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“I’m not sure how long we have, Lark,” he replies while scrubbing a hand over his face, then letting it drop into his lap. “They teased me and said they’d give me maybe twenty minutes before the others started to come in.” His jaw stiffens as his hand clenches into a fist. I reach over and unfurl it, sliding my fingers between his and giving his fingers a reassuring squeeze.
“They’ll be here. I know they will,” I say, my voice only wavering slightly at the end. Looks like hope has made me her bitch after all. “And we’ll figure something out if not.” We both swallow hard at that.
“Have they been treating you okay?” he questions, looking at me from under his dark brows. “The Tailors, I mean?” As I look away from him, I feel the heat in my cheeks. I could never hide a blush. “I’ll take that as a yes then.” He chuckles, and the sound tugs my lips upwards as I glance back at him.
“At first it was tough, but after a while…it wasn’t,” I whisper, unsure how to tell him all that I feel for the guys and they for me. “Aeron promised your safety too.”
His eyebrows raise at that. “Really? Aeron Taylor?”
“Yep. He swore that he'd get you out. It was the only way I could get them here.” My free hand toys with the blanket, and he gives our joined hands a squeeze.
“So, how are they going to get us out?” he quizzes, his brows furrowed. “I mean, they’re trapped in the cages, right?”
“Before we left to come here, I left a note for Adam Taylor, telling him about the coal chute, the booby-trapped door, and the best time to come get his boys.” He whistles, both brows rising into his dark hairline.
“You played them all.” He sounds impressed, his lips pursed, but it just makes me feel sick.
“I didn’t want to,” I breathe, looking at our clenched hands and giving a small smile when he squeezes them.
“They’ll forgive you, Lark,” he assures me, and I look back up at him to find his features soft, a small smile on his lips.
“They already did,” I tell him, fiddling with the sheets between my fingertips that aren’t wrapped around his. It seems to be becoming a habit right now. “I’m getting out of here Rook, and I want you to come with me.”
He swallows visibly at my words, his blue eyes wide, then he frowns.
“Dad says I’m to take over the Soldiers one day. That they’ll be my gang. Then I can do what I want with them, stop all this drug running, prostitution, and all the other shit. There’s so much, Lark. So much fucking pain in these walls, so many innocents suffering.” His grip becomes painful as he speaks, and I finally realize that while he may not have suffered like I have, he’s had his own cross to bear all the same. “I want to make the Soldiers what it should have always been; a family.”
Moisture gathers in my lashes at his words. It’s what we’ve both always craved but never had aside from each other. A genuine family. It’s what I’ve found with the Tailors and my breath rushes out of me thinking that I so easily could have lost them.
“I’m sure—” My words are cut off as we’re plunged into darkness, my hand a death grip on his. “What the fuck?”
My heart races, my eyes darting around the pitch-black room as if I’ll be able to find what caused the blackout. Unless…
Rook lets go of my hands, then a light pierces the darkness from beside me as he turns on the torch of his phone.
“What the fuck is going on?” he asks, having sat up and swung his legs off the bed. I do the same, reaching into the bedside drawer and pulling out the battery-powered lamp. Having the entire HQ underground means we have these torches in every room, just in case. It was never big enough for me to use as a weapon, but it’s enough for us to see by.
“I think it might be them, the Tailors,” I tell him in a hushed tone and watch as his eyes widen. “Do you have a key for the door?” I don’t remember him locking it behind himself as he walked in.
“Yeah, shall I lock it?” he asks, standing up and heading over to the door, putting his phone away as I place the lamp on the small table next to me.
“Just in case,” I reply, my voice breathy and my hands trembling slightly as I sit back down on the bed, pulling the blanket back up to cover me again.
Just as the click sounds, a shudder makes the entire room vibrate, and then the sound of muffled gunfire reverberates around the room.
“Sounds like you’re right,” Rook says, and my stomach warms as he comes to stand near me, like he’ll protect me if anything or anyone were to come bursting through the door.
“Do you have your gun? A weapon?” I know it’s a long shot as my sperm donor never trusted me enough to allow his men to come in here tooled up. He shakes his head and a fissure of worry makes my mouth run dry. If it’s not my guys and the rest of the Tailors, we’ll be fucked.
“No, Dad—Rufus—said that you couldn’t be trusted,” he tells me, his eyes trained on the door and his fists loose at his sides, but his entire body is thrumming with suppressed energy. It’s strange to see my little brother like this, like the hard men that I have known all my life, only four of which have ever protected me. I guess maybe five now.
My fists clench in my lap when I think about how little I can protect myself. Rufus never let me take any kind of training or self-defense, why would he when he wanted me defenseless against his cruel men? Perhaps Knox or the others can help me rectify that.
A scream rips out of my throat as the door is kicked in, dust and splintered wood flying into the room with the force and both our arms come up to shield our faces, the blanket pooling in my lap. Even though it’s dark beyond this room, my heart leaps with recognition at the broad figure who stands there before Rook steps in front of me, blocking me from view.
“I don’t give a shit if you’re her brother, but if you don’t move the fuck away from my bird right fucking now, I’ll shoot you,” a deep voice says, sending shivers all down my body and hardening my nipples which is just fucking inappropriate given the situation.
“It’s okay, Rook. They’re with me,” I say softly, getting up and letting the blanket fall to the floor as I step to the side, watching as they all filter into the room.
