Chapter 183

For now, she shoved the phone in her pocket, hoisted Jorge’s diaper bag, along with some clean clothes she’d been folding before Valeria’s call, onto her shoulder, and lifted her sleeping nephew from his crib. Thankfully, he didn’t stir. Then she climbed the recliner in the corner and jumped out into the inky night.

Before she could shut the window behind her, the bedroom door crashed open. Her gaze connected with a familiar black stare, shooting fury and retribution.

Victor.

Clutching Jorge protectively, Laila ran.

Since arriving here after the breach of their safe house in St. Louis, she’d done one important thing to prepare for an emergency: learned the neighborhood and planned escape routes. She knew places to hide where Victor hopefully wouldn’t find her.

As she dashed across the yard, her heart thudded painfully when he scrambled out the window in pursuit. Laila launched herself behind a pair of palms and through some overgrown oleanders. She crou