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“Well, what do you think?” he asked.
“So far, I’ll take it. No rats in sight, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t around.”
“I have no doubt. We’ll stay here a couple of weeks. I’ll work on figuring out Maddox’s code to break, and once I get this bounty off my head, we’ll be good,” Landon said.
“Code?” Tulip asked, picking up a container of Chinese food. Back home, the Chinese she used to enjoy came in little clea
r plastic containers. She normally loved a fried rice and plain curry.
“Landon believes if he can figure out the code to Maddox’s bounty, take the money, and wipe it off the system, there’s a chance he could get the hunters off his back. We believe his brothers are doing the same thing but as yet, we haven’t been able to crack the code. In the beginning, hunters were on our case all the time. Then slowly, they started to diminish.”
“It’s my brothers,” he said.
“How do you know it’s them?”
“They’re offering out extra bounty for other missions. It’s the only way to keep them all off my back. Don’t get me wrong, some won’t be lured by the other offers, but it’s a shot.”
“Your family’s that rich?”
“They will do whatever it takes to keep me safe.”
“Even though you killed your father.”
“I did what I had to do. Maddox needed killing. I was the only one with the guts enough to do it.”
Tulip shrugged. She’d never met this Maddox, so she wasn’t going to judge. In her world, some people always needed hurting, but it never meant she got what she wanted. No. In her world, she got used to lying low, avoiding, and running.
Eating the noodles, she listened to Jade talk about the perimeter, their ammo, and keeping a low profile. Landon had been gone a while because he couldn’t go to the local supermarket. He’d gone out of his way to get them some stuff.
“Don’t you think it would be wise to go back to your brothers?” Tulip asked.
“No,” Landon said. “I have no intention of ever going back home. There’s nothing for me there. Eat your food. We’ve got to rest.”
Chapter Eight
Later that night, Landon arrived at Tulip’s bedroom. No, their bedroom. He’d let Jade and Tulip use the bathroom while he took care of securing the front door and setting up some traps in case they were followed without him knowing it. He never liked to take any chances, not with their safety.
Keeping them all alive was important to him, his sister as well. He was the only one who knew her secure location, and it would stay that way.
Entering the bedroom, he found Tulip standing as she dried her hair. She wore a large shirt. He’d purchased them all some new clothes with money he’d stolen over the past year, from his house, from people he killed.
With Jade’s help, he’d been able to locate an underground gambling ring. There, ten men had been spending a fortune, and he’d gotten in, killed everyone, and took the money as spoils. Everything was a spoil to him.
“Are you okay?” Tulip asked. He saw she was nervous. “How was the water?”
“Warm but I can’t complain. Some hotels don’t even offer a bath. I took a shower. It makes a lot of noise and I let it run for a couple of minutes to clear any dirt. It should be good for you to use.”
He stepped up close to her, tucking a couple of strands of hair behind her ear. “Don’t go to sleep.”
“You’re ordering me about what I should be doing?”
“I’m telling you what to do.” He pressed a kiss to her head and left to go into the bathroom. He closed the door, removed his jacket, and stared at his reflection. He didn’t look like the same carefree kid of years ago. The kind of jerk who slept around with half the school.
That kid had died a long time ago, and he wasn’t coming back.
No, the guy he stared at now was a killer. He’d been trained by Rick, by the best men his father could buy.
He’d never known what real darkness was like, not until he was told Sarah was dead. When he found out the truth about his father’s involvement, he knew he was going to kill the bastard. What did he have to live for? Now, of course, the joke was on him. Men and women were still after him and he had Tulip to consider.
