Page 123 of Corrupted Deception

I drop the spear on the ground while he laughs.

“All right, but I’m going to hold you to that, Char,” he says.

There’s no doubt in his voice—that’s what gets me. He has faith in me.

It reminds me of someone, but before that thought can settle in, my dad’s waving his hand, signaling me to follow him.

We moved onto finding shelter after that. I was pretty sure it was punishment—climbing trees to secure myself to branches and digging holes in the dirt to bury myself in leaves. Fun times—really. He’d also taught me how to turn some leaves into a waterproof canopy and how to scope out a cave to find out if anything was living inside it.

Oh!

“Caves!” I exclaimed, spinning around in Cielo’s arms.

“Okay…” he said, waiting patiently for more information.

“There are no caves on Val’s property, but…” I had to think. It had been a long time since I’d been here. “Two miles east of here, I think,” I said tentatively.

Cielo nodded, and we got back into the SUV and headed due east.

It was a long shot, but fair enough that my heart was already pounding. It felt like there were a hundred knots in my stomach, twisting up tighter and tighter with each passing second.

He was there. He had to be there.Let him be there,I prayed silently to any deity who happened to be tuning in to Colombia at the moment.

As we got closer, I sat up straighter, peering through vibrant yellowGuayacántrees.

“There,” I said, pointing, when I spotted the cave, which just looked like a big cluster of boulders.

It wasn’t actually a cave, but the way the boulders fell created a hollow in between them that served as one. The insides were actually a fair size, tall enough to stand up in once you got past the low opening.

Cielo brought the vehicle to a stop, and I flew out of it, running at full speed.

“Charlotte, slow down. Wait,” he called after me.

“Wolves and foxes have good instincts, charming. They’ll know to stay the hell out of my way.”

I heard him chuckle, but the sound fell away as he caught up to me.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, taking my hand and squeezing.

Oh. Yeah,that.The whole 'maybe I’m about to duck-walk into this tiny cave and find my father dead on the ground, all alone’ part.

“Nope,” I said, rejecting any possibility of it.

I turned on the light on my phone, crouched down, and headed in.

The moment the low entrance gave way to the taller interior, I stood up.

There was no build-up, no suspense.

There he was. My dad.

His long body laid out on the ground, chest down, dressed in a dirty gray shirt and combat pants. No weapons on him that I could see. Of course not.She’dtaken them. One hand was stretched above him, the other by his side, wrapped in a grubby white cloth, splotched with dark red. Blood.

There was a lump at the back of my throat as I stared, focused on his back.

But it wasn’t moving. Was it? It didn’t look like it was moving.

A broken, strangled sound escaped my throat.

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