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Heather turned to her then, perhaps awaiting her response. Ellie didn’t know how to respond but she could only imagine what Allister, Bradley, Ryan, and Derek might say if they were there to witness this outrageous request.
“You’re using me.”
“Am I?” he asked.
“Yes. You want to use me like a chess piece, strategize in a game you’re not even certain you should be playing, but you’re aware of one factor. You can’t win in the end. That’s what bothers you.” She swallowed. “You’re not fooling anyone. I know what you’re doing.”
“Say it.”
“All right.” She held her head high as she thought of her men, the men she adored, the men she loved more than she loved herself. “There are many ways to kill a man and you think it would kill Allister to see me with you.” Not that she would consider it in the first place. “You’re certain it would hurt Bradley, Derek, and Ryan, too.”
He clucked. “You’re a smart girl.”
“I’m no girl,” Ellie stated flatly. “I’ve been the stupid girl, the girl who has been pushed around and abused. Now, I’m the woman who knows who she is and what she wants. More importantly, I have something to lose, which means I also have something worth fighting for.”
“Is this one of those talks similar to the one we had on the plane?”
Ellie quickly recalled the conversation he was referencing. “It is.”
“Then I can’t wait to hear your views.” He crossed his arms. “Go on.”
Ellie opened her mouth to speak but then thought better of it. Changing directions, she said, “All my life I was taught to fear those who said they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I once bought into that nonsense until I had everything to lose and nothing at all I wanted to gain. See, I have everything I want in life. I’ve had a storybook romance and enjoyable life since moving to Trouble. If you
think I’ll let you or anyone else ruin that then you need to look a little harder at the precautions we’ve taken to protect what we love and cherish most in this world.
“The outside world only sees what they want to see when they want to inflict pain on someone they do not know. What they don’t see are the measures taken to protect one’s own. At Trouble, we’ve always known what was at stake, what we were fighting for, and who we wanted to protect. We’ve taken extraordinary measures and gone to exceptional lengths to make sure people like you—those who want to inflict pain and misery because they’re so miserable themselves—never touch us where it matters most.”
“And where is that, Ellie?”
“Perhaps one day you’ll figure it all out.” She grinned smugly. “That is, if Allister lets you live that long.”
Chapter Nine
We keep our own safe.
Bradley had told his sister those very words time and time again. He’d reassured Ellie on occasion, too.
Trouble’s founding fathers had signed on for a lifetime commitment with the primary goal of protecting the community and treating all residents like family. The men had vowed to protect those living there and what had they done?
They’d let down their defenses. Four of Trouble’s women had been abducted. Two of them were the most important people in Bradley’s life—his lover and his sister.
“We’ll find them,” Ryan said, weaving in and out of traffic.
“We’ve faced worse,” Derek said.
Bradley turned to Derek. “I’d like to know when we’ve ever had this much at stake.” He couldn’t recall of a time when he’d felt so helpless. “We’ve never been up against someone like this and we’ve never had this much to lose.”
“We will find them,” Derek assured him, reinforcing optimism by emphasizing ‘will’ and giving Bradley a pointed look.
Bradley’s eyes burned as he focused on one car and then another, watching the passing traffic until all the vehicles looked the same. “What have we done? When have we ever let the women go anywhere alone? What the hell were we thinking?”
“We were thinking they’d go to the curb, hail a cab, and head straight to the hotel,” Derek said. “No one could’ve predicted there would be a limousine waiting for them, someone planning ahead to steal away with opportunity. We let down our guard. Now, we have to figure out how to make this right.”
Bradley flinched. “Make this right?” He clenched his fists and contained his rage. After a few moments of silence, he grated out, “How do we make this right when we don’t know where to look? How do we make this right when whoever it is that’s out there has done everything to ensure he’s able to get away with the abduction? How the hell do we make this right when we failed our women in the grandest of ways when they needed us most?” His voice inflection changed with each question. “No. We can’t make this right. Even if we find them, we have no guarantees we’ll find them alive or unharmed.”
“I’m not giving up hope,” Derek stated flatly.
“We can’t,” Ryan said.
