Midnight Lips | Ghost

𝐂𝐇. 47

"How's everyone?" I asked in Spanish anyway, though I selfishly meant Simon only. I searched for him around but he was nowhere to be seen. I knew he was fine, I heard from Kate, but my stomach turned because I needed to make sure he was okay myself.

"Good," Manu said. "He's in his room."

My eyes shot to meet his. "What?"

He smiled knowingly, tilting his head to the side. There was no point in pretending now. He knew me too much, the idiot. Manu wrapped his arm around my shoulder and guided me toward the doors, Max close behind us. "I don't need to know anything that you don't want to tell me. But you can. You know that, don't you?"

I sighed. "It's complicated."

"Nothing is more complicated than life itself."

"Trust me, this is." And it fucking was. All of it. From my feelings toward Simon to the bonds that tied him back, I couldn't decide where to start.

"Well, if it's any help, talking about it may clear your path a little bit." He squeezed me to his side, and after all these years apart, it made its effects at easing me like it always did before. "I'm all ears whenever you're ready."

"I just need to get to him," I said under my breath and then winced realizing Simon wasn't the only one who went to battle. Soap went too. Ale and Rudy. Price and Kaz. Even Nadia risked her life, though she was the least of my worries. "I'm so glad everyone is okay."

"Yes." We turned right and passed the empty kitchen. Manu glanced behind us and asked Max to wait for him right here, then tucked me tight to his side and continued down the hall. "We've been high on adrenaline all day, but now that it's worn off, everyone is sore as fuck. That's why the base feels so empty right now. Everyone's gone to their room to rest."

"That's good, you all deserve to rest." I felt myself smile. "I take it you haven't questioned Valeria about the third missing missile?"

At that, Manu tensed beside me, pulling his arm and warmth away from me. "Ah..."

"What?"

"She escaped her room."

Shit. "What!" We're fucked now.

She was the only one who knew about the missiles that we could get the information out from, and I was certain she perfectly knew about this third missile but decided to stay quiet when the guys interrogated her. Now she escaped, and that only meant we either have to capture her back or find the missile on our own, which would be fucking hard to do so. Both were hard to do.

Valeria wasn't stupid. After being captured and freed, she was probably on her way to her hiding spot, someplace where we would never, ever, find her, and by then Hassan would have already executed his terrorist assault. The only thing we could do now was find that third missing missile.

Somehow, I felt like it was my fault Valeria escaped her room. In the end, I was the one who practically forced Alejandro to offer her a decent stay.

My stomach twisted in worry. "Alejandro..."

"Yep, he didn't take it so well. Almost murdered Soap on the spot after he attempted to make a joke at him."