Dark Lonely Lies (The Denton Family Legacy 6)

Tulip nodded.

“Then this is exactly the same. We’re both free. I admit it’s not always the best, but look at us. We’re our own little team.”

“We don’t have what it takes to win,” Tulip said. “We’re three people.”

“You need to stop being so negative,” Landon said. “I know we’re young and people underestimate us. They think we’re predictable.”

“It’s why we always make sure we go against what we really want. Like now. His family and mine will probably be checking every single hotel or motel in the area. They wouldn’t think to look in places like this. It’s the perfect cover for however long we need it,” Jade said. “Did you get me some yummy food?”

“Fried chicken tonight.”

“Great.” Jade clapped her hands. “Oh, until I was with Landon, I wasn’t allowed good food. My diet consisted of celery, salads, and fruit.” Jade shrugged. “See, there are a lot of pluses to being here.”

Tulip took the food Landon gave her, and she started to eat.

“We did good work today,” Landon said.

“Yes, and while I make this place livable, tomorrow, you’ve got to get on the laptop again. We need to get those bounty hunters off our backs, and we need to know what everyone is up to,” Jade said. “Tulip can help me. So long as she doesn’t mind working her ass off.”

“I don’t mind hard work,” Tulip said.

They finished eating and Landon took their empty cartons downstairs. She bid Jade goodnight and made her way to the bedroom.

Landon disappeared into the bathroom and Tulip stared up at the ceiling.

“Do you love Jade?” she asked when he returned.

“No.”

“But you saved her.”

“I was going to kill her.”

“But you didn’t.”

“It doesn’t mean I love her. We’ve managed to find some kind of friendship. Don’t you like her?”

“I do. She was telling me about her life.” She rolled over as Landon climbed into bed. “Is that why you let your sister go? You had to get her away from the life your parents wanted?”

“Tamsin”—Landon laughed—“was a pain in the ass. She moaned a lot. Her life was nothing like Jade’s. For the most part, Tulip, we did have a good life. Or as good as a Denton can have. We’re respected, feared. We have to know when to kill and when not to. I don’t know what it’s like to live a life like Jade has. She’s told me some of it, and I wouldn’t wish that kind of life on anyone,” he said. “I love my sister. I heard some bad shit about the family my father had arranged for her to marry into.”

“What kind of shit?” she asked. “You can tell me. It’s not like I’ve got anyone else to go and tell.”

“The Savonas’ father, she was destined to be with the oldest son, but the father, he had a reputation for raping young girls. He liked them young. I saw the way he looked at my sister. I just know he was going to hurt her. When I took her, I didn’t really have a plan. It’s

what you need to understand. I’m not a great mastermind here. I just did whatever I had to in order to protect my sister.”

She cupped his cheek. “It makes you a hero then.”

He covered her hand with his own. “I’m no hero. I’ve killed a lot of people, Tulip. I will keep on killing a lot of people. I’m not a good man.” He kissed her wrist. “It’s time to get some sleep.”

Chapter Nine

Tapping into the local Wi-Fi was easy. He hooked up his connections to the cameras in his old home, checked on the feeds he had for Savona, and then went back to the mainframe where his father kept all the necessary details.

He had tried all of their codes from birthdays to anniversaries, his mother’s, and all of Maddox’s children, including Gabriel’s. The bastard Colton who had become one of them overnight.

Rubbing at his temples, he glanced across the ground to see Jade and Tulip washing in large buckets. They couldn’t risk going to a laundromat, so everything was being done by hand, and they were using their strength to wring out each item.