Page 29 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

"What are you talking about?"

"You left me at the party without even saying goodbye."

"What party?"

"The party last night!" God, was he seriously playing innocent? "The one you dragged me to even though I was terrified to leave my room."

His hands clenched into fists. "Who do you think I am?"

I was about to punch him in the face. "Eli, stop messing around."

He shook his head. "I'm not Eli."

"But you're...Eli said..."

"I told you to trust no one."

It felt like my heart stopped beating. "You're not..."

"Your abusive boyfriend?"

"He's not abusive. And he's not technically my boyfriend." God, what the hell have I done? I told Eli I was falling for him. I fucking slept with him. And he lied about everything. He let me believe he was the vigilante. I felt like I was going to be sick. My stomach churned.

"You could have fooled me," said the vigilante.

I took a step away from him. "Who are you?"

He just stared back at me.

"Tell me who you are. Or I'm leaving." There was nothing keeping me in New York now. I hadn't gotten on that bus because I wanted to find my pendant, but it was long gone. I had stayed because I at least thought I could trust the vigilante. I shook my head. There was no way I could trust someone who wouldn't even give me a real first name.

His silence was unnerving.

"How do you know about my relationship with Eli? How do you know so much?"

"Because I've been watching you."

Goosebumps rose on my skin. It was the same thing Eli had said to me. Right after he told me he knew my real name. And lied about being the vigilante. "Why are you doing all this? Just tell me who you are."

"I need a little more time." He reached out and gently ran his fingers down my forearm.

"Don't touch me." I took a step back from him. "I don't know what I was thinking staying here. This is insane." I'm insane. "I don't know how to fight. I don't know what any of this is about. I'm getting the hell out of this city." I turned around and walked toward the stairs.

"You're not going anywhere," he called after me.

Fuck you.

"I have something that you're looking for. And I know you won't leave without it."

My pendant. I turned around, but he was gone. "V!" I ran to the opposite end of the building. He was nowhere in sight. "Damn it!" Tears started streaming down my cheeks. I was exhausted. And hung-over. But that wasn't why I was crying. I was crying because I was furious. V was blackmailing me into staying. Why would he do that when he kept telling me to go home? What was I missing? What didn't I understand?

I put my hands on the ledge and stared out at the busy city street. A city that I loathed. A city that was making my sanity slip away. And this small part of me wanted the pain to go away. I wanted the memories to stop replaying in my mind. I wanted to see my mom a

nd dad.

I could do it. I could end it all right now. I wiped my tears away with my fingertips. How satisfying would that be for Don? That he was capable of killing me from another state? I wasn't going to give him that.

So instead, I screamed at the top of my lungs. I tried to scream away the pain of losing my parents. The pain that Don put me through. The pain of all the lies I'd been fed. And the pain of having to let Miles go.

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