“Why?” Garret asked. “You knew Joe was coming.”
She looked around at them. “I was tired of you visiting me one at a time. I wanted to be with all three of you. Together.”
“Then you’ve made a decision?” Joe said with satisfaction. “You’ll be ours?”
“I-I guess.” She wasn’t quite so sure now.
Sawyer turned to his oldest brother. “We need to tell her all of it.”
Joe just studied her. This wasn’t the man who’d been slowly relaxing around her. Who’d even managed to laugh at some of her terrible jokes. This man was intense, dangerous, and terrifying.
“Tell us everything that happened first,” Joe ordered her.
She wanted to press them to tell her what “all of it” was, but she figured maybe this would help Joe calm down a little. “Well, I used the rope to climb out the window.”
“Why not just go through the house?” Garret asked her.
“Um, well, Carlin has been watching me closely since that night I spent here. I had to sneak out.”
She didn’t think it was a good idea to tell them Carlin had been mad enough to basically imprison her. “I threw the rope back up so no one would see it and snuck out of the compound the way I usually do. I should probably tell Carlin there are holes in his security.”
“I informed him,” Sawyer told her.
She winced. She bet that went over well.
“I was walking along the street towards the outskirts of town where the tunnel is. I wasn’t paying close attention, I guess. I was still in Carlin’s territory. I never expected to encounter Gio’s goons.”
She paused, remembering her terror.
“They jumped out and grabbed me. I attempted to fight back, and one struck me. I fell to the ground, and he kicked me.”
She’d nearly blacked out from the pain. She looked up into their three stony faces.
“Could I have another drink?” she asked.
Garret held up the water for her to take a sip. “Thanks.”
He brushed back her hair. “You must have been so frightened.”
“I think they were waiting for me. What did they say? Something like their snitch had come through with the info. I guess maybe someone saw me one of the other times I used that route to get to the tunnels and told them, I don’t know. Anyway, they stuffed me in the trunk of the car.”
That had been truly terrifying. If she hadn’t been afraid of small spaces before, she was certain she would be now.
“They locked me in this small room. Gio came to visit, he made a video to send to Carlin.
He wanted to use me as a bargaining chip to get Carlin to turn over his territory. Idiot. Like he would have done that. I knew they’d kill me if they got what they wanted. Carlin had to know that too.” She frowned. “How did you get to me?”
“The tunnels,” Joe explained. “I knew something was wrong when you weren’t there when I went to visit. I raced back to get Sawyer and Garret. Sawyer tracked you to Gio’s.”
“But how?” she asked.
“I put a GPS tracker in your locket.”
She gaped at him. “You fucking did not!”
“I did.”
She reached for the locket. “And you’ll be leaving it there.”