Page 47 of Strictly Forbidden

The way she was now gripping my arms, shivering against me was a reminder that she was still very fragile. I’d sensed she wanted to act tough, as if what she’d endured hadn’t bothered her, but I’d seen the cracks in her resolve.

When she didn’t answer, I shook her gently. “Noel. Talk to me. Did something happen?”

Her entire body began to crumple, and I pulled her close, keeping my hand against the small of her back. “No. Just the storm. I just…”

She was lying to me. Whatever had occurred must have something to do with her past. However, I couldn’t be concerned with that right now. We had much bigger issues to deal with.

“I need you to listen to me. Can you place your trust in me?”

“Why?” she asked, shaking her head as if removing cobwebs.

“Because you’re coming with me on a little trip.”

I knew it would take a few seconds for what I’d just said to sink in. When it did, she immediately tried to jerk free of my hold all over again. I allowed her, but only so she could slip into the kitchen. After grabbing the flashlight, I followed closely behind.

The moment she tried to grab another knife I easily wrenched it from her hand. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” Her hiss was full of venom.

This wasn’t going to be easy.

“You need to listen because we don’t have much time. Some very bad men think you’re my girlfriend.”

“Well, you can obviously tell them otherwise. We were just fuck buddies.”

“I’m not kidding about this, Noel. And we really don’t have time to waste. I’m sorry I got you involved but you need to come with me if you want to continue living. You need to get a few things together but I’m serious about this. Ten minutes. If you don’t do what I say, I’ll strap you down inside my truck.”

Great. I was contemplating adding abduction to my list of crimes. While I knew my harsh words wouldn’t bode well for her trusting me, I meant what I’d said. She was coming with me whether she liked it or not.

“I was so wrong about you.”

“Yeah, maybe you were. Get going. Now.”

“I don’t… I don’t understand.” She hadn’t softened but another moment of confusion settled in. I knew enough about PTSD from my days in the military that being shell-shocked out of the blue was possible. I’d just triggered her horrors and her deep emotions. What the fuck was I supposed to do, let her die?

I glanced out the window. “Yeah, I know you don’t and at this point, there is no time to explain. I’ll get some of Max’s things together. I refuse to allow anything to happen to you because of me.”

“I can see that’s a little too late. What is going on? Who are you?”

“I already told you that. A very bad man. Just go, Noel. Don’t fight me on this. Do you have another flashlight? Try and pull yourself together. We can do this.”

She remained right where she was, debating what she could do. As she glanced down at Max, I had a sense she was putting a few of the pieces together. I didn’t want that to happen just yet. As she took one step toward Max, he closed the distance, nuzzling against her leg but I knew he was staring straight at me.

“You will tell me who the fuck you are,” she said.

“Yeah, I will. Eight minutes. Time is ticking.” I knew everything about how Rinaldi operated. The man was a creature of habit, which meant the chances he altered those methods was slim to nil. I refused to take risks one way or another.

There was no doubt she wanted to retort but resisted doing so, instead yanking another flashlight from a drawer, tossing it to me while snagging the other. She stopped short, spinning around and pointing the beam right in my eyes. “Who are these bad people? Other than you, of course.”

I had a feeling I’d need to hogtie her to get her in the truck if I didn’t answer. “Some men I used to work with. Mafia. And they intend on killing both of us.”

She slowly lowered the beam without saying anything, the glow allowing me to see the look of horror on her face. If there was a light on, I was certain I’d be able to see how pale her face had become.

Yeah, I’d managed to shock her.

When she backed away, I was certain she was going to attempt to flee to her car, so I walked to the door. As I watched her head down the hall, I breathed a sigh of relief. But time was of the essence. I knew where she kept so many of Max’s things, including food and his monthly pills. I grabbed a couple of bags, filling as many as possible, heading out to my truck and dumping them inside onto the back floor.

Once I returned, I heard a sound and rushed down the hallway to her office.

“Zoe. Pick up. Please pick up. Zoe. I need help.”

---