Page 106 of Chris

His gaze strained.

Heart thundering.

Chris forgot everything he would say, everything he wanted, as his world came to a standstill. Now or never. Either those horses would carry a woman he had somehow fallen hopelessly in love with during the process of trying to save her life, and her child, or all of this had been for nothing.

He didn’t think that way though.

Those thoughts were poison.

Time slowed when the horses broke through the tree line, and even in the darkness, he recognized how she rode the animal. As the animals came closer, he distinguished little Maria in front of her mother with Valeria’s arm keeping her safe, and her pink book bag tight in her small hands.

Chris rushed forward before the horses had even come to a stop. The clock in his mind ticked down again. They were running out of time, surely. How long would it be before someone realized the fight between the rival cartels had been a manufactured war, only meant to distract just long enough for them to finish all of this?

They needed to get out of here.

“Come on, let me help you down,” Chris said, coming alongside the horse to reach for Maria first. Unsurprisingly, she reached back, and he almost laughed when a little gray head with two pointed ears peeked out of her backpack. That kitten of hers. “Snuck her out, did you?”

Maria grinned in Chris’s arms. “She’s my kitty, I had to.”

Right.

Goddammit.

He would get her a million kittens if that’s what she wanted.

Just not tonight.

Chris kneeled down when he had Maria’s feet on the ground, and Valeria hauled herself off the horse, too. Turning, he pointed at Alessio who was tying safety lines to the stakes he had beat into the ground for when they took the girls down the cliffs to return to the boats. The ladders were fine, and they would use them, too, but the lines were just for added protection.

His demand.

“See that man right there?”

Maria nodded.

Chris smiled her way. “He’s my brother’s …” Okay, that was a difficult one to explain, but he managed with, “My brother’s spouse, yeah? He will take you down the cliffs, and you hold on tight, okay? Listen to everything he says, make sure you keep a tight hold on your kitten, and—”

“We’re going down the cliffs?”

He glanced up at Valeria, seeing the worry in her eyes. “It’s the safest way out of here without drawing attention. It’s how we came in, and it’s how we planned to leave, too.”

He didn’t miss the way her throat jumped at that statement.

“What?” he asked.

“You came up from the water?”

Oh.

It wasn’t her that she worried about, he realized. It was him.

“You do what you gotta do, sweetheart.” Chris went back to Maria, giving her a playful wink, so she didn’t feel as scared. “Think you can handle it?”

Maria shrugged. “It’s very dark.”

“The boats will shine lights up.”

“There're boats?”