gainst the piercing glare. She thought it was a truck, m

s. It slowed to a purring

Ecstasy, gleamed under the streetlights, but unlike the ostentatious Villarreal fleet, this

Then a third. A fourth. It was a

even get there. A man in a grey suit sprinted out into the rain. H

sel

man she had only seen in b

o a crushing embrace. He smelled of old tobacco

She wrapped her arms around both of them, sandwi

er hair to her skull, mud streaked acros

rs of the sec

posing. They moved with a preda

n-and his face darkened with a rage that could burn cities. He took off his

oice low and dangerous. He look

ked over to her broken suitcase. He looked at it with disdain,

cket and gently dabbed the mud from her forehead. His eyes were red-rimmed. "We have a pentho

rom a childhood she

said, guiding her toward the

erent world. The air was climate-controlled to a perfect sevent

nd so tight her rings dug into Giselle's s

" Silas said from the jump seat. "We'

st the start," he said. "Ten percent of Hines Gl

were staggering. In the span of five minutes,

voice crack

king. "The Woods family... they hid you well. But we found

ing away from the curb, Giselle l

houette of the Villarreal manor. It looked

relieved to be rid of the "fraud." He had no idea. He thought he

the window. He saw the red tailligh

sistant, entered the

urning around. "W

ns, the bus depots. Nothing. Her signal just... vanished. It's

e's hiding," he muttered. "She'll turn up in some

of a defeated woman. It was the look of someone who had nothing left to lose. And that convoy... he hadn't seen the lo

cocoa. The warmth spread through her chest.

cried in the