Page 58 of Forged

He complies, stumbling as he places his hands on the hood of the car.

I grab him by the collar and slam him against the hood, not hard enough to kill him, but hard enough to make my point clear. His breath leaves him in a sharp gasp.

“You were following my wife,” I say, leaning in just enough to let him know exactly how close he is to dying. “You’re going to tell me why.”

“I—I was just watching,” he stammers. “I didn’t touch her. I swear.”

“Who sentyou,” Cash snaps.

The man swallows hard. “I wasn’t given a name, just instructions.”

I tighten my grip. “Instructions from where?”

“Chicago,” he blurts. “All I know is that the contact was from Chicago.”

Falco.

Hale’s jaw tightens. “What instructions were you given?”

The man shakes frantically. “Keep my eyes on her, maybe scare her a little.”

I shove his body down on the hood and step back half a pace, forcing myself to breathe. I look at the man again, cataloging every tremor. Rage burns hot and violently through my veins.

“Were you the one who followed her from the poker game?”

He doesn’t answer, just shakes on the hood of the car.

I press my gun to his temple. “Answer me!”

“Yes! Fuck. Yes, it was me.”

I look at Cash and tilt my head back, telling him to step away. I need to release my anger and fear.

Cash backs away, reading me without question. The silence stretches, taut and waiting, before I aim my gun. The sound of the shot cracks through the air around us, the recoil vibrating through my arm as the bullet tears into the man’s foot. He screams, the sound raw as his body buckles, hands scrambling uselessly against the hood as blood spills fast and dark over the concrete. I don’t move toward him, I just watch, chest rising and falling, the echo of the gunshot still ringing in my ears while the pain I put into him settles something vicious and demanding inside my ribs.

“You’re lucky it was just your foot,” I tell him. “But I need you alive for the time being.”

He sobs against the hood as I turn to Cash.

“Do you have somewhere you can keep him?”

Cash nods. “Yeah. We’ll meet you back at the compound.”

I walk back to my car, the need to hold Neomi growing too strong to bear.

I barely registerthe compound as I pull through the gated entrance because my body is still shaking, still waiting for the next thing to go wrong. My hands stay clenched on the steering wheel even after I park, knuckles white, pulse hammering under my skin.

A woman is already walking toward me. She’s tall, confident with fiery red hair that’s pulled back in a loose knot, black jeans, boots that look broken-in. She smiles when she reaches my door.

“You must be Neomi,” she says as I step out. “I’m Shelby. Hale’s wife.”

I blink. “Okay,” I say flatly. “Hi.”

Shelby gives me an understanding look. “Yeah. That’s usually the response after something like this.”

She gestures toward the building behind her.

“Come on. Let’s get you inside before the adrenaline wears off and you start shaking worse than you already are.”