Page 21 of Dark Reunion

“I’m okay. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t tell me not to worry. You’re in a cell.”

He exhaled hard. “Listen. Carlos told me something. The Righteous…” His jaw clenched. “They’re his. He’s been running them for years. Every mission I thought was justice…I was doing his work. He even admitted to being the one that leaked my mission that caused so many of us to die. I lost my cool and lunged for him. That’s how I ended up in here.”

Yasmine’s blood froze. “No. That can’t be.”

“It’s true. He bragged about it, and he knew things he shouldn’t have.” Dean’s eyes burned in the darkness. “That strike you overheard about on the Alvarez warehouse, that’s not just any military unit. That’s the Righteous.”

Her mind reeled. The one shred of hope she’d clung to, that the outside world still held good men, still fought for justice, it was poisoned. If the Righteous weren’t righteous at all, then what chance did they have? Who the hell was going to save them?

Dean’s hand tightened on hers. “I’ll play the part. I’ll get out of here. Just keep the kids safe. Don’t draw my father’s attention.”

Tears spilled hot down her cheeks. “I hate this. I hate leaving you here.”

His gaze softened. “You’re the glue, Yasmine. You keep me together. Don’t let him take that from us. I will be fine. He just wants to flex his muscles and show me who is boss, but he won’t keep me in here. I know him.”

A sound echoed in the hall…footsteps. Ricco cursed. “Time’s up, we have to go.”

“I love you.”

“Eres mi para siempre,” Dean replied, making tears well in her eyes.

Yasmine pressed a quick kiss to Dean’s fingers, then forced herself to step back as Ricco slid the window shut.

Her heart stayed locked in that cell even as her body followed Ricco back upstairs. The guards that had walked by luckily didn’t bother to check on the cells, and with Ricco walking beside her like an escort, they made it back to her room without incident.

“Thank you,” she said, before slipping into their room, the children still slept, curled up in innocence that she wished they could live in forever. She sat on the bed, wiping her eyes, willing herself to stay strong.

A faint whisper of something caught her attention. She looked around and spotted a white piece paper against stone.

A note had been pushed under the door.

She stood and walked over to the note. Picking it up she opened the door and looked around, but all was deathly quiet. Closing the door again she locked it and then opened the folded piece of white. Only three words scrawled in dark ink.

You Have Friends.

Hope ignited in her chest, but she didn’t dare believe that it could be true.

Were there others here wanting Carlos gone?

For the first time since the gates had closed around them, Yasmine let herself believe it might be true. They might get out alive.