Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)(56)

And when he turned to the side to hold her close, she blinked back tears, knowing there would be no walking away from this.

She’d well and truly fallen.

And there was nothing she could do about it.





Chapter Fourteen


Border rolled his shoulders as he watched the little girl play alone in the backyard, her eyes not quite as dark as they had been on that day not too long ago. He’d have to count that as progress because there wasn’t much more he could count at this point.

“She hasn’t smiled since she’s been here,” Detective Sanchez said from Border’s side. “In fact, her foster parents say she hasn’t laughed or cried or done anything yet.”

Border studied the little girl who had lost so much in such a short time because Border hadn’t been strong enough to protect those she’d loved. He wasn’t surprised she hadn’t shown too many emotions, if any at all. He wasn’t sure anyone could after going through something like she did. The fact that she could play at all spoke of a strength she would need to survive, to grow up whole. There was a slight light in her eyes that hadn’t been there before, though, and Border knew she would heal eventually.

He just hoped she would survive long enough to do it.

“It’s only been a few weeks,” he said, finally aware that the Detective he’d worked with for years was watching him. Sanchez lived in a different state, and technically wasn’t there on official business. He couldn’t be since Nevada was out of his jurisdiction. But Sanchez had been the one to call Border to help protect the little girl’s family when things had gone to shit. Witness protection couldn’t help until after the family had testified. And because of that, they had almost been killed.

And when they’d gone to Border, he hadn’t been able to save them all.

Now, there was a little girl with no family and a bounty on her head because she’d seen the men who killed her father, her mother, and her sister.

Border would never forgive himself for not being able to save those in his care, but he could at least work on keeping this one alive. It would be his last mission in a world where he’d lived in secrets and below the radar. He couldn’t be with Jake, and now Maya, and be the man that he’d had to become in the face of the darkness that threatened them all.

“The trial begins soon,” Sanchez continued after a few moments of needed silence. “She won’t be on your shoulders after that.” He sighed. “She shouldn’t be now, man. It wasn’t your fault what happened. There was a leak. We plugged it, but it was too late.”

Too damn late, Border thought. But that meant nothing now. “I started this, and I’ll end it.”

“Just be careful, okay?” Sanchez asked, his voice low. “There’s something going on I can’t figure out, and that means people are letting certain details about what they need done out in the open on purpose.”

Border nodded, knowing the world wasn’t black and white. He did things, and he learned to live with them in order to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. That meant he was always on the outside looking in while living in the line of fire. If there were whispers of what this girl knew and the fact that others were looking for her, it was because someone wanted Border and Sanchez to know.

“I’ll be careful,” Border said softly. He watched as the little girl brought her doll up to her foster mother, an older woman who had never had kids of her own but cared for this child as something precious. The same could be said of the foster father, who doted on the girl with just the right amount of attention. This family would be good for the child until it was time to wrench her from them and find her a new home once more. “She deserves to have a life, Sanchez. She deserves more than secrets and death.”

“She’ll get it,” Sanchez vowed. “If it’s the last thing we do.”

Border shook his head. “I don’t want this to be the last thing we do,” he said with a growl. “I’m done, though. You know that, right? I’m out after this.”

Sanchez met Border’s gaze and nodded. “I know. You could be out now, if you want. Leave the girl to us.”

Though the idea would make sense if he wanted to fully let himself go with Maya and Jake, he couldn’t. Not yet. Border shook his head. “I finish what I start.”

“If that’s what you need.” A pause. “Did you finally find something to live for, more than those you don’t know and will never see again?”

Border didn’t answer for a moment, unsure of how to respond. He and Sanchez weren’t best friends, didn’t confide in each other for shit like this, but maybe it was time he gave a little. Just a little. “I always had it, I just didn’t know I did until it was almost too late.” He didn’t elaborate, didn’t need to. Jake and Maya were his, and he didn’t want to share them here, not where lies and deceit were commodities and lives would forever be at stake.

Sanchez left after a few moments, and Border did the same, leaving the girl with the only semblance of family she had left. Though he knew she’d be pulled from that soon. Hopefully, it would be the last time. He hated that she had to deal with any of this, but it wasn’t his place to tell the courts how to rule. He only tried to find a way to keep people alive.