Spark ( Book 3: Stronger Series )

18. Bait

For the next few days, I continued my usual routine with Holly and the occasional Scott, proving every day that I was beyond over this shit. I wanted off this godforsaken island even though I knew my situation wouldn't be much better when I returned to the mainland. If I thought I was isolated on the island before, I was in for a real treat when we got back to the estate. But I had to keep telling myself to bite the bullet and deal with it. I had earned those consequences, and they were still fucking worth it knowing Jason and my mom and brothers were out of Darren's clutches.

"Come on, Jaden, just one more," Holly said, almost sounding bored. I furrowed my brows as I finished my last one-arm push-up and stood on my feet.

"You okay?" I asked as I tried to catch my breath.

"Fine," she replied dismissively.

I looked at her and cocked an eyebrow, knowing full well something was up. "You sure?"

"Yeah. Let's go for a run."

"Okay," I said a little taken aback by her tone.

I followed her out of the gym, Blondie and Hank in tow as we made our way to the beach. Leaving our shoes on the grass, we took off at an easy jog. I couldn't help but glance at Holly every now and then as we kept an even pace along the shore. She was acting completely out of character. She was quiet, which was completely unusual, and her eyes kept gazing off as if she were deep in thought about something.

"Holly, what's wrong? Are you upset we're leaving the island soon?"

She shook her head. "No, Jaden. Just something Mr. Davis said to me this morning."

I stopped in my tracks, grabbing her arm to halt her to a stop as well. With Hank and Blondie a good twenty feet behind us, we could conceal the conversation with how loud the damn waves were.

"What did he say?"

Holly shook her head. Looking down at the ground, she locked her lips together to keep from spilling what she so obviously desperately wanted to.

"Holly," I warned, narrowing my eyes at her.

She sighed, dropping her shoulders as she looked on to the ocean.

"He thanked me for my services, said I'd done wonders with you, and that... he couldn't wait... for your mother to see how much you've improved."

I felt my heart stop as Holly regarded me closely.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

Darren had told her my mother had died in the "car accident" I was supposed to have been in, explaining the cause of my injuries. Why would he fuck up his own lie? It wasn't like him to contradict himself, and I doubt he forgot what he had told her.

Holly's eyes remained on me as she stared me down like she had more to reveal.

"So, as you can imagine, that left me very confused because after I had left his office, I remembered being told your mother had perished in that car accident you were in and was to never bring it up since it was too traumatic for you to talk about."

My stomach twisted in knots as Holly's eyes grew angry.

"So I did a little digging and went through your medical records, which happened to be very easy for me to access, by the way. There was no mention of a car accident nor was there any mention of other injuries that would coincide with a car accident, such as scrapes or cuts. And if that so-called "accident" was severe enough to take the lives of three people, you'd have a hell of a lot more external injuries than just bruises. Your injuries don't make sense for a car accident, Jaden. Because that's obviously not how they happened."