This was all on him and he would protect them both. He’d promised them, and he wouldn’t fail. The last thing he ever wanted to be was like his father.
****
Tulip wrapped her arms around herself as she watched the brothers leave the basement one by one.
She couldn’t believe Rick had put a gun to her head and was willing to kill her. Men like him were monsters to the core.
“Well, this is nice,” Jade said.
She wasn’t curled up on her bed. The Denton men had attacked so quickly neither of them had time to change. The cold was unbearable. This was one of the things she hated most about being on the streets. The cold always got to you, always pushed you to the limit of what you were willing to do.
She shivered, trying to warm herself up.
“There has to be a way out of here.”
“They’re metal bars,” Tulip said, watching as Jade started to squeeze each bar within her own cell.
“I don’t care.”
“You’ve been with Landon a handful of months and you think you can break out of any place?”
“I’ve got to be willing to try. If I don’t, they’re going to send me back to my family, and now that I’ve had a taste of freedom, I’m not going to give it up.” She squeezed one of the bars. “Come on.” She slammed her open palm against one of them.
“Even if you were to find a weak spot, how are we going to get out without Landon? I’m not leaving him behind. You saw that crazy look his uncle had. He’ll be killed.”
“What do you care, anyway? It’s not like you love him.”
Tulip glared at Jade. “I … it doesn’t matter, but did you see what he did? He’s willing to risk his sister for us.”
Jade moved toward the bars that separated their two cells. She put her hands around Tulip’s. “I want you to listen to me very closely.” She’d lowered her voice. “Landon will not risk his sister. She’s not coming home and the code red is the exact opposite of what Landon told them. The code red means Tamsin knows he’s been taken. He’s in danger and it means will she be too. They have their own secret code. He helped her to break free, just as he helped me to survive.”
“He was going to kill you.”
“Yes, but he didn’t. I’m alive. I’m free. I’m not going to allow myself to be handed over to my family. Especially if they decide Landon is still a viable choice as my husband, and they make some kind of deal. I know we haven’t exactly put a label between us, Tulip. I’m hoping one day you would consider me a friend. Friends do not fuck each other’s men. It’s not how it goes.”
“I know that.”
“So it will do for us to get out of he
re. If we can escape, I know for a fact Landon can. He got away the first time with his sister, who’s younger than both of us. He’ll do it again.” Jade kept on pulling on the bars.
“And if he doesn’t?” Tulip asked.
“Have you always been this sucky person or do the Denton men just make you feel that way?”
“I don’t consider myself sucky. I’m a realist. When I escaped the last time, they wanted me gone. Now, it’s a whole different story.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “They wanted me to find Landon, to draw him out, and now that they’ve got what they want, they’re not exactly going to keep us alive.”
“Don’t give up hope just yet. If they wanted you dead, you’d be on the ground dead. I hate this place. This is where they’ve brought a whole load of traitors.”
“We’re not traitors.”
“Not in the traditional sense, no, but we ran from them. They may see us as such. I don’t want to linger long enough to find out. Help me or die shivering. At least if we’re doing something, we’re not going to die.”
She didn’t see a reason to argue.
“If you went back home, wouldn’t you live in a life of luxury?”
“A life in a cage, Tulip. I’ve told you before. I don’t want to die a woman forced into a marriage I don’t want, with a man I don’t love.”