Page 61 of These Reckless Hearts

Inspecting him now, I realize he doesn’t think Stone will be the only one to come back to him. He thinks Wyatt and Lucas will, too. He had to hire this other team, but they’re strictly business. They’re loyal to money. The best kind of team is one you can manipulate in other ways—with feelings. No wonder he thinks I took that away from him. He doesn’t get that he did it to himself. Eventually, when you treat people like shit enough times, they start to understand who you truly are.

“I can’t hurt you, Dakota. I need you. You’re going to help me find the Clary Treasure.”

“The hell I am.”

He narrows his gaze and stalks toward me. “You will.”

I laugh because he’s out of his fucking mind. He can’t manipulate me like he did them. He means less than nothing to me. I shake my head. “Not ever.”

“I told you before that I’d share the money with you, but you’re quickly losing that dangling carrot. Keep denying me and you won’t see one cent of the treasure.”

“It’s not about the money for me. I won’t help you because you don’t deserve to find it. It’smyfamily’s legacy.”

“Maybe you didn’t understand the gist of your father’s note.... You’re not a Wilder.”

His careless words ding against my armor, but they don’t sink all the way through. The note in my pocket says it all and more. I don’t have to have Wilder blood to be a Wilder. “It doesn’t matter.” We glare at each other for a long time, and I can practically see the gears turning in his head. He’s trying to figure out his next step. I smirk. “A wise man once told me that ‘in order to have the upper hand, you have to be the smartest man in the room. The one with the most knowledge.’ And that’s not you right now, Lance. I hold all the cards. Let me go.”

He sneers, the glint in his eyes so different from Stone’s, it’s hard to see the likeness. If there is any, it’s buried so deep it’ll never see light. “You mistakenly believe you know more than me.”

“I’m the only person in the world who knows that map inside and out. You need me, but I will never help you. It’s over, Lance. Let me go.”

In response, he places two fingers in his mouth and a loud whistle rips through the room. The metallic stairs outside clang. The door opens, letting in a waning, sunset glow before it shuts again. It’s the leader of the merry band of troops who tried to kill us—the one who tackled me twice last night or whenever that was. He zeroes his gaze in on me as he stands behind Lance, his gun crossed in front of him.

“Dakota needs persuading to help us.”

“She does, does she?” He grins and the missing tooth stands out.

“She has something that I want inside that practically non-existent brain of hers. She thinks I won’t do whatever it takes to get it.”

The leader glances at Lance. “Torture is extra.”

My mouth drops. Of all my wildest dreams about what could go wrong while searching for the treasure, this was never it. I never imagined it would get this far. I know people die in the Superstitions, and I know not all of them are natural deaths, but this? This is something extraordinary.

“They’ll never forgive you,” I tell him, grasping at straws.

“You underestimate me again.”

I shake my head. “You underestimate me. You always have.”

Lance turns to the leader. “How much extra?”

He looks me up and down. “I think she’ll talk for ten thousand.”

Ten thousand? Jesus Christ. How much is he paying these assholes?

Lance nods toward me. “Make it happen. I need her alive and somewhat functional.”

The leader grins at me, a sadistic glint in his eye. These guys get off on this, that much is clear. It may be about the money, but no one willingly gets into this shit unless they like it, right? Even Cole must crave the power in some way or else he wouldn’t lead a gang.

“Yo!” he calls out.

The stairs creak again, and Lance moves to the background as the five men approach me. “The girl needs some persuasion to talk.”

“How far are we going with this?” the one who brought me the bucket asks.

“Keep her limbs, but I don’t think it’ll take much to get her singing.”

I swallow the fear down. I’m sick of people underestimating me. I didn’t sit back for years listening to all the bullying and snide comments just to give in now. This will be another test of my fortitude, and they can all go eat a bag of dicks because I’m not giving in.

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