Page 105 of Forged in Secrets

She wasn’t angry with him anymore. All she felt was sadness.

She glanced at Ben, wondering if he was thinking the same thing. He’d lost his mother. He understood Craig’s pain better than she ever could. And Jade’s, for that matter.

“Have you ever read the Gospel of Matthew, Mr. Gorsky?” she said at last.

Craig looked puzzled. “Maybe a long time ago. Why?”

“Read the eighteenth chapter. You can start around verse twenty-one, if I’m remembering right,” she said, unable to contain the smile that was rising on her lips. Ben raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

“I’d be happy to. I owe you that much and a whole lot more,” Craig said carefully. “But again, may I ask why?”

“Because God has forgiven me a whole lot more than 1.8 million dollars’ worth of sins,” she said. “The money is gone. My parents weren’t even supposed to transfer it until I was safe, and they went ahead and did it anyway. I already talked to my dad about it. You can consider your debt to me and to my family already paid.”

Grace felt Ben stiffening beside her, but she didn’t turn to see the look on his face. The tears that had begun to run down Craig’s ochre skin had captured all of her attention.

She reached for his hand as the man wept, his wounded body shaking with sobs beneath the sheets and layers of bandages that covered his chest. More than once, he tried to speak, but Grace hushed him softly.

Ben moved closer to the bed, resting his own hand firmly upon Craig’s shoulder.

She looked up at him, seeking answers in his perfect green eyes, but she could see nothing.

She let out a breath, squeezing the suspect’s hand more tightly within her own as the man continued to weep. Justice would be done, but she had a chance to extend forgiveness.

That opportunity didn’t always come.

After the bombing in Indonesia, she’d tried to offer forgiveness to her enemy in her heart. But it wasn’t complete. Not when the terrorist’s body had been blown to pieces and scattered among the rubble.

Craig Gorsky was here. She could look into his tear-filled eyes, and she could see the remorse written there.

Would Ben understand that her love for Jesus demanded she offer mercy?

And would she still feel the same about him if he didn’t?

BEN

Despite the heat and the smell of the city, the fresh morning air felt glorious as it filled Ben’s lungs. Grace stood beside him as they stepped out of the hospital lobby and into the sun, but their bodies didn’t touch.

Witnessing the mercy that Grace had shown had made him love her even more, and yet, he felt as though her act had raised a veil between them, heavy with unspoken words and buried secrets.

Oh, how he wanted to take her hand, to kiss her, and to hold her close. She looked so beautiful in the light, hereyes even more blue than usual as they reflected the cloudless sky.

But he couldn’t. Not yet.

Not until she knew everything about him, and the kind of person he really was.

“Grace,” he said, stopping abruptly on the sidewalk. He didn’t want to wait any longer. The thought of telling her the whole truth was terrifying, but he knew there would be no rest for his heart until he did. The time to have this conversation was now, no matter how imperfect the setting was.

“Are you okay?”

He swallowed hard. “Yeah, let’s just sit down for a minute.”

She raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he led her over to a bench with a view of the ambulance bay. Fortunately, it seemed to be a quiet morning, and there were no blaring sirens to distract him from what he needed to say.

“You know that I got fired from San Antonio PD,” he said quickly, before his courage could dissipate.

Grace nodded without missing a beat. “Yes. You never would tell me why, just that it had something to do with trying to protect your former partner.”

His cheeks burned with shame. He should have told her the whole truth a long time ago. His brothers knew, and they still loved him, so why did he fear that Grace would rip her heart away from him when he lowered his walls?

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