Page 53 of Fighting for Ella

But what was there to say?

There was no going back. What was done was done. They all had to start finding a way to move forward.

“I'm sorry, Ella. I did the one thing no team is supposed to ever do. I left a man behind. I left you behind. I let the stress of the last month make me forget the last several years. I have no right to ask for your forgiveness, or to ask you for a second chance. To ask you to reconsider resigning and stay here, give us a chance to prove to you that we can earn back your trust.”

Fox rounded the table, stood beside her, and waited until she finally lifted her head to look up at him. There was no doubt that his remorse was genuine, Ella just wasn't sure it changed anything.

“I shouldn’t, but I'm going to,” he told her. “I won't leave a teammate behind again. I'm not giving up on you. None of us are.”

With a nod toward his office door, Ella turned to see everyone else flooding into the room. These people used to be her family, now they were … she wasn't even sure. All she knew was that the mole had managed to blow up her life and she wasn't sure she’d ever be able to remove enough rubble to go back to being the person she was before.

February 9th

11:39 A.M.

No sooner hadMiguel set his phone down than the door to his apartment opened and his big brother came strolling in.

“I think it’s about time I returned the favor,” Luis said as he headed for the fridge and helped himself to a can of soda.

“Return the favor?” Miguel asked, his mind still stuck on Ella and his internal debate on whether he should hop in his car and head straight for Prey.

Just because she said she had this didn't mean she couldn’t use some support right now.

As soon as he got a text from the guys Eagle had assigned to watch Ella, letting him know that she had gotten into her car and was heading for Prey, he knew what she was doing. There was only one reason he could think of that she would be going there now when she was hurting from their betrayal.

That was to hand in her resignation.

They’d talked about her not making any life-altering decisions right now. It was never a good idea to do so right on the heels of trauma. You couldn’t be in the right frame of mind to ensure you were making an informed decision and not reacting to the emotions raging inside you.

Which was exactly what Ella was doing.

Did he blame her for wanting to cut ties with Prey?

No.

Did he think it was the right thing for her?

He wasn't sure of the answer to that.

While he understood where Prey had been coming from, the evidence had indeed pointed to Ella being the mole they had been searching for the past month, Miguel could also understand where Ella was coming from. If his team had been so quick to believe the worst of him, even if there was evidence supporting that decision, it would have damaged his trust in them to the point where he might have made the same decision Ella had.

“Hey, lover boy.”

Fingers snapped in front of his face and Miguel blinked, then swatted away his brother’s hand.

Even though there was only two years between them in age, Luis had always very much been more of a parent to him than a brother. Especially for the first decade of their lives. When you grew up with an absent dad and a mom who was in and out of toxic relationships while always being true to her greatest love, her addictions to drugs and alcohol, then you bonded with your siblings.

Especially when they looked out for you the way Luis always had for him.

From stealing food so they didn't starve to coming up with a plan only an eleven-year-old could think would work, his brother had been there for him. That plan of Luis’ to join a gang to get them money so they could have a better life had wound up working in their favor just not in the way his pre-teen mind had thought.

After their first job for the gang, to gain entry to a store the gang intended to rob, got them caught in a shootout thathad almost taken Miguel’s life, they’d wound up being fostered by the kind of parents kids like them could only dream about. Parents who were still part of their lives today. Well, their dad was since their mom had passed away a little while back. But there were also four foster siblings and their families, and he treasured every one of those relationships because he still remembered what it felt like to be forgotten and unwanted.

Miguel still carried around a heavy load of shame for knowing he had almost wasted the life his brother had managed to get for them by turning to the very same vice that had haunted their biological mom.

“Lover boy?” he repeated. “I think that’s a little extreme considering I'm not in love with anyone.”

“Not yet,” Luis said, lounging back against the counter.

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