Page 89 of The Company We Keep

“I thought you were going to… I don’t know, I thought you might —”

Carrow’s eyebrows knit as he took deep breaths.

“You really thought I could? You thought that I could ever lay a hand on you with anything but love?”

Dust nodded, slowly.

“Never.”

“Not even after everything?”

“Never.I know how you came to us now,” Carrow said. “Itdoesn’t matter. You saved us. Everything that Emerson said —”

“It was all true,” Dust cut in. “Every bit of it. I came in to bring you down. I lied to you for a year, even after I knew you — even after Iloved you.”

“And here you are, Dust. You saved us.”

Dust fell against Carrow. He felt weak, exhausted, relieved, and in total disbelief.

“There is a home for you with us,” Carrow said. “No matter how we started — it’s not important.”

“I can stay?” Dust asked. His throat was tight with tears, his head pounding. He buried his face in Carrow’s neck, almost afraid of the answer.

He had been prepared for execution, and against all odds, he was finding absolution. Impossible grace.

“You’re my whole heart. You gave everything up for us. Youhaveto stay,” Carrow said, holding him, babbling. “What would I be without you, Dust? What would The Company be?”

Wrapped in Carrow’s arms, it was almost possible to forget the chaos at their backs, the ruined place that they’d have to return to, the things they must face and what they must sort out. They’d made enemies of a federal bureau, of a powerful cartel. The ambush a day ago had proven that they weren’t invincible.

None of it mattered. They didn’t need to be invincible when they had each other — when they had their family by their sides.

He could come back. He could be a part of The Company again.

“They’ll take me back too?” Dust said. Carrow was holding him out at arm’s length again, assessing him, as if he still couldn’t believe that he was here, alive.

“In a heartbeat,” Carrow said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Without a doubt. We have to — I have to call McBride, you’re a mess. They’re going to lose their goddamn minds! You’rehere.”

“For as long as you’ll have me,” Dust said. “I’m here.”

“Forever, then. Until the end.”

His ribs protested, his head throbbed, and against it all, Dust couldn’t resist the urge to pull Carrow into a kiss. The man held him tight, steadying him, and they shared the profound pulse of relief, the ineffable understanding that they knew the worst truths about each other, and had still chosen love.

Epilogue

August 2015 • Post-AIIB Mission, Month 1

Dust had been half asleep since the 45-minute flight from Hanoi, and it was still another 90 minutes by car to Vinh Hy Bay and their final destination.

No one could blame him for drowsing. The flight over had been grueling: a 13-hour flight from Las Abras to Taipei, an overnight layover, and then the flight into Hanoi and the long taxi ride with Leta translating. They’d been incognito the entire time, handing over fake passports, constantly looking over their shoulders and greasing palms to make it through what felt like endless customs lines.

Add to that the lingering effects of Dust’s head injury and it made for several miserable, exhausting days of travel.

Or, at least, Carrow would’veexpectedDust to be miserable.

Instead, every time someone from The Company woke him, he seemed relieved all over again, like an amnesiac who had forgotten that they’d all forgiven him for what had transpired during those last days in Las Abras.

“Chào bu?i sáng, Dust,” Leta said, carding her handsthrough his hair. He’d fallen asleep in the back of the little bus with his feet in Carrow’s lap and his head in Leta’s. But now they’d arrived at their villa, and it was time to unpack.

---