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“That’s yet to be decided,” he grunts, folding his arms over his chest.
“How about you let my friend go,” I repeat, not wanting to utter her name to him. He doesn’t deserve it. “And I’ll give you what you want… What is it you asked for? Me on my knees…”
I slowly move to drop down to one knee, but he reaches out and stops me with his hand on my arm. “Not here,” he breathes. Pulling me back up to my full height, he slips his hand to mine, lifting my knuckles to his lips as he kisses them, and I have to hold the bile burning up my throat. “Doing this for you doesn’t erase what the Ruthless Brothers owe me.”
“Obviously, that’s their debt to settle. I just want to protect myself and my friend. You can offer that, Kincaid.”
He groans and shakes his head. “My name sounds so good on your lips.”
I smirk, pressing my teeth into my tongue so hard I’m sure I taste copper. “Take me to her and I’ll say it all you want.”
He grips my hand tighter and turns for the door beside the bar. It’s not until he pushes it open that I realize where it leads, and my heart plummets in my chest.
The basement.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
My feet stumble, my entire body going numb, but I push through the pain. She’s worth it.
Exhaling harshly, I try to refrain from trembling, but the way Kincaid looks back over his shoulder tells me he feels it. We reach the bottom step and I feel light-headed, especially when I blink around the room and don’t see the telltale traits of Emily’s face anywhere. It’s just a basement, with a table set up in the middle, and it slowly fucking dawns on me, that this is exactly where I was when I first met Kincaid… where he…
“Where is she?” I ask through clenched teeth, and he smirks at me.
“She’s not here.”
“I’m gathering that, where the fuck is she?” I grunt, struggling to keep my composure with my surroundings overwhelming me.
“In the one place you’ll never look.” He releases my hand and moves around the table, eyes still fixed on me the entire time.
Confusion clouds my vision as a red mist casts over me. I repeat Joshua’s words in my head.
Once. Twice. Three times, and then it clicks.
He mentioned something about you not knowing where he’s hiding so it doesn’t matter once they’re behind the compound lines.
Kincaid wasn’t referring to himself when he said that to Joshua, and he wasn’t talking about his own compound.
Fuck.
“You fucker, I know where she is,” I state, not really talking to him now. I’m praying the signal goes through to the guys while I’m down here because it’s them that I need to hear this if they haven’t managed to work it out for themselves.
“You don’t know shit,” he says with a chuckle, taking off his cut and laying it out flat on the table.
“She’s with Declan at the Ruthless Brothers’ compound.”
THIRTY
Scarlett
“Why wouldyou be assuming she’s with Declan?” His head tilts to the side, eyes boring into me as he braces his palms on the large worktop between us. There’s a handgun and a dirty blade before him, and I can’t decide whether he’s going to reach for them or not. As long as he’s not catching on to the fact that I’m talking to someone else and not him, I can handle the consequences. Cocking a brow at him, I match him with a pointed stare of my own, but before I can answer him, he continues, “I’m guessing it’s for the exact same reason I know you’re talking a whole lot of bullshit about the Ruthless Brothers.”
As he utters the last word, the door at the top of the stairs slams shut, and the gut-wrenching sound of a lock slamming into place vibrates through me. I try with all my strength to remain as composed as possible, but my eyes drift closed with the fear that trickles down my spine.
There’s a fucking reason I don’t go into basements anymore, and my worst fear is playing out before me.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I murmur, sticking with playing dumb as I flutter my eyelids open.
“Don’t play games with me, Scarlett,” he snarls, slamming his fist against the table. “I saw you with two of them this morning on campus. I’m not stupid.”
