Dark Lonely Lies (The Denton Family Legacy 6)

Tulip laughed. “You believe in love.”

“I believe in the possibility for the future, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what I believe, in all honestly, or what I trust.” She rubbed at her temple. “It’s all fucked up if you ask me. Until a couple of days ago, I was a nobody. Now I’m someone with no family and a guy who … I don’t know.”

“Do you have feelings for him?” Jade asked.

“I don’t know.” She squeezed a bar and then went to the door and reached around, stroking the lock.

Tapping her fingers against it, she looked back into her cell. The mattress wasn’t on the floor. She stepped over to it.

“I don’t know isn’t a definite no.”

“He’s the only person who’s ever tried to do anything for me,” she said. “In his own way, he’s been the only person in my entire life to care. Even then, he didn’t want to see me die. It was … nice.” She shook her head, tossing up the mattress.

“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.