Elena contemplated his words. Maybe he believed she had a choice, but she knew better. Those kids deserved to have someone in their corner, and she was determined to be that person. There was no choice, not for her.
“And putting yourself out there with those kids like that is extremely brave of you too.”
Elena couldn’t recall the last time anyone said something so kind to her or considered her brave. Not only had her father thought many of her decisions were foolish, but so had she more than a time or two.
It was impossible not to think she’d made agiganticmistake when she was freezing, starving, and exhausted. But she’d been too stubborn to return home and too scared of what awaited her at the compound.
She turned to stare at Mateo again. She swore she’d never go back to living on the streets, but she’d rather spend the rest of her life out there than one minute married to that psychopath.
Chapter Twenty-Three
They drovethe rest of the way in silence. Before getting to the compound, they decided to consolidate so they would be able to talk. They also figured one vehicle would be less menacing than two.
They had to move the hunters in Asher’s car into the SUV. It took some maneuvering, and they had to knock one out again, but they finally succeeded in cramming them all in like sardines.
Elena drove the last ten miles as Asher sat perched awkwardly in the middle. The guards on the wall would be more focused on the driver than passengers and less likely to open fire once they saw it was her behind the wheel.
“Get out,” she told them. “Keep your hands up but don’t go any closer. They should see that you aren’t hiding anything and aren’t a threat.”
Elena exited the vehicle and held her hands up as she walked toward the gates. Guards stared down at her from their lookout posts as behind her the other doors to the vehicle opened. She felt the guns trained on her even if she couldn’t see them.
“Is that you, Elena?” someone called in Spanish from above.
“It’s me,” she replied.
“What’s going on?”
“Who am I talking to?”
“Salvador Sanchez.”
“I want to speak with Juan.”
There was a moment’s hesitation, and then Salvador called down. “He’s sleeping.”
“Please wake him. It’s extremely important.”
“Hold on.”
“And I want to see my mother too!” she called out more tersely than she meant to.
Salvador hesitated before replying, “I will get her.”
“What’s going on?” Logan asked.
Logan and Asher approached and stopped a few feet away from her. He hadn’t understood much of their conversation.
“He’s going to get Juan,” Elena said. “Are you sure you want to be here for this?”
“We’re not leaving you here alone.”
Elena wasn’t sure if that was a good choice, but she was glad to have them with her. She hoped nobody got hurt.
According to the information they attained from Mateo and some others, Juan was not part of their plan. There were a few more murderers in there still, and Mateo’s group had given up their names, but she couldn’t be sure they had revealed everything.
And she didn’t know how Juan and the others were going to react to what she was about to reveal and everything they’d done.
Elena shifted as she clenched her fingers to keep from biting her nails, but whatever happened here, she wouldn’t let them know how nervous she was.
