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“Julia?” Elle said, co over to them She looked as shocked as Julia still felt “What about the plan we talked about on the plane?”

Julia shook her head “No et hurt”

“No” Joe put his fingers on her jaw to turn her face to him “You can’t think like that In this business, we plan, we try, and sometimes in, sometimes we don’t But ays try, because our chances of succeeding when people need us are higher than the failure rate”

“I can’t…” She closed her eyes and saw Alice

“Right now,” Joe said, “our only option is to give hi Alice’s death certificate And Esteban won’t stop until he has the only person on the planet who can read the map If you have another idea, we need to hear it You owe it to your gran, to Alice, to give us everything you have”

Julia felt her vision blur as she looked up at Elle

“I thought it was a good plan,” Elle said There were te

ars in her eyes too

“What if it gets everyone killed?” Julia whispered

“What if it doesn’t?” Joe said He leaned in until his lips brushed her ear “You’re stronger than this, Jules You had a shock, but you can do it Tell us your idea Let the teaood one Trust us Trust yourself Trust me”

He leaned back then pressed a soft kiss to her th that was Joe

“I’ll get my iPad,” she said

His smile was beautiful—just like the man

“Then I’ll get Callu calls in his room” He lifted her and placed her on the sofa, the blanket still around her “You need Elle’s ic cube?”

Against all odds, he made her smile “Yes, I do”