Page 97 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

"Sadie!" He called after me as the door closed.

I knew he said Sadie. I knew it. So why had it sounded like Summer? I started to run down the stairs. I remembered him calling after me as I ran away from his tree house the night my parents had died. The most perfect moment had turned into one of the worst. But this time I was prepared. I knew what was going to happen as I ran away from him.

I knew that I was breathing my last breaths as my feet hit the pavement. My lungs were filling for the last time. Tomorrow he'd know the truth about who I was. And tomorrow I'd be gone. He had given me the gift of being Summer one last time. He had always been my only reason to keep living.

I kept running. And running. And running. Closer and closer to the end.

Chapter 37

Friday

I touched the pendant around my neck. I had put it back on next to my heart. Where it belonged. Thinking about Miles made it hard to breathe. He would have opened the letter by now. He'd know I was Summer. He'd be hurting. I wondered if his hand would be on his chest too. I wondered if he had the same habits as me. Holding on to something that wasn't there.

I looked back down at the reports about William Crawford that Liza had generated. There wasn't that much information about him. He moved a lot. He had lived near my grandmother's house for awhile. He had lived near my last home with my parents. He had always been nearby before my parents died. So why was that?

Jane's answer was an obvious one. Because he was having an affair with my mom. That didn't necessarily mean he was my father though. And it wasn't the only logical conclusion. Maybe he was stalking my mom. Maybe he was crazy like Don. Or maybe he was just an old friend. God. I put my face in my hands. How could my mom have cheated on my dad? How could she?

"Do you want us to run the blood test?" Liza asked.

Her voice made me jump. I had lashed out at everyone this morning. They had been keeping their distance. "No, that's okay." I looked back down at the papers.

"We could really use some more information. If he's your father..."

"I have a father," I said firmly.

"We need help. If you die..." her voice trailed off. "It doesn't end there, Summer. Don's going to ruin this city. This is my home. I want to help stop him. Mr. Crawford might be able to help us. He's not in the city or my facial recognition software would have found him. We need more information."

If I die. It wasn't a matter of if. It was when. The ticking was driving me crazy. It was like it was reverberating through my whole body. Each inhale I took could be my last one. I sighed and put my arm out.

"Thank you." Liza sat down in the chair beside mine. Apparently she had assumed my answer because she already had a needle in her hand. I turned away. I knew the needle would sting. But I had certainly felt worse.

What I didn't expect was to hear Liza shriek in my ear.

I turned to see the needle snapped off, sticking out of my arm.

"What the hell, Liza?" I said. "I thought you knew what you were doing?" I grabbed the needle but her hand wrapped around mine, stopping me.

"Don't touch it. V!" Liza called. "V!" She slapped my hand off the needle.

He came running out of the room he kept locked. "What's wrong? Is she okay? Are you okay?" He knelt down by my side.

"I'm fine. Liza's just terrible with needles."

He looked up at the needle sticking out of my arm.

"I'm not terrible at it," she said defensively. "But I hit something."

"What do you mean hit something?" V stood up and looked at the needle.

"I don't know," Liza said. "There's something hard under her skin. It snapped the needle in half."

"It's written in blood," I said slowly. "That's what Jane said. That there was nothing we could do because it was written in blood. It's in my blood!"

"You think Don put something under your skin?" It looked like Liza wanted to throw up.

"He also wrote, "Your Move," in blood on my arm. Right near where this needle is."

"That's disgusting." Liza put her hand over her mouth.

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