lot for her so far and Jenna owed her a lot, it was just going to take some time to come out of her own head.
Now that Liam finally slept through the night, Eden was given a reprieve from her every-four-hour scheduled feedings to sleep, too. When she woke up the following morning, she was well and thoroughly rested. But alarm swiftly shot through her when she headed to Liam’s crib and found him missing. She told herself not to panic but hastened to Jenna’s room, sure that she would find him there.
“I didn’t take him.” Jenna informed her moments later, clearly as rattled as Eden.
“Oh, God.” Color bled out of her face as terror seized her, making her world spin. She put a hand to her chest, feeling the thundering of her heart against her clammy palm. “I…we need…we need to find him, Jenna.”
Jenna took Eden’s other hand within her own and held on tight. “Don’t worry. He’s probably with the housekeeper. I’ll go check downstairs; you stay up here and wait to see if she comes back.” She took a deep breath, attempting to bolster her friend’s flagging spirits. “She probably took him down to give you time to rest.”
It wasn’t likely though, because despite Jenna’s reassurance, they both knew no one else in the house came near Liam except for the two of them. If it wasn’t Jenna, it was always Eden, and that was exactly how Eden had wanted it. She hadn’t wanted to rely on Dominic’s people and she’d made that clear in the first few days of returning to the mansion. She knew the housekeeper, Jacqueline, a stout, matronly woman who’d been in Dominic’s employ for years. She had been there when Eden had initially moved in after her wedding and had been a quiet spectator to their dysfunction, turning a dutiful blind eye to her employer’s oftentimes sadistic vices. Eden knew she couldn’t have possibly taken Liam, at least not without telling her first. But then again, Jacqueline didn’t work for her.
That sudden thought was swiftly followed by another and working on nothing but her suspicion alone, Eden raced from Jenna’s bedroom down the hall. The master bedroom was in the east wing at the end of the hallway she shot right and sprinted to the bedroom she’d once shared with Dominic. She wrapped both hands around the matte black handles and yanked them open. Memories instantly assailed her, crashing into Eden like a massive wave at the sight of the massive sleigh bed that stood raised on a dais. She shook her head to dislodge them; there was only one thing on her mind now, and as she searched the expansive bedroom, her eyes shooting from one extravagant corner to the other, she found no hint of him. The bed was neatly made, the pristine cream colored sheets and curtains standing out against the dark chocolate of the furniture.
Everything was custom made, built exactly to Dominic’s specifications, even the tray ceiling with its sunken levels and crown moldings was precisely how he’d wanted it. The white double pillars framed French doors that led to the open terrace. A flash, a memory of a chain, a delicate, fine black lace domino mask, a riding crop and Dominic gripping her as she stepped between those pillars. But again, Eden shoved those memories where they belonged and continued forward. It was there that she found him, seated in a wicker recliner, one leg slightly tossed over the other so that it formed a square and it was in the cradle of that square that he had Liam nestled on his lap. It was beautiful outside and even though there was a slight warm breeze blowing every now and then, Liam was well and truly bundled.
Utterly conflicted by the image, Eden summoned an emotion that was far more familiar to her and used confront him.
“How dare you just come and grab him from my room without my permission,” she kvetched, coming around to face him, hands at her hips and a fire in her gold eyes that could scorch a lesser man.
Impassive features conveyed nothing as Dominic quietly surveyed her, attuned to the anger that burned off her like sparks; he wanted nothing more than to capture the succulent pout of her lips and taste that fury for himself. “I didn’t realize I had to ask permission to visit with my son.”
“Your son?” she exclaimed. “When did he start becoming your son? Or is he your son when it’s only convenient to your needs.”
“Keep your voice down,” he instructed, the rumble of his voice conveying his burgeoning irritation. “He has always been my son.”
“You told me you didn’t want him.”
“It appears I’ve changed my mind,” he imparted coolly.
“Change it back,” she returned, hating his cavalier approach to something so meaningful to her. “He isn’t a toy, Dominic. He’s not something you can pick up and play with, and then abandon the next day. He’s a child, he’s my child, and I am the only parent he’s going to need.”
“He needs a father.”
“You’re the furthest thing he needs. You are as incapable of being a father as you are of being a good husband,” she spat venomously.
For a long moment he said nothing and when he unfurled his body from the recliner and came to his full height with Liam held carefully in his arms, Eden stood her ground to face him. Standing there, towering over her, it seemed as though he would say something. In his dark green eyes, Eden tried to decipher the emotions that were whirling like black smoke, but he closed himself off before she could glean anything, withdrawing into the depths of his twisted mind. He wordlessly turned from her and headed back inside the bedroom with Liam.
“Oh thank God, you found him!” Jenna exclaimed, having found her way to the master bedroom with Jacqueline’s help. She’d practically ran to find it. She nearly lost the breath she was trying so hard to recuperate when her blue eyes landed on Dominic’s formidable form as he entered the bedroom. She’d only seen him once before in passing over the last week, but was finally given the opportunity to look at him fully, and the full-on view was astounding. Dominic Armstrong possessed the sort of look that made a woman instantaneously aware of herself, made her aware of the sort of wickedness he could invoke with just one look from those smoldering, dark green eyes.
He was strikingly handsome, tall in the way that made a woman feel delicate and vulnerable beneath his towering height. Dark, jet black hair was cut stylishly short to fit the symmetry of his face. True masculine beauty shone in his lean features; a perfect aquiline nose, high cheekbones and a wide, sensual mouth made her stare openly. The long sleeved sky blue shirt he sported, neatly tucked into a pair of fitted dark trousers, outlined the definition of his physique. Broad shoulders, long muscular arms, what she could only assume to be a washboard abdomen led to narrowed hips. Knowing she was gawking, Jenna returned her gaze back up to that beautiful face and flushed embarrassingly at that one curious raised brow. There was a frighteningly powerful energy about him, something dark and a little sinister that threw Jenna off balance, and she was forced to avert her gaze when he regarded her in kind, those rapier sharp green eyes skewering her.
Beautiful and frightening. That was Jenna’s impression of Dominic Armstrong, and she was now vaguely aware why Eden wanted nothing to do with him. He looked like he could pleasure a girl and devastate her all in the same breath without even trying. And that was even more dangerous than the glint in his green eyes.
“Yes, but given that he was not lost in the first place, I don’t see the cause for alarm,” he drawled.
“Of course you don’t see the cause for alarm because you can’t possibly know what it’s like to wake up and find your child missing,” Eden fumed, reaching out her arms to take Liam from him, but he used his substantial height to evade her, smoothly sidestepping around her. “Give me my son.”
