Why would she?
Life had shown her nobody cared.
But he cared, and it was just now that he realized how lucky he and his team had been to go to Eagle Oswald and be accepted without question into the Prey family.
The betrayal of their boss sat heavily inside him, and Steel knew he needed to tell Eagle what they’d done, assure him that they would make it right, and hope that the man didn't kick them all to the curb.
For now, though, he kept his focus on Rose, who shifted uncomfortably. Her shrug was too forced, and he wasn't fooled by her act of nonchalance. “It was all I knew,” she said, like it didn't bother her, but he knew it did. How could it not?
“You’ll get your vengeance, little ladybug,” he vowed, praying she agreed to help him, because if she didn't, he wasn't sure what his next move would be. Calling Prey, possibly, and having Rose put in protective custody with them. She’d probably fight it, definitely hate it, but as long as she lived, he was okay with that.
“If I help you,” she said.
“If you help us,” he agreed.
As he watched, he could practically see the calculations running through her mind as she tried to decide if this was her best move. In reality, it was her only move, and she knew it. She just had to come to terms with it.
“I accept,” she finally said, and Steel let out a breath of relief. “Nothing would make me happier than making Ridge pay for everything he ever did to me. But …” she drew the word out and shot him a sweet smile. “I have a condition of my own.”
Huffing a chuckle, his hands shifted on her shoulders until his fingers stroked the back of her neck, and his thumbs lightly pressed against the pulse points in the hollow of her throat. “What's your condition, little ladybug?”
“I won't go back to the basement. If I'm helping you, I deserve better accommodations than a concrete cell with no furniture and a hole in the floor for a toilet.”
He heard every word she didn't speak as clearly as the ones she did. If they put her back in the basement, she’d never trust them and only keep looking for a way to escape. They’d clearedaway the rest of the rubble, and some of the cells furthest from the stairs were technically usable, but Steel had no intention of putting his little ladybug back in a cell.
“You get the room you were in while you were unconscious,” he assured her.
“Okay,” she agreed, and from her tone it was clear she thought he’d been going to fight her on her condition. Little ladybug had no clue what she did to him. The way she’d shifted something vital inside him with her brazen strength and determination.
“But.”
“Of course, there’s a but,” she cut him off.
“For now, I have to keep you locked in the room,” he told her. Steel didn't feel good about it, but he also knew Rose didn't trust him yet, and she certainly didn't trust his team. The chances of her taking an opportunity to run were still high, and he couldn’t let her escape and run right back home into danger.
“Of course,” she said with a sigh. “Still a prisoner. Always a prisoner.”
The weariness to her words ate away at him, and he knew whatever tiny bit of trust they’d built had just shattered.
Warring with his need to protect Rose and his desire to gain the precious gift of her trust was going to make working with the little ladybug one hell of a ride.
December 29th
1:24 P.M.
With a yawn, Rose stretched and blinked open her eyes.
The first thing to register was the sunlight streaming through the window, the second was the pain in her body.
It felt worse today, blanketing her with a heaviness that weighed her down and made her want to curl up under the covers and play pretend all day long. Pretend she hadn't been kidnapped, wasn't being held hostage, didn't feel like every bone in her body, along with every inch of skin, had been bruised.
But hiding never helped.
Certainly didn't fix anything.
Truth was, she was not only lucky to be alive, but lucky that Steel and his team were willing to let her go after they got what they wanted.
It wasn't that she was grateful to them for that, not exactly anyway. After all, they’d abducted her, tortured her, and were now using her for their own gain. They didn't care about her, and letting her go was the bare minimum they could do after what they’d put her through. She still hated every single one of them with a passion, only …
