Page 66 of Sins of Leo

“Fuck off. If you want it so bad, you should have gotten it yourself.”

“We tried,” Kylie snapped. “Why do you think we went after the journal? We hoped it held a map. Not that it would have mattered, as it turned out. Apparently, only those with Zodiac somewhere in their bloodline can see the damned door, let alone enter. Luckily, Olivia foresaw it being found.”

Wait, did that mean Ruth had a Zodiac ancestor somewhere in her ancestral line? After all, both she and her father had seen the door.

“I’m not giving it to you,” Leo growled.

“As if you have a choice. Or would you like to see yourfriend’sbrains splattered on the ground?”

Ruth swallowed hard as the barrel of a gun pressed hard against the back of her head.

“You’re depraved,” Leo spat.

“And you’re arguing uselessly. We both know you won’t let her die.”

A ruckus from the jungle, which included a male bellowing, resulted in a small child emerging from the foliage, dressed in a gray tracksuit, her hair cut in a bob. Ruth’s heart clenched, and she could only imagine Leo’s emotions as he saw his daughter.

Alive.

In person.

And hurtling for him.

Kylie yelled, “For Christ’s sake. Someone grab her.”

The men in combat gear lunged, but Olivia darted and weaved, dodging grasping fingers, at one point even ducking down to dive through a pair of legs until she reached Leo, who wrapped his free arm around her tight—a father who would never let go.

A man who would be crushed if he lost his daughter again.

From somewhere deep inside, Ruth found a courage she didn’t know she had and yelled, “Beam out. Now.” While he had both the relic and Olivia.

A tortured expression creased his face as he hesitated, and it didn’t help that Kylie screamed, “If he disappears, shoot the woman!”

At the command, his head hung, his shoulders slumped. A warrior defeated without a fight—unless that of the heart counted.

Olivia whispered something to him that made him shudder, and he remained in his dejected pose as the child untangled herself and walked for Ruth.

“What now, you brat?” Kylie spat. What a horrible woman, treating her child so poorly.

The mercenary with the gun to Ruth’s head didn’t ease the pressure as Olivia came to stand in front of Ruth. Those eyes…Like Sage’s, they looked through and past her, and her words, lisped softly. “Get ready.”

For what?

The soft tremor under Ruth’s knees shocked, almost as much as Olivia suddenly hugging her around the neck. She clung to the child as the ground kept shaking, leading Kylie to yell—a thing the woman did very well, if shrilly—“You didn’t mention an earthquake, you little shit. Grab the relic and the brat.”

Kylie ordered, but her men weren’t listening. Even the one threatening Ruth ran for the trees as the ground heaved and began to slide into the new lake.

A determined Kylie, still armed with her gun, hollered, “Don’t you move, Leo.” She followed the order with a gunshot, but the shaking ground threw off her arm.

Ruth managed to stand, holding tight to Olivia, and as Leo reached them, he wrapped one long arm around them both.

As the dirt underfoot began to slide, eroded by the water, a bright light enveloped them.

Then cold…

Intense cold, with a voice exclaiming,Two down. One to go.

Then nothing until Ruth woke in Leo’s bed.

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