Page 168 of Forbidden Fate

“For not finding you sooner.”

I pull back and look at him. “This isn’t your fault, Hawk. It’s not anyone’s fault except mine. I went somewhere without backup.” I let out a weeping laugh. “I’ll tell you all about it. But later, okay? I want to go home.”

His jaw tightens.

“I’m okay,” I say again.

He pulls back and looks at me. “You’re not.”

“No. But I will be.”

Raven makes a sound like she can’t decide whether to cry or laugh, and then Belinda is there.

Belinda.

For a second, I only stare at her.

Because part of me has been holding her disappearance in the same locked room as mine. Belinda gone. Daniela threatened. Eagle in the hospital. Me in Colombia. Everything connected by some invisible thread that I still haven’t figured out.

But she’s here.

Alive.

Crying.

“I’m so sorry,” Belinda says, throwing her arms around me. “I’m so sorry, Robin.”

“You’re sorry?” I hug her back, stunned. “You disappeared.”

“I know.”

“You’re okay?”

She nods against me. “I’m okay.”

A shaky laugh breaks out of me. “Great. Wonderful. Everyone’s okay. We’re all doing fantastic.”

Hawk snorts.

Daniela wipes at her eyes.

“That may be overstating it,” Falcon says.

The sound of his voice makes my heart hurt.

Falcon.

My oldest brother. The one whose life has been shaped by prison, a dead man who may or may not be dead, a history that keeps coming back with sharper teeth.

“You’re home,” he says.

Yes.

I’m home. Or at least close enough, surrounded by people who love me in the Austin airport.

Daniela steps forward then. I grab her.

“Oh, Robin.”