It was the way it had to be, and they all accepted that.
All except Lion, who still longed for the impossible, to find a way to claim the life he’d left behind.
A glance at Dragon, whose lips were pulled into a tight line, told him that wasn't exactly true. A favor for a friend, well six of them, the Charleston Holloway brothers of Charlie Team, had changed something in Dragon.
It had also cost him something.
Something the man wasn't likely to get back.
“We’re going to do what we planned to do,” Steel said firmly. As the team leader, it was his job to keep his men focused on their goals. Life might not be fair for Rose Gardner, she was going to pay for sins she’d likely never committed, but if they wanted their revenge, he didn't see another way.
“Even if she looks bored rather than scared right now?” Blade asked.
“Then we figure out what it takes to make her scared,” he answered simply.
They weren't complete monsters. He intended to do whatever it took to make the woman break … within reason. The little ladybug wasn't who they were after, she was merely a means to an end, a connection they would use to get to the man they wanted. They were all ninety percent sure Rose had nothing to do with what had been done to them, she was too young for a start, only twenty-three, which would have made her still a minor back when their lives were forever altered.
Treating her like they would any other prisoner was off the table, he wouldn't slice her open, wouldn't cut off body parts, wouldn't send electrical currents flowing through her body until she passed out from the agony.
But he would break her.
Would find a crack and exploit it.
His men were counting on him, and he wasn't going to let them down.
Never again.
“Everyone is afraid of something,” he reminded his men. The little ladybug wasn't infallible, even if that was the impression she was giving off right now. Scrutinizing the tablet as closely as he could, he noted that her muscles did actually appear to be relaxed. She wasn't faking because she knew she was being watched.
What the hell did that mean?
Steel hated that they hadn't been able to dig up more intel on the Gardner family despite all the resources at their fingertips. Other than a birth certificate telling him Rose was born on October 30th, twenty-three years ago, there were no other records on her until she popped back up on her eighteenth birthday. Homeschooled, living with her family on a small farm deep in the Appalachian Mountains, there was no way to ascertain what her life had been like for the first eighteen years, and he didn't like that.
When she resurfaced five years ago, she started an editing business, and despite her young age, she had clients lining up to use her services and a stellar five-star reputation. Tracking her online movements told them she rarely left her house other than to go for her daily runs, she worked, she watched Netflix, she did all her shopping online and never posted anything remotely personal on her social media accounts, they were one hundred percent business-related.
What makes you tick, little ladybug?
“We talked about limits before we did this, but we also assumed she was going to wake up terrified out of her mind,” Thunder said. “What exactly is your plan to find out what she’s afraid of?”
“I need to go in there,” he said slowly. “It’s one thing for her to put on a façade when she’s alone, not scared of what we’regoing to do to her. It’ll be another for her to keep up that charade when she’s face-to-face with me.”
At least Steel hoped that was the case.
Because if it wasn't, they wouldn’t get what they wanted out of this, and instead, would have just dragged another person down into their own personal hell.
“We’ll give her a couple of hours to stew, then I’ll flip on the lights and go in. Chances are, a couple of minutes with her will have her the sobbing, hysterical mess we anticipated picking up. Don’t worry, the little ladybug will soon be screaming for us, and then we’ll use her exactly the way we intended.”
Despite his talk of façades and charades, as Steel pushed away from the table and set about cooking some dinner, he couldn’t help but feel like he was the one pretending. What the hell had they gotten themselves into?
December 24th
11:26 P.M.
Because she just might be a little more psycho than she’d ever realized, Rose had actually fallen asleep sitting on the cold concrete, waking only when she heard the snick of the door as it closed.
Years of knowing that being caught asleep left you vulnerable to attack, she slept with a hair-trigger alertness. The slightest sound usually had her snapping awake, which was why it was so irritating that Mr. Bedroom Man had gotten into her room without her waking.
She’d gotten complacent. Felt safe there. Hadn't thought she needed to be on high alert.
