Page 88 of I Am Salvation

“Diana,” I say as I start the engine.

“Yeah?”

“I got a lead on Griffin. A good lead. But I need some help.”

She nods. “Of course. What can I do?”

“You don’t know me very well yet, but from what you do know about me, you probably know that what I’m about to ask for is very difficult for me. And I wouldn’t ask for it if my”—I decide not to rip the niece Band-Aid off quite yet—“family’s life weren’t at stake.”

She smiles. “How much do you need, Dragon?”

“You automatically think I’m going to ask for money?”

She laughs lightly. “I know you’re a proud man. In my opinion, you’re a good man, no matter what you think of yourself.” She grabs her phone, opens her banking app. “I have money. You need money. I want to help you find your sister. It’s as simple as that. So I’ll ask again. How much do you need?”

“A lot.”

“How much?”

“Ten grand.” Jesse gave me five, but I’ve already spent some of that.

Diana doesn’t even blink. Ten grand is probably like ten cents to her. “When do you need it?”

“Right now.”

Her eyes widen as I pull out of my mother’s small driveway.

“Right now?”

“Yeah. I need to send it through a cash app to the guy who used to have my sister.”

She drops her jaw. “So she’s really gone? Really with the cult?”

“More like a secret society, according to Alayna. She’s got a lead on where to find them, but in the meantime, I have to send money to the guy who had her.”

“Dragon, I want to help you, but what good is it going to do to send money to the guy who had her if he doesn’t have her anymore?”

“Because,” I say, “he still has her daughter.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Diana

My heart drops.

I say nothing. What can I say? This is a new development, though not all that surprising, considering everything.

“She’s thirteen,” Dragon continues. “Which means Griffin had her when she was fourteen years old, Diana.” He swallows, steels his gorgeous face. “My little sister became a mother at fourteen.”

I don’t know what to say.

How can I make this better for him?

The answer is, of course, that I can’t. But at least she’s alive. Or was alive, until this cult got hold of her.

“All right,” I finally say. “How do you want to deal with this? Do you want me to wire you the money, and then you wire it to this person?”

He takes a slow breath in and then sighs it out. “I think that would be best, if it’s okay with you. He’s been dealing with me. I don’t want your phone number or other information anywhere near this guy.”

---