Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 47758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
“What are you’re looking for?” Jade asked.
“Some beds have some nice metal springs.” She bent down, unhooking one of the springs. “And that means we don’t have to stay here testing for a weakness within the bars because they left us the perfect key out of here.” She worked the spring open, moved toward the open bars near Jade’s cage, and they unwound the metal. It was a little rusty, so they had to be careful. A couple of the springs snapped and were completely useless.
Tulip gritted her teeth, they finally, carefully got one unwound. They both smiled.
“Do you know how to do this?” Jade asked.
“It’s been a couple of years, but I know how.”
“How do you know how to do it?”
“Simple. Some foster parents aren’t always nice and to make sure you don’t leave the house, they liked to lock the doors. Some of them had bolts, no way of getting out unless you smashed the wooden door. Some were nice locks in the doors.” She knelt down beside the cage. This was the kind of lock she was able to work from within.
This felt wrong. There was no way Rick Denton would have left them alone like this with a chance to escape, unless he didn’t figure they knew how to pick a lock. Either way, she wasn’t going to give herself long to think about it.
It took her time and as she kept dropping the spring, which resulted in it snapping, requiring her to take more springs, unwind them with Jade’s help, and get started all over again.
“Do you think there are cameras in here?”
“Who cares? So long as they’re busy, we have our chance.”
She wasn’t going to leave without Landon. He’d risked everything to save them.
She didn’t tell Jade her plan. Leaving him behind wasn’t an option.
Finally, the lock sprang open and she wanted to cheer but left it to Jade.
Leaving her cage, she went to Jade’s and worked the lock. It still took her time.
“Come on. Come on.”
“I’m trying. Don’t rush me. It’s not like I practiced this as a fine art.” She worked the lock and finally it opened.
Jade rushed into her arms. “Come on. There’s no time to celebrate. We’ve got to get out of here.”
Holding each other’s hands, they started to walk up the stairs. Both of them were careful as they came to a door.
“What do we do?” Jade asked.
“We have to be careful. They are surrounded with guards. Fuck, what if they have men waiting for our escape and they shoot at us?”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take because I’m not staying here to go back to my family.” Jade reached out to unlock the door.
“Wait, they could be anywhere. We’ve got to do this quietly.”
“Come on, Tulip. You think they’re going to leave us alone all day? We’ve got to move, and now.”
She knew Jade was right.
Turning the doorknob, she tried not to panic and wasn’t exactly successful. There was one thing about escaping, another about getting shot at. No matter what, she didn’t want to die today, or any day soon. Jade didn’t seem to share her worry. The only thing on the girl’s mind was escape.
Any other time, she’d have loved her attitude. Right now, with Landon in trouble, it didn’t exactly suit her for this girl to be so selfish about getting out. She wasn’t leaving without Landon, simple as that.
Chapter Eleven
“If you’re going to kill me, you might as well get it over with already,” Landon said.
Rick dumped him on the ground of his father’s old office. Landon knelt on the floor and watched as Rick pulled out a gun.
“You know, Landon, it would be easy for me to do. I like the easy life. It was easy for me to give up all of this shit to be with my woman Mandy. You remember her, don’t you? The woman who was nice to you when you had no choice but to come and stay with us because of your fucked-up nonsense? Now I’m back here, again, dealing with your fucked-up messes, again. I don’t like doing this, but it would seem with Maddox gone, he fucked everything up, even bigger than you.” Rick didn’t shoot. He clicked the safety back on his gun. “Which also means I’ve got no choice but to fix this shit he’s created. Believe me, I’m not in the best of moods right now.”
Rick sat back on the edge of the desk.
Landon looked at the gun. “You’re not going to kill me?”
“Do you really think I’m fucking stupid?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve evaded death from bounty hunters, and me from finding you for over a year, and you think by some miracle, I’m going to believe I happened to find the key to locating you?”
“You did.”
“I’m not stupid.”