Buttons and Grace (Buttons 6)

Cane was quiet for nearly a minute. “No, he doesn’t want Adelina.”

“Then what is it? Money?” I asked. “Crow put everything into an offshore account. I can get all of that for you, and you can hand it over to him.”

“He doesn’t want money.”

“Then, what?” I pressed. “Whatever it is, just give it to him.”

Cane sighed. “Pearl, he wants you.”

The words fell on my shoulders like a ton of bricks. I felt the flood of fear, remembering the way Tristan looked at me when I went to his compound. He eye-fucked me then, and he wanted to make his fantasies a reality. He wanted to punish both Cane and Crow for crossing him. Taking me was the best way to accomplish that. Cane didn’t need to spell it out for me.

In any other situation, I would have agreed to the trade in a heartbeat. I’d been a prisoner before, and I could do it again. I would find a way to escape, or Crow would find a way to rescue me. But now that I was pregnant, that wasn’t an option. Crow couldn’t protect our child.

I was the only one who could.

“I would…but I can’t.” My voice cracked. “Not with—”

“I know. Crow would never want that. I can’t make the trade. I know my brother…and he’d rather die.”

I knew that too. “You can’t give up, Cane.”

“Never. I’m supposed to give my answer to Tristan in eight hours. I’m afraid he’ll kill Crow the second I say yes.”

He might. “I would leave to help you, but I can’t make it back in time.”

“No,” he said firmly. “Crow wants you there. You aren’t leaving. I’m sure the only thing keeping him sane right now is knowing that you’re safe. Trust me.”

I knew that too. “Then what are we going to do? We need to figure out where he is. How do you plan to narrow it down?”

Cane’s silence was disturbing.

“You must have something.”

“I think he’s in Rome, but it’s a pretty big place. It’s hard to narrow it down.”

“Ask people in contact with Tristan.”

“I have,” he said. “They haven’t heard from him since his compound was destroyed. He purposely laid low so he could take us out like this. Tristan is pissed. That much is clear.”

Which meant he was doing terrible things to Crow. “There has to be something…”

Cane was quiet, thinking furiously over the phone.

My mind was drawing a blank, but that was because I didn’t do this sort of thing. Cane and Crow had been part of the underworld their entire lives. They knew how their enemies thought, knew their moves before they made them. I had nothing to offer other than the fact that I knew Crow the best.

What would he do?

“I guess I could do a satellite scan,” Cane said. “But by the time we get all the images, we won’t have much time to do anything with them.”

An idea came to mind. “If they’re in Rome, Crow probably knows exactly where they are.”

“I guess,” Cane said. “Assuming they didn’t pull a sack over his head.”

“Why would they cover his face if they’re planning on killing him?” I hated to talk that way, but it had to be said.

“It’s possible. But what’s your point?”

“If you could talk to Crow, he could probably tell you where he is.”

Cane sighed over the phone. “That would never happen. Tristan isn’t going to let that happen.”

“Just hear me out.”

“I don’t see the point.”

“Shut up and listen. Tell Tristan that you agree to the trade, but you don’t know where I am. Only Crow does.”

“I know we’re both stressed out right now, but that’s stupid. Crow knows I would never make this trade—not in a million years. If the situation were reversed and I was the one in there, he would let me die instead of handing my wife over.”

“Exactly.”

“What?” he asked incredulously. “What point did you just make?”

“When he tells Crow that you agreed to the trade, Crow will know you’re lying.”

“Hmm…”

“Because he knows you would never do that to him. He knows you would never hand me over to Tristan.”

“Even so, then what?”

“You tell Tristan that Crow will only give up the coordinates if you talk to him personally. You’ll need to persuade him. Tristan will listen in on the conversation, obviously. But Crow might be able to give you hints of where he’s at without Tristan realizing it.”

“What if Crow doesn’t have any hints?”

“Then he just won’t say anything. But if he does give you some bogus location, then we’ll know he gets what we’re trying to do.”

Cane mulled over my words before he responded. “It’s crazy…but it could work.”

“We don’t have any other options. I know Crow. He’s been looking for an escape route ever since he got there. He would have taken in every single detail if he thought it could help him.”