Page 112 of Corrupted Deception

“Cielo,” Deo called. “The plane will be ready when we get there.”

Cielo nodded, not looking away.

They were going to Val. They were going to save her. But then, why the hell did I have to stay here?

Something was off. There was an undercurrent of something unspoken in the room, like a whispered secret, bouncing from wall to wall, but too quiet for my ears to pick up.

Automatically, my ears tried to listen harder, but it was a feeling, not a sound. There was nothing to hear.

“You want me to just sit here and twiddle my thumbs?” I asked. Just like when I’d first moved in with my dad, when he’d leave with a sense of urgency radiating from him but not a word about where he was going or how I could help.

“That’s not what this is, but I need you to trust me,” Cielo said as he stepped closer.

He wrapped one arm around me, but the other slid between us, his hand moving between our ribs. I didn’t know what he was doing until he leaned in to kiss me, pressing my back up against the wall, and I felt the cool slide of steel into the back waist of my pants.

A gun? What the hell?

“Then it boils down to two,” Aiden had said. Was that what this was about?

I let the kiss continue, playing my role, but my breathing had sped up. I should have pressed the issue last night, made it clear that what they’d been suggesting wasn’t possible.

“Trust me,” he whispered against my lips. “And be ready.”

Ready for what?

But rather than explain further, he stepped back and let me go.

Apparently, that was all the information I was going to get.Awesome.

“Not your whole world,tempesta—remember that,” he said cryptically.

Then they left. No goodbyes, not a word. And no babysitter.

And I let them. Why did I let them?

The moment the door closed behind them, Ray peeked his head out from where he’d been hiding in the kitchen—even with his favorite human here, the living room had been too jam-packed for comfort.

“I hear you, buddy,” I said as an odd sensation settled over me. It was like waiting for a race to begin, muscles coiled tight, waiting for the whistle to blow, ready to spring.

With the coast clear, Ray came up to me, nudging my hand for reassuring pets.

Val’s hurt. Val’s going to die.The words banged around inside my head.“Trust me… and be ready,” Cielo had said. Ready for what?

“That would have been useful information,” I told Ray as I scratched him behind the ears.

He had nothing to say on the subject.

Minutes passed. Even Ray got bored with pets and wandered off, but still, it felt like I was waiting for the whistle to blow.

Cielo was up to something. But what? And why the hell was he shoving guns down my pants?

Val’s hurt. Val’s going to die.

I took a deep breath and fought the fog—it felt like a constant battle lately.

I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket. It would take hours for Cielo and Nacio to get to her, but we had contacts who were closer.

Why the hell didn’t you think of this sooner?

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