Page 67 of Velvet Deception

A small series of numbers showed on the top corner of the key, so I ran in pursuit of that room. It was the last one, like that other man said. It was at the end of the hall. With one quick check of the corridor to ensure no one would see me, I slotted the key into the hole. My heart was lodged in my chest. My lungs couldn’t open fully to let air in.

Please, please be in here. Please, please be okay.

I opened the door and stepped inside.

A growl sounded, and Ramon launched at me in the darkness, pounding his fists on my stomach.

“Ramon!” I lowered before he’d even stop with his little fists. Wrapping him into a hug, I inhaled a deep breath of his boyish scent.

“D—” He sobbed, unable to get out my name at first as he wrapped his little arms around my neck. “Diego!”

I held him, rubbing my hand over his back and letting myself know that I hadn’t failed. I hadn’t failed him. He was alive. He was breathing and talking and hugging me back like he never wanted to let go.

“You came,” he said with wonder and gratitude. A sniffle sounded next, and I urged him to step more into the ray of light that shone in from the door I hadn’t closed.

I brushed his hair back, checking over him. “Did they hurt you? Did they do anything to you?”

“One man slapped me for being a crybaby. I shut up after that.” He shook his head. “They just put me in here and left me in the dark.”

“Thank God.” I hugged him again just to reassure myself that this was real and not a dream.

“I want you to go. You’re going to get on a bike and run home to your mother.”

He nodded, ready to get out of here. “Did they hurt her? Is she okay?”

“Yes. She’s alive and will be fine. She just needs to see you and all will be okay.” I held out my hand for him to take it. “I’m going to bring you to a bike, and you are going to ride it home.”

His eyes opened up wide.

“I heard you and Juan talking about bikes. He’s let you borrow his in his yard.”

He nodded quickly. “Yes. I can do it. I’ll do whatever I need to if it will get me home.”

He held my hand all the way out of the building. The post at the front wasn’t there, and on the walk back to the garage area where Manny parked his bike, we stuck to the shadows. The rain stopped, and that would work well for the escape route that I knew would work for Ramon.

After I found the smallest moped, one Ramon said he’d used before from another boy in the neighborhood, I led him to a spot with a secret cutout in the fence. “You walk this out, and once you find an old antenna tower, head south and follow the line where wires used to be. That will take you to a road, and you stay on it.”

He nodded. “I saw the way they took to get here. I can find my way home.”

“Go.” I leaned down to kiss the top of his head. “I love you, Ramon. You and your mother. And I will come back as soon as I can.”

He hugged me tight. “I love you too, Diego. Thank you.”

“Go,” I repeated. “Go straight to your mother.”

He walked away with the bike, sending me one last worried glance over his shoulder before he did as I instructed.

I had unfinished business here.

It was time to figure out who I was.

So I could move on with my future.

27

SOFIA

Late into the evening, Señora Vasquez came in to check on me. She made me put ice on my arm. She warmed up some soup and ordered me to sip water too.

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