Page 193 of The Forbidden Note

“My brother.”

“Zane?”

“Him.” Dutch juts his chin in Finn’s direction.

Bradley looks at Finn, looks back at me and Dutch and then eyeballs Finn again.

The stocky one with him snorts. “You three are brothers?”

I hear the sneer in his voice and I nearly swing my legs out of the bed to launch at him. “You have a freaking problem with that?”

Bradley grabs his partner’s shoulders. “Thank you for answering our questions.”

No one moves until Bradley is gone from the room.

Just as he leaves, Grey enters.

I sit at attention, noticing the way her eyes are red and puffy.

Was she crying?

The panic I feel looking into her face and seeing her upset cuts right through me. This woman is so freaking deep in my head, in my skin, in my soul that I feel her pain like it’s my own.

“What was that?” Grey whispers shakily. “Why was the police in your room?”

“Whatever it is, it’s nothing good,” Sol grunts.

“Harris must already suspect us,” Dutch says. “Why else would he send an officer to sniff around?”

Finn nods. “I think Harris already knows who set that fire. He’s just looking for the evidence to take us down.”

Grey lets out a shuddering breath. Her eyes glint with unease. “Well then… we better open those boxes and take him down first.”

CHAPTERFORTY-SEVEN

GREY

Zane’s eyes cut through the room like lasers, hyper-focused on me. I know he’s waiting for me to turn and acknowledge him, but I’m not going to do that.

My head is throbbing after that conversation with mom.

I can still feel her censure. Her frustration. Her disappointment.

She was… ashamed.

And there’s something inside me that curls up and dies knowing she feels that way.

Zane is eighteen years old.

That’s the truth.

That’s reality.

Whatever I feel for him…

Whatever he feels for me…

Does it even matter? Is our forbidden story really anything worth fighting for?

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