Page 140 of Forged

When I took on the assignment, I not only agreed to freedom once completed, I agreed to the fact that Sera would expose my entire career to the world if I failed. International leaders would know who made their delegates met their fate. Families of the world’s elite would know who killed their brothers or fathers. I would be a dead man walking with nowhere to hide.

My grip tightens around the phone, the edges pressing into my palm. For a moment, everything inside me goes still.

Then it all crashes at once.

Sera, the mission, and the lie.

Then I think of them.

Lars, Neomi, and the life and love I want so fucking badly.

I close my eyes, forcing a slow breath in, then out, pushing the chaos back into something I can contain. I realize that the choice is easy.

I need to tell them everything.

I know deep down that if I have the slightest chance at love, that means more than the freedom I could earn by handing over the Key. I would rather take the fall than have this family’s business be torn to shreds by a makeshift Robinhood vigilante.

Consequences be damned, I have to come clean.

I leavethe private suite after making sure Neomi is asleep and Lars is with her, telling them I needed to get a drink. He doesn’t want to stray far from her, not even for a few minutes, and I understand it deep in my bones. The bruise on her temple keeps flashing through my mind, the image of her in that hospital bed colliding with Sera’s messages until my chest is filled with anxiety. Forty-eight hours is all I have. It doesn’t matter that I’ve already chosen them, that I’ve chosen love over safety. It doesn’t matter that I’m done with the mission. Sera doesn’t care about my conscience.

So, I go looking for Enzo.

I find his office at the end of the west corridor, past two guards who don’t ask questions when they see my face. The door stands half open, warm light casting across the polished floor. I lift a hand, then stop. There’s no point knocking..

I push the door open and step inside.

Enzo is seated behind his desk, one forearm resting near the edge, his attention fixed on the monitors in front of him. Dante stands at his side, silent, one hand braced on the desk as he pointstoward something on the screen. The room smells of espresso and gun oil, the expensive wood of his desk is polished to a dark shine.

Enzo looks up first.

Whatever he sees on my face confirms something, because his expression hardens and his voice turns cold enough to split stone.

“Secure him.”

Dante moves before his words are finished.

One second, I’m standing there, ready to confess the next Dante’s on me—fast, efficient, every motion precise. He twists my arm behind my back and forces me forward with a pressure point that lights up my shoulder. My cheek hits the edge of a bookshelf before he plants me there, one hand between my shoulder blades, the other pinning my wrist hard enough against my back to make resistance pointless. He pats me down from head to toe.

I don’t fight him. Dante is massive and well trained, and I know exactly how little chance I’d have of breaking his hold. The Ghost team doesn’t earn its reputation from weak men.

Enzo rises from behind the desk with the unhurried calm of a man who already knows how this ends. He rounds the corner slowly, his eyes never leaving me. There are no shouted words, and somehow that makes it worse.

Dante releases enough pressure for me to straighten, but he keeps a hand on the back of my neck as Enzo steps into my space.

“Dante brought something to my attention,” Enzo says, each word clipped. “He recognized you, but he couldn’t quite place you. Then he recalled some time he spent in Munich. You want to tell me why my Ghost had to be the one to identify the bastard assassin that has worked his way into my family?”

I look him in the eyes. “I came here to tell you.”

“Very convenient.”

“I’m telling you the truth, Enzo. I love them and I came here to tell you everything.”

His jaw flexes. “Oh, fuck off, Gabriel. Don’t you dare say that you love my brother and his wife.”

“I do,” I say, forcing the words out. “If we could talk, I’ll tellyou everything. I didn’t come here to kill, I promise you that. I came to gather information. I would never hurt Lars or Neomi."

Enzo leans in until there’s barely an inch between us. “You expect me to believe that your timing is just a coincidence?”