Page 18 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

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I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was near me before waving my access card in front of the reader. The sound of the door clicking closed behind me made me relax slightly. Ever since I left Liza's apartment I had been on edge. It was weird staring at other pedestrians, searching for my face. I was hoping whenever I did run into Sadie Davis, I'd be able to see the differences instead of the shocking similarities. I needed to not freeze.

Even though my body ached from slamming into a brick wall, I forced myself to take the stairs. I kept hoping the vigilante would contact me about helping me train. I wasn't going to back down from anything he wanted me to do. So I certainly wasn't going to back down from some stairs.

My motivation didn't stop my thighs from protesting though. I was completely spent by the time I reached my floor. As soon as I opened the door my eyes gravitated toward Miles' room like they were magnetized. He claimed he still wrote to Summer Brooks. Now I didn't have any reason to doubt his word. Don had changed my name probably in part to keep me hidden. Maybe that was why we had moved so much too, so that I would never get Miles' letters. But why? Why was Don so hell bent on ruining my life?

My feet paused in front of Miles' door. It was selfish, but I wanted to knock. I wanted him to hold me again. We were just kids when we fell in love. He was supposed to move on. I had been angry at him for the past five years for doing just that. And now I was angry at him for not moving on. How could I walk away knowing that what we had was real? That he still loved me too?

I shook away the thought. I needed to be selfless. He had a life that could still be lived. I wasn't Don. I wasn't hell bent on ruining anyone's life. Especially not Miles'. I would not lead him down a path of darkness and destruction. There was nothing to debate. I turned away from his door and walked down the hall to my dorm room.

Kins had sent me about a hundred texts with varying degrees of her freaking out. If I was going to play all of this off and try to be Sadie Davis again, I'd need to spin a web of lies. It shouldn't be hard. I had always been an expert at make-believe. I put my key into the lock and opened the door.

I thought Kins would launch herself at me. I thought I'd spend the afternoon explaining away my crazy. But all my plans went out the window when I saw who was sitting on my bed.

"Eli?"

Chapter 9

Saturday

Eli gave me his best boy-next-door smile as he slid off my bed.

A week ago, his smile would have made my stomach flip over. But a lot had happened since then. "How did you get in here?"

He put his hands up, like he wasn't going to hurt me.

I didn't believe it for a second. I took a step backwards and grabbed the handle to my door.

"Kins let me in," he said. "She just went to the bathroom so we only have a minute..."

"Get out."

He lowered his eyebrows slightly. "Sadie, I'm sorry about our fight. I didn't mean what I said, you know that. I was just upset."

I tried to steady my rapid breathing. It felt like my mind was going to explode. He was working for Don. Or for someone else. I could feel his flames from across the room. I gulped. "I asked you to leave. I'm not going to ask you again." He was clearly good at sneaking into my dorm room. Maybe he was the one who had left the box. Maybe it was him who snuck me back in here after I was kidnapped. It felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest.

"I'm not going anywhere until we talk about this. Kins called me. She's been worried sick about you. She said you didn't come home last night."

Maybe it was anger that flashed across his eyes. Or maybe it was something else. I truly didn't know him. Everything I had learned about him was most likely a lie. But there was a nagging thought in the back of my mind. I needed information from him. I wasn't sure Liza was ever going to speak to me again unless I got her what she wanted. The problem was that I didn't know how dangerous Eli really was.

I took a deep breath. "What I do is none of your business."

His smile faltered. "Look," he said, lowering his voice. "We really need to talk."

"I just...I need some time to think about everything." It wasn't a lie. The room was stifling. I was finding it hard to breathe. I needed to think about what taking Liza's advice would entail. I wasn't sure I knew how to get information from Eli even if I tried.

"Please, Sadie..."

"I asked you to leave." I turned around and opened the door.

"I know that your real name is Summer."

My hand fell to my side

and the door closed with a loud bang. I turned around to face him. "What?"

"I know your name isn't really Sadie Davis. I know you're not from North Dakota. I know your parents are dead. And I know you're tied up in something that you don't understand."

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