Chapter 291

“Hope is not enough for me. If EM Security will do nothing, I must.”

“No.”

Did Valeria think she would value her safety over the man she loved? That she would not lift a finger to save him? “You cannot stop me.”

“You are right; I cannot. But I can help you.”

“Help me?” Laila gaped. “You have Jorge to think about. You have your future.”

“What future? I have none now. I grow weary of this life. Always in hiding. I cannot walk outside for fear of death. Poor Jorge yearns to play in a park. He wants to run and jump and play with a ball. He wants to be a boy. Yet we are perpetually trapped in eight hundred square feet twenty-four hours a day for fear of being taken and beaten and…whatever else. And now these criminals and thugs are threatening the happiness you have finally found. I cannot do this anymore. I will not.”

Laila’s heart seized up. She had already lost Trees tonight, maybe for good. She could not lose her sister, too. “Valeria, do not—”