Page 125 of Spark

“Then why bother to bring me? I suck at this kind of stuff.” My voice was quiet, but I couldn’t hide the high-pitched squeak that came from whispering so loudly.

“The idea sounded entertaining,” he said with a half-smile.

“What could possibly be so entertaining for you? It’s not like you’re going to let me talk to anyone.”

“On the contrary, I’m prepared to let you talk quite a bit. Your presence has been requested, after all.”

I jerked my head back, astonished.

“It was?”

“Multiple times actually, and I have finally decided to oblige those requests.”

“By who?”

“My family,” Darren answered slyly.

My eyes avoided his to latch on to anything else as I tried to wrap my brain around the situation. I was going to be surrounded by his family, where I would likely be judged from every angle, picked and prodded at to see how I twitched under pressure. This was a test, an exercise to see how I could handle myself under the eyes of many. But that was fine, because while they were examining me, I would be examining them. Tonight, I would be a sponge and soak up every drop of information available. I would add more faces to my list of deaths to come.

“What are the rules?” I asked dryly. I knew there would be some stipulations to this.

Darren smiled smugly. “Don’t disappoint me,” he said simply and took my arm to link it through his. “But should you do so, know that I won’t hesitate to take you over my knee in front of the entire party, got it?”

I gulped back my trepidation, and failed to hide my scowl. Fuck that noise.

“Duly noted.”

“Good girl,” he said and escorted me toward the house.

Thanks for the pep talk.

Clive and Owen stood off near the curb of the driveway, watching as more guests arrived and headed into the lavish house. My heart raced in my chest while my fingernails bit into Darren’s forearm. My bodyguards stepped in line behind us as we passed them, my heels clicking on the stone pavement as we walked toward the door where my enemies mingled behind, celebrating the birth of a cursed child.

46

Meet the Family

* * *

Jaden’s body was beyond stiff as I escorted her inside Dan’s house. I could feel her eyes scanning every little thing that they came across, and it did nothing but make me laugh inside. She would gain no information here that would leave her with an advantage. Only a few of our shared business partners were in attendance, and I had no intention of introducing her to them. Half were friends or close associates while the other half were from what was left of Katherine’s side of the family, and though my fingers twitched to eliminate every single one of them, I resisted the urge.

Walking through the foyer, I had to admit Dan had a pretty nice setup. Though it wasn’t as large as my estate, it was still decent enough for the two of them. Dan’s house was modern and sleek, a multitude of dark and light shades of gray coloring the interior while large rectangular vertical windows gave way for natural light. The house was always beyond spotless; not even a speck of dust lingered in the air, a result of Dan’s OCD. He was a neat freak—had been ever since our mom had been killed—and now, Katherine got to be with one to deal with his rage fits when shit got out of order. Served the bitch right.

I spotted Dan immediately, standing by the sofa talking to an associate of ours while Katherine stood beside him quietly, her hands folded in front of her as she pretended to listen to him talk. The sound of my heavy footsteps alerted him to my arrival, and he quickly dismissed his conversation before taking Katherine’s hand and hurrying over to Jaden and me.

“You made it!” Daniel said enthusiastically as he slowed his pace to stop before us. “Finally!”

Dan’s eyes roamed over Jaden’s form, quickly assessing her before raising his eyes back to mine and lifting an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes in response.

“Daniel, this is Jaden. Jaden, this is my middle brother, Daniel Davis, and his wife, Katherine.”

Katherine smiled and nodded her head at Jaden. “Hello,” she said quietly, keeping her hands folded under the large round swell of her stomach.

“Very nice to meet you,” Dan said, taking Jaden’s hand and clasping it gently.

“You as well and congratulations, by the way,” Jaden said politely, but there was a sense of confidence in her tone I didn’t like. It usually meant trouble in the future.

“Oh, thank you,” Katherine said with a shy smile.

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