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Not okay, he texted back.
Fuck. I knew it was too soon.
Kaj didn’t know what to say to that. Any more ppl we need to worry about?
No. All dead/arrested. U can breathe now. Gotta go. Medevac here.
He dropped the phone and pulled Val closer. “All the bad guys are dead. You took care of them, baby. You can let go now.”
Val nodded once, then turned her face into his neck and began to quietly cry.
Her tears broke Kaj’s heart. He hoped they were cathartic tears. Tears of relief. He hoped she’d be okay once she’d cried them all out. And if not, he’d stay with her until she was.
He stroked her hair and for some reason that made her cry harder. So he rocked her where they sat until her sobs quieted to hiccups.
She stiffened in his arms. “Drysdale’s the mole.”
“We know. He’s in custody. NOPD handled it.”
She frowned. “You trust them?”
“André’s friends rallied around him. They’re on their way, in fact.”
“Okay.” She was silent another moment, then stiffened again. “Elijah.”
“He was in the safe room. He’s good. His sugar dropped and I took him to the ER, but he’s fine. He told me I had to find you.”
“And Jace?”
“He’s... hanging on.”
“I need to get to him.”
“We will. Let’s wait for André’s people to get here. We should still get back before Jace wakes up.”
She hesitated. “Burke?”
“In recovery. MaryBeth was still in surgery, but she should be out by now.”
“Czar?”
“He’s perfect. He kept Corey out of Elijah’s room. Corey never even had a chance to figure out there was a safe room.”
“Good. How did you find me?”
Kaj paused for a moment. “This property belonged to your brother. Aaron took it after your brother died. Corey trying to kill Rick and Jace made him angry, so Aaron told us where to look for Corey.”
She blew out a breath. “Van hurt a lot of people. He sold drugs to children. He wasn’t the man I thought he was. He didn’t deserve to die, but he didn’t deserve to be free, either.”
He kissed her temple. “I’m sorry, baby.”
Her smile was small and sad. “I know.”
Kaj looked at Corey’s dead body. “Why didn’t you shoot Corey when he was on the dock?”
“Only had one bullet. Needed to make sure I hit him.” She lifted her hands, still trembling. “Was afraid I’d miss.” She blew out another breath and he could see her tension easing degree by degree. “You came. I knew you would.”
“Of course I did. Now rest. Everything is going to be okay.”
