Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 124140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Cat nodded. “I’m still coming back. I’m getting you all out.”
They all stared at her with varying expressions of hope and sadness. She understood. They were fast losing hope in this place.
But what they needed to remember was that Cat could out-stubborn a goat. And that she’d never leave her family behind.
Family first.
Always.
Five months later
“We need to be there when they raid the Camp, Mama,” Cat argued, pacing back and forth in the small motel room.
They were only a twenty-minute drive from the Camp. She was so close, but she hadn’t been allowed to go with the FBI.
Jerks.
“You know what Agent Stubbs said, Mija,” her mother replied. “We have to stay here out of the way. It’s not safe for us to go.”
Cat snorted. “We’re the ones that gave them the information they needed to raid the place. If it wasn’t for us, they’d still be chasing their own asses.”
“Mija,” Mama warned.
“What? It’s true! And the guys might need me. They’ll be scared. It’s only a few weeks until Maeve’s birthday . . . what if . . . what if he decided to replace me with her?”
That worry had been keeping her awake at night. Maeve was so close to sixteen. If that jerkface took her as a wife . . .
“Take a deep breath, Mija. There’s nothing we can do. The FBI will get them all out. Agent Stubbs promised to watch out for them.”
“I don’t know if we can fully trust him,” Cat replied.
“He’s done nothing but help us, Mija. He’s a nice man.”
“He’s arrogant and rude.” And Mama, despite everything she’d been through, was way too trusting.
“Why? Because he doesn’t immediately give you what you want?” Mama teased.
“Yes. Exactly.” Cat liked to get her own way. Sure, she didn’t always get what she wanted.
But most of the time, she did. And that was the way it should be. However, Agent Lochlan Stubbs didn’t see things that way.
He’d learn. One day, Cat would be a force to be reckoned with.
“Catarina, siéntate.” Mama patted the sofa cushion beside her. “It will be over soon, and then you’ll be reunited with your friends.”
Cat walked over and sat next to her mama. She felt a pang of concern as she took in her fragile state. Cat had thought life would be better away from the Camp. And in many ways, it was. She was mostly free to do what she liked. Although Mama and her friends had rules for her.
Pfft. Catarina Pérez did not like rules. And she tried to find ways around them as often as she could. Not that she wasn’t grateful to Mama’s friends for helping them. Without Elsie and Jake, things would have been so much more difficult.
Jake had used all his contacts with the NYPD to help them build enough of a case against the Deity to go to the FBI. In the end, it turned out that the FBI had been gathering information already. Cat and Mama had given them enough to act.
After today, the Deity and his Sentinels would be going to jail for a long time.
And Cat would have her friends back. Where they belonged.
That was the shit part about life away from the Camp. She missed her friends. Desperately.
Worried about them all the time.
Elsie had insisted they enroll her in school, but everyone had been cagey about how to go about that. In the end, they’d registered her under Jake’s last name, Smithson.
She didn’t know how they’d managed that or why Mama didn’t want her information to be given to the school. That was a problem for another day. Cat had been so focused on getting her friends away from the Deity . . . but as she looked at how fragile and stressed her mama was . . . maybe it was time to focus on her.
“Mama?” she queried softly.
The older woman still startled.
“Sorry, Mija, what were you saying?”
“Are you all right? Is something the matter?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know we moved to the Camp for a reason. You weren’t fooled by the Deity. And the only reason you left is because he wanted to fuck me.”
“Mija, language.”
“Mama, it’s just the truth. He’s a dirty old man who uses his charisma and false promises to get people to follow him. He brainwashed them. But he didn’t do that to you, did he? There’s a reason why you chose to live with the Children of the Divine. What is it? You can tell me, Mama.”
Whatever the problem was, she’d fix it.
“My Mija, so strong, so fierce. You’re always trying to take care of me when it should be the other way around.”
Cat sighed. “I’m not a child, Mama. I can handle whatever it is. Tell me, and I’ll take care of it.”
Something stubborn filled her mama’s face, and that’s when Cat knew she wasn’t going to tell her anything more.