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"It’s just Derek," Ca you to a doctor and then we’re getting Gus"

"We have to get Gus first," I said, grabbing his collar

He gave aze "No, Ellie Derek says Gus is safe You can’t save hi of yours either It would be a shaer he’ll be safe?"

"Ellie," he said sadly "I couldn’t save your h I tried Travis found us before I could even get a few rounds off But I can save you I will save you I promised I’d keep you safe, even at the expense of Gus You’ve been shot You’re lucky to be alive and I’ll do everything in me to keep you alive No ifs, ands, or buts"

Derek pulled the car up to us and leaped out of the driver’s seat, quickly ushering us into the back of the car

"Why can’t we take the helicopter?" I asked as Camden lay me down in the back My jeans had been torn off at the knees and es had been wrapped around ot back in the driver’s seat "And the Zetas would be co by copter anyway This is safer"

He drove that Escalade like a rally driver, bounding us froh road and after a few precarious turns on mountainsides, I wondered how roorse too, to the point where I had a death grip on Ca was on fire and stabbed with aand all-consuer?" Camden asked Derek

"An hour," Derek said "Tops I know a doctor right before the border into Guate ot you"

Even Caony My eyes rolled back intoQuestions Painful questions I had a lot of them I had time to ask the you for all this, questions are included right?"

Silence Then, "Yes What do you want to know?"

"My mother The truth What happened to her? How did she end up married to Travis?"

"She wasn’t married That’s not how Javier put it"

Of course he knew

He went on, "Javier recruited your parents to work for hiht after Travis went and switched sides I heard from different sources that it was so Javier could have closer ties to you I heard froe on Travis They’d stopped conning at this point and had their hands in a whole bunch of work froe for them Then one day they left and Javier tracked thery That’s where you caroaned as another wave of pain went through me "Why not kill them all with one stone?"

"To his credit, Javier see to Travis’s house back in Veracruz," Ca me "I don’t think he meant for you to kill them all"

"What does itused, just like I was used here Javier got his way, he got his wish Even if he’s dead, he’s still won My mother is dead And so is Travis And I killed the in rinded my teeth until my jaas sore "I was the fool who did as he asked"

"Don’t say that," Camden said "You didn’t have a choice and you know it You can grieve for your mother but I will not let you punish yourself for this You don’t deserve this burden None of us deserve ent on in there"

Theby Camden’s hands filled my head and I remembered I wasn’t the only one who lost a piece of thele

"Then ould o to work for Travis? What happened then?" I asked, wanting the distraction

I saw Derek shrug "I don’t know"

My e For s hurt any less

"And she never married Travis Travis took her in because he was obsessed with her Killed your father, kept her as his own Kept her is the key word that was thrown around a lot I can’t say ent on I don’t know all the facts, I only knohat I read and what I’ve been told I’ like Stockholm syndrome If they were ever officially married, I never heard about it I just knoas a fucked-up, messy situation"

I had ain and hoped that the Watt cycle of being sucked into co-dependent, obsessive and unhealthy relationships was finally over As long as I had Camden, I had broken free of that I wouldn’t end up like her

"Did you know that Gus was my real father?"

"I did," he answered simply "Javier was supposed to tell you, it was part of the plan But he held off at the last minute Maybe he was afraid that when the ti out the truth about Gus, you’d coht about that, wasn’t he?"

Was he fucking ever

"So what happens next?" Caet Gus What happens to us? And to you? Hoe know you won’t kill us or come after us?"