Page 114 of Emerald

“Are you okay?” Sophie asks Elena.

“I get the mission, I do, but I wasn’t expecting that,” Elena explains to Sophie.

Sophie looks up at me, and I nod, letting her know she’s right the explosion was huge.

“I don’t think you’re going to convince Anna to feel an ounce of sorrow for anyone caught in the crosshairs of this cartel war. But I’m proud of you for caring for the people that were,” she says.

Elena looks up at her with surprise. “You are?”

“I am. That’s called empathy, and here you thought you had lost your humanity. You haven’t,” she tells her, giving her shoulder a squeeze as she passes.

“Come here,” I say, opening my arms for her, she rushes into them. “I’m proud of you, too,” I say, pressing kisses to her temple. “You have eleven women inside that are pretty darn thankful for you right now, and you’re about to bring Anna home to her father.”

“Thank you,” she says, hugging me tightly.

“We better get the hell out of here.” I walk her up the stairs of the plane.

The girls are all asleep.Tensions are still high between Elena and Anna, but Sophie is buffering the two of them.

“You can’t sleep either?” Brooks asks, joining me.

“Processing what happened tonight,” I tell him.

“What the fuck was that about? A fucking bomb?”

“Right? Guess it was pretty affective, it’s wiped out I’m assuming every cartel member.”

Brooks nods. “Is Elena, okay?”

“Yeah, she’s strong, plus she has me now.” I grin stupidly.

“I’m happy for you, man. It was a shock that’s for sure, but seeing the two of you over the past couple of days together. You make a good team. She brings you out of your grumpiness and you give her the support she needs.”

“I appreciate that, man.”

“This might be the start of something, your new life together,” he teases.

“That might be the true test, normal life.” I grin.

“True. Elena has been a weapon for all these years, her coming to Mexico was supposed to be her vacation.” He chuckles. “You know what it’s like, it’s hard to go back to civilian life.” He’s right there. “Something weird happened earlier, and I haven’t said anything to Sophie, but when Anna stepped on board the girls freaked out.”

“They might be used to seeing her as part of the cartel.”

“That’s what I thought, but Anna didn’t look so happy to see them either,” Brooks says.

“Really?” This surprises me.

“Maybe I’m overthinking things,” he says, taking a sip of his beer.

“Or maybe you’re not.” I raise a brow at him.

“Thinking we might need to keep more of an eye on her than we thought,” Brooks suggests.

“Agreed. Just until the dust settles, everyone is still in shock so they might not be acting how they normally would.”

“Maybe. I’m just glad we were able to find these girls. Working in this world, every day I’m disgusted by the depths human depravity will sink to,” he says, giving me a solemn smile. “I’m glad to have you back on my team.” He clinks his beer against mine.

Fifteen hours later,we are landing in Ibiza, where we get on another helicopter and head to the Clark’s home. When we land there are a bunch of unfamiliar people waiting for us.

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