Page 145 of Forbidden Fate

“Listen”—Vinnie again—“I can get to you.”

“You don’t have to⁠—”

“Yes, I do.”

“Vinnie—”

“No.” His voice goes into his calm and decisive mode. “My grandfather had private planes all over North and South America. He kept one in Colombia. I still have access. I’ll send it for you. It will be quicker.”

“When?” I ask.

“As soon as they clear it,” Vinnie says. “We’ll coordinate with the embassy. You let them handle your documents and transport. Do not leave that building unless they tell you it’s secure.”

“I know.”

“I mean it.”

“I know.”

“And when we get you back to Austin,” Raven says through tears, “we’ll go wherever you want. Any restaurant. Your choice.”

The image is so strange I almost can’t process it.

A restaurant.

A table.

Menus.

Chips and salsa. Or steak. Or pancakes at midnight if I want them. A glass of wine. My family crowded around me, asking too many questions, touching my arm every five seconds to make sure I’m real.

“Anywhere?” I whisper.

“Anywhere,” Vinnie says. “You want the most expensive steak in Texas, done. You want greasy burgers, done. You want a whole restaurant bought out so no one looks at you, also done.”

I laugh. It comes out broken. “I don’t think you need to buy out a restaurant.”

Raven gives a watery laugh.

And then I laugh too. Also a watery laugh, even though I shouldn’t be laughing.

Not with Señora Valentina dead.

Not with Cruz God knows where.

Not with Eagle still in the hospital because of the man I kissed goodbye in a house flooded with blood.

But the laugh comes anyway.

Just one impossible sound your body makes to prove you’re still alive.

“We’re going to want the story,” Vinnie says after a moment.

“I know.”

“All of it.”

Does all of it include Cruz?