AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There’s another way out.”
I whirled around at the unexpected soft voice. “Sabine?”
“There’s another way out,” she repeated. “Come with me.”
It was a trap—because if she was there, so was Cash—but at least it was one I could survive. If it came down to it, I’d take her out. I’d regret it, though.
Dominic slammed his fist into the other man, sending him careening down the stairs. “Go, Mari.”
“Not without you.” I wasn’t going to leave him too. I couldn’t.
“I’m going to make sure you get out.” Not again. Please, not again. Dominic grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled me in, but he didn’t kiss me. He gave me that final choice. “Please.”
Fuck.
I kissed him with everything I had. It was the wrong place, wrong time, but that was us, wasn’t it? There was always something holding us apart, even if that something was us. So I gave him all my love, my anger, my heartbreak, my grief. He got the frustration and the joy. He got it all because if it was the last time, he deserved that much.
I only wished I’d done the same to Grey.
Sabine cleared her throat. “We have to go. There’s no time.”
We broke apart, only for him to press another kiss to my forehead as he slid the keys into my pocket. “Take the car and get home. I love you, mariposa.”
I couldn’t say it—not because it wasn’t true, but because I didn’t want it to be the last time I did. So I took the coward’s way out and kept the words to myself, but he knew. He always had.
“Show me the way.”
Without answering, Sabine grabbed the banister and jumped. With a final glance at Dominic, who was already headed back upstairs, I followed her.
I didn’t have time to stumble off the rough landing when Sabine grabbed me by the hand and started running. We slipped into a side hallway, veering abruptly as she pulled me through a swinging door nearly hidden by an alcove. Weaving through room after room, we stayed low and quiet until, finally, we made it to a back hallway. Unlike the rest of the factory, which seemed relatively used, the area was so dark and dingy it seemed lost. Forgotten.
Sabine nodded to the door at the end. “This side of the building backs the water. You should be able to find a safe place to wait for reinforcements.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. This is all my fault.” She swallowed heavily. “Is she…?”
The fact that her first real thought was about her sister wasn’t a surprise. She loved Brittany with her whole soul, and it showed in everything she did. “She’s fine. We moved her to one of our foster homes, so she’s safe and warm and loved.”
Sabine curled in on herself, relieved tears streaming down her face. “Thank god.”
With Antoni gone, sometimes I forgot that I was a sister. That I’d had someone who meant that much to me my whole life. Watching Sabine break apart for Brittany brought an ache to my chest that I couldn’t afford.
I fished the SUV keys out of my pocket and shoved them into her hand. “We’re parked a few blocks away. Go hide in one of the cars while I go back for the boys. I’ll take you to Brittany as soon as we’re out.”
Sabine shook her head, backing away immediately. “I can’t.”
“You can. Just take the keys and go.”
“I’m so sorry.”
My internal clock tick, tick, ticked until I thought I was losing my mind. I needed to get outside and call for backup because where the fuck were the Irish? With them around, I could go back for Greyson and Dominic. “Apologize later. Get the hell out of here now.”
“I’m sorry.” I felt it then, the proverbial other shoe dropping. Sabine’s teary eyes lifted over my shoulder, and I knew I was fucked. My men were in their own battles to survive and in no shape to help, even if they could find me.
For the first time in forever, I was alone.
“It’s okay,” I told her. Even knowing she’d betrayed us, I knew it wasn’t malicious. Sabine would do anything for her sister, even if it meant giving us up. That was loyalty. Family. “Everything’s okay.”
