Free Virtues (Base Branch Series Book 8) by Megan Mitcham Page B

citizenship, your name, and most importantly, Rin.”
    Cara stopped between the architectural beams just before the exit. Her chest rose and fell too quickly, pulling in noxious fumes.
    “It also killed many on my road to redemption”—she shrugged—“or my race for revenge.”
    “Popov deserved what she got.” Luck’s voice drew nearer. She wanted to run. Running was her default. His grimy hand wrapped around hers and tugged her away from the street. He turned her to face him and gripped her other hand.
    “Gross.”
    “Yeah.” His tongue lolled out in a gag. When he retrieved it, his expression sobered. “I want us to start over. New beginnings.”
    “You, Rin—you two are young enough for that.” She squeezed his hands in return.
    “Please.” Luck’s eyes bulged, and his head levered far back on his shoulders. “If you’re young enough to kick my ass—and I shamefully admit you are—then you’re young enough for a new beginning.”
    Cara’s head had shaken before he’d finished his pitch. “Not yet.”
    “When?”
    “When I return some money.”
    Wise investments ballooned her accounts well over the original amount in the last ten years. She’d be fine.
    “No.”
    “No?” Cara glared at him. “You don’t want it. Who would, knowing it came from a gang brutal enough to club you in the head for looking at them sideways.”
    “They’ll kill you.”
    “In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t die easily.”
    “They’ll use it to further their reach.” He dropped her hands and put his on the worn top of his jeans.
    “I’m not giving it back to Brödraskapet.” Cara’s upper lip curled without her consent. “That money belongs to Marina.”
    “What?” Luck’s belly concaved. His shoulders hunched, as though her words had exhausted him. He swallowed a fortifying breath. “Double-crossers deserve a bullet, not a King’s ransom.”
    “You don’t know she betrayed us.”
    More than anything, Cara thought she’d been the forsaker. The young woman’s pixie, pale features painted themselves on her brain. Slender frame. Broken blue eyes.
    Luck hadn’t been Cara’s only attempt at atonement. She’d found Marina Sorensen bloody and nearly beaten to death at the end of an alley on an upscale Swedish street corner, a street corner the Brödraskapet had put her on. Motherly instinct had taken over, and before she realized what she was doing, how vulnerable she was making herself and Luck, she’d scooped the girl into a cab and taken her to their temporary home. By the time Luck had returned from a trip where he’d gathered intel on Rin, Cara had bonded with the skittish girl. And none of his objections to the lunacy of taking in a stranger had registered.
    There had been no turning back.
    To strengthen Marina and acclimate her to their lifestyle, Cara schooled her in the art of survival. Evasion. Tactical. Incursion. Everything.
    “You didn’t see her face.” The gusto of his shout drew Cara from her reverie. Luck wasn’t prone to yelling, except when it came to this topic.
    “I know things aren’t always what they seem,” she whispered.
    “And sometimes, they are exactly what they seem. You just don’t want to admit it.”
    The clack of heels stilled them both.
    “Are you two arguing over my crazy house hunting antics?” Since their house hunting adventure the previous afternoon, Rin had changed her mind about what type of place they should buy at least ten times. Cara’s mouth opened to reply, but her daughter giggled. “There’s nothing to argue about anymore. Look!” She rushed over to them, waving a piece of paper in her hand. Cara recognized the sheet. “This one has enough space inside and out and is in a good neighborhood.” She reached them and thrust the page at Luck. “Look.”
    Rin brushed a kiss onto Cara’s cheek. Some of the tension coiled in her belly relaxed. “Thanks for finding this, Mom.”
    And just like that, the tension returned. “I