Page 96 of Forged in Secrets

He had a plan all along.

CHAPTER

FORTY-TWO

BEN

For several long minutes, all that Ben could hear was the humming of the engine.

Katie was leaning against the wall, her eyes filled with tears. Though Ben was just a couple of feet away from her, he didn’t dare reach out to comfort her.

He thought of Asher, waiting with Craig closer to the stern. Was there another phone on board somewhere that he could use to call for help? Was help already on the way?

He dismissed the thought. Craig had been in bad shape, sure, but it seemed that Asher’s t-shirt was more or less stopping the bleeding. Whatever the man had done, Ben knew that his twin wouldn’t leave him to die. So long as he was still alive, it was safe to assume Asher was still with him, trying to help.

Which left Gabe.

Who was somewhere on the beach in La Pesca, soon to disappear into the distance as Grace drove them out to sea.

He looked over at the woman he loved, no longerafraid to let that frightening word fill his thoughts. He did love her, but he knew that he didn’t deserve her love in return.

Ever since the terrifying flight that had brought them to South Padre Island, he’d been failing her over and over again.

He wanted to believe that he’d changed since losing his job as a police officer, but had he, really?

Then as now, he had tried to protect the people he cared about from getting hurt, and in the end, he’d only made things worse.

Was that why Mikayla had betrayed him?

He no longer missed her, but the weight of his own faults still felt heavy.

He swallowed hard, surprised at the emotion he felt. He’d gone through life with his walls up, always trying his best to stop himself from letting himself feel too much. It only led to trouble.

Grace was the one who held her heart out in the open, believing that God was good and that the people she met had potential. Even when she’d learned in the most traumatic way possible that some people still chose to sin in the most violent, horrifying ways.

She should have been terrified.

And yet here she was, single-handedly piloting a huge boat carrying three of her friends, a dying man, and a gun-wielding psycho out into the Gulf of Mexico.

She didn’t look anywhere near as scared as Ben felt.

No. He knew Grace Isabella Hinton well, and the only emotion he could detect on her angelic face was immovable determination.

“We need to go faster,” Jade demanded.

Grace didn’t say anything right away. Ben watched asshe looked over the controls, reading a small screen filled with numbers he couldn’t begin to figure out. He was sure the yacht could attain higher speeds with a full crew on board, but it was clearly not designed to be manned by a single person.

“I thought you knew what you were doing,” Jade said impatiently, giving Grace another one of her withering glares. “Or has all of that bleach leached into your brain?”

Katie glared at the back of Jade’s head, opening her mouth as though she was going to defend their friend before thinking better of it.

Ben caught her eye, wishing she understood his unspoken gestures as well as Asher or Grace would have. As far as he was concerned, the more Jade underestimated Grace, the better.

“I’m just waiting until we pass over this shoal,” Grace said. “I don’t want to blow the propellers if we hit a rock or something.”

Jade said nothing, but Ben could tell by her expression that she was not pleased with the delay. Or perhaps she was just bored because she couldn’t scroll on TikTok while holding a gun to a hostage’s head.

Several minutes passed, and the bridge was quiet now that they were moving more slowly. The sound of the engine had been reduced to a low, rhythmic hum.

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