Chapter 7

I"ll doanything for Gabrielle, but when she comes back in after her shower telling me there are other women here that she wants to help get free as well, I can"t help but second-guess what I know I should do.

I know the right thing to do is to help these other women out too, but if I"m honest, I barely have enough energy to keep Gabi and myself above water. I don"t know how I"m going to be able to keep three other women safe as well.

"Gabrielle, you don"t know what these women are doing here. For all we know, this could just be another ploy from Liam to get under our skin. What if he"s putting these women here just to mess with us?"

"Bishop, you didn"t see what I saw. You didn"t see the fear in that girl"s eyes. There"s no way that she"s here because she wants to be here. Not to mention, she can"t fake the pregnancy. I saw that with my own eyes." Gabrielle grabs my forearm to keep me from moving away. "Please, Bishop, we can"t leave them in there. Not like this. Not when we can help them. Please." Her eyes water and I groan as her tears suck the very life out of me. My knees almost go weak as I listen to her voice cracking as she begs.

"Help them? How can we help them, Gabrielle? We"re just as fucked up in here as they are. It"s not like by joining up with them we"re going to be able to get out any easier. In fact, it"ll make things harder if there ever is an opportunity for us to escape. I can"t think about them right now, not when I need to focus on the two of us." I clench my jaw and look away from her.

I can feel the disappointment radiating from her. I hate that I"m making her feel like this.

She slides her hands up until she is cradling my face, and I"ve got no choice but to look into those deep brown eyes. "Bishop, you don"t mean that. There"s not much I know about your world and the surrounding craziness, but I know you. You"re not going to be able to live with yourself if we manage to get out of here and leave those women behind."

Just those simple words are enough for me to feel my resolve crumbling. It"s not even as if she"s forcing me to do anything that I don"t want to do. It"s the fact that I just can"t say no to her, not when it really matters.

"Bishop...please..." She sobs and I pull her against my chest. I run my fingers into her hair and scratch her scalp softly.

"They"re not going to listen to me," I whisper, and she tightens her hold on my waist, realizing that she"s about to get what she wants from me.

"All we have to do is try. That"s all I want to do right now." She shakes her head, pulling back slightly but making sure to keep her eyes locked on mine.

"All right, Gabi. For you, I"ll try my best. No guarantees, but I"ll try." I pull her back into my arms and slowly begin to finger comb through the small braids she has in her hair. Her scalp is still a bit wet, and I know if she doesn"t finish detangling her hair while in this state, it"ll mat up later. I"ll do anything to spare her even the smallest amount of discomfort. Even if that means helping her with her hair.

The two of us fall into a silent but comfortable groove. She takes down a few braids, I use my shirt to dry the section and finger comb through any knots before she braids it back up. I don"t know how long we sit there in each other"s company, but the simple promise that I"d do what I can to help the other prisoners must have been enough to put her mind at ease because she"s fast asleep on my lap.

I"ve worked in the government, worked undercover, been in some of the most dangerous situations, through all of that my main objective is always the same. Survive.

There has been more than a few times that I could"ve made an attempt to get out of this hellhole but making sure Gabrielle is safe always stops me in my tracks. I want to be doing more, want to throw all caution to the wind but I can"t risk losing her.

Not when I"d only just found her.

Before we were locked together in here, we"d started a relationship. A relationship I was sure could wind up with wedding bells. Gabi is the one woman who could make me hesitate in both a good and a bad way.

Just as my eyes begin to slide close, I hear footsteps coming in the direction of the cell. They must be doing their rounds. If there"s any time for me to talk about these other prisoners, it"s now.

As softly as I can, I slide Gabrielle off my lap and rush to the door so I can catch them before they made their way to the other side of the compound.

"Hey, hold up." I knock on the door, trying to get their attention.

"Keep it quiet, Bishop." Tate, one of the lead guards says but continues to walk by

"Listen, just hold up for a minute." I say a little louder. I was trying to get this done without waking Gabrielle but it"s no use.

"What"s going on? What"s up?" Gabrielle pops up from the ground where I left her sleeping. She notices me by the door and I can only assume that she realizes what I"m doing.

"What do you want Bishop?" Tate stops and turns to the cell we"re in.

"I need to talk to Liam and Shade." It"s the first time that I"ve ever requested to speak with them since I"ve been here.

"For what?"

"Just get them." I glare through the bars at Tate, not wanting to divulge any more information.

"Fine, your headache." Tate shrugs his shoulders and the both of the guards walk away.

It doesn"t take long for Shade to show up. Liam isn"t with him, but I don"t need him to ask for what I want.

"You better have a good reason to pull me away from my business." Shade growls at me.

"I know you have other people here. I want to request that all of us be put in the same room."

Shade scoffs and shakes his head, "No."

"Wait. We already know that one of them is pregnant."

"Willa!" Gabrielle adds in.

"Yes, Willa. She"s pregnant and the last time I checked there are no obstetricians here. Both Gabrielle and I have experience. Even if you don"t care about what happens to the baby, I know you would prefer if Willa stays alive. Alive she can bring in money, dead she"s worthless." Gabrielle gasps and I know how insensitive it must sound to her, but I know it"s the only way to get across to him.

All he cares about is his money.

"You think I care about what happens to her?" Shade narrows his eyes at me, but I know that I"ve gotten under his skin.

"You don"t have to care about what happens to her to know that bringing in a new woman is just going to cost you more money. Besides, I"m sure that your clients have a taste for her specialty." The words burn as they come out of my mouth. I"ve always tried to remain as respectful as possible to women, but I"m not oblivious to the kinks some men have for pregnant women.

"You"re right, Willa is heavily requested." Shade crosses his arms over his chest before looking back up at me with a sinister smile. "Fine, at least with the two of you in with the other prisoners, I don"t have to make the guards come all the way over here to check on you. Maybe you"ll be enough to keep those other women in line." Shade shrugs and turns to walk out of the room.

I don"t let him see that his announcement that the other girls need to be kept in line have sparked hope inside of me. If they"re still fighting back, maybe it won"t be so hard to figure out a way to get all of us out.

I"m shocked by how quickly Shade actually gave in. From how Gabrielle is staring at me, it"s clear that she"s shocked too.

"This is really going to work?" She questions and I nod. "Oh, my God!" She laughs and throws her hands around my neck to pull me into a hug. This is the happiest I"ve seen her since we"ve been here, and it"s all because we"re going to be able to help this other women.

This time when she pulls away and plants a kiss on my lips I don"t back away. I accept the kiss and press for more. For the first time in a long while, I can feel the hope bubbling to the surface.