“But how?” None of this made sense. “What did you do?”
“I got your freedom. And I kind of got you a job, too.”
Ash’s jaw dropped. “What?”
Taryn’s smile was soft. “Look. I’ll fill you in on all the details later. Let’s get your stuff and get out of here. Before she changes her mind.”
Panic welled in his stomach. “It’s just stuff. Let’s leave it.”
“Are you sure?” She leaned close and pressed her lips to his ears. “What about the cure?”
“I’ve got it,” he said. They hadn’t bothered to search him when they’d taken him to a cell. After all, he hadn’t been going anywhere.
She tucked her hand into his elbow and led him to the exit. He kept looking over his shoulder, waiting for someone to stop them. Someone to raise the alarm. While security watched them leave, nothing else happened.
Once outside, Ash took a deep breath. “Is it real? Am I free?”
Taryn stopped them on the sidewalk and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Would I lie to you? You’re free. Hope’s free. Well, you’ll still have to do some work for Portia. She wants to know who else helped Brunswick. And all the other stuff her father was hiding.”
His eyes widened. “What?”
“Oh, and you’ll get paid for most of it. I hope that’s okay. I needed to give her something in exchange for getting you out.” Her smile lit her up from the inside.
“I’m... I’m in shock. Thank you. That’s amazing.” He blinked and tried to corral his thoughts. “Later, when my brain is functioning again, I want to hear all about it.”
“It was interesting. She’s a tough negotiator.” She paused, then added, “I liked her.”
There was wonder in her voice. Ash knew exactly how she felt. “She grows on you, doesn’t she?” He grabbed her hand and she smiled at him.
“Yeah, maybe.” Taryn pressed a kiss to his cheek, then started walking again. “There’s something about her that reminds me of the girls from the streets.”
It was his turn to laugh. When he saw she was serious, he asked, “What do you mean?”
She led him to a car parked on the next block. “There’s this lost quality to her that I think she’s trying to hide. Maybe you didn’t see it, but I did. I recognized it.”
Ash thought back over his interactions with Portia. Maybe there had been something... He wouldn’t have ever pegged her as having anything in common with young prostitutes. “Still not seeing it,” he admitted.
“Because you’ve always had your sister.” Her voice was pensive.
“What do you mean?” He didn’t like it when she sounded sad.
“You and Hope are close, right?”
He nodded.
“You had family. You faced everything together. I didn’t,” she said. “I don’t think Portia did either. Now she’s all alone.”
“She was raised by her father. She had Tommy and Killian. And now she has Dizzie.” As far as Ash could tell, Portia was surrounded by people.
“Her father was an asshole, right? I’m guessing he really wasn’t there for her as family.” She stressed that word. “Tommy was her family, but she lost him in the bombing.”
Ash flinched. He would live with that regret for the rest of his life.
When they were in the car, Taryn placed a comforting hand on his leg. “Killian was family, but I think she believes that he abandoned her for Dizzie. That’s got to be hard for her to swallow. Not to mention she’s probably got a lot of guilt about surviving when Tommy didn’t.”
Christ, another jab in the heart.
“Dizzie may be her biological sister, but they don’t have a relationship. Maybe they never will. Right now, she feels all alone. And still, she wakes up every damn day and gets things done. That woman is strong.”
