Page 12 of The Forbidden Secret

“Nobody! I—”

I put more pressure on his arm, and he shouted a curse as his shoulder popped out of the socket.

“Who are you?” I repeated calmly.

“Franklin,” he shouted, trying to pull away from me.

“Okay, Franklin. Why are you following us?”

“I—I work for a man who sent out photos of the girl you’re with. We’re supposed to report back if we see her. A missing person or something, I think.”

I slammed his head into the dumpster, and he shouted again.

“Man, you said something about killing people. Did you kidnap her?”

“How many people does he have looking for her?”

He shook his head frantically. “I don’t know. My office does analytics for Mr. Newton. There are about thirty on that team, but he said he put out the call to all of his employees. I—I just do analytics for the man, dude. I’m just doing what I was paid to do.”

I held him through his trembling and begging, wondering if his story was to be believed.

Then, my eyes drifted down to the gun at his waist.

I wasn’t going to kill an innocent man if he trulywasas innocent as he claimed.

“Get the fuck out of here,” I snarled at him, pushing him away. He took two steps before he looked over his shoulder and reached for…

I moved before he even had a second to lift his weapon, throwing the knife I had in my hand. He tried to step out of its path, but it lodged in the side of his chest. It gave me just enough time to grab his hand and slam it against my knee. The gun clattered to the ground as I whipped him around in my grasp and wrapped an arm around his neck.

He struggled.

He clawed at my arm.

I ignored the tinge of pain as I rapidly shifted my body to one side and heard the pop of his neck before he went limp.

I dropped him, bouncing on my toes as I eyed the body at my feet.

“I guess that’s proof enough that you’re not lying about being an assassin or whatever.”

“Mercenary,” I corrected absentmindedly.

“Lingering next to a dead person probably isn’t the smartest move, so let’s be on our way,” she replied, grabbing my hand in her smooth, small grip and pulling me toward the entrance of the alleyway.

She didn’t show a hint of fear or disgust as we made it to our vehicle and climbed inside without another word. I knew it shouldn’t have surprised me, but everything about Evelina and her reactions to situations had always intrigued me.

I wasfucked.

Chapter Five

Evelina Bianchi

I knew as soon as we settled into the second safe house that there was something important I needed to do. Something that couldn’t wait any longer.

I spent the first three hours watching Zeke’s movements, holding the same silence that I had for the past five days. I watched as he got up every half hour and checked all the windows and doors of the small apartment. Every hour, he would go outside and assess the surroundings of the building, holding a pack of cigarettes in his hand as he left.

He never came back smelling like the cigarettes, though.

Nothing had changed between us—not really. I wanted to be angry with him for leaving suddenly, though he had never insinuated we were more than a one-night stand.

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