Page 56 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

"I just don't understand what kind of person blindly follows a strange man when they've been previously assaulted," Liza said. "That's insane."

"He promised that I'd be safe," I said quietly. The now familiar chill seemed to run down my spine and I looked over at V. He hadn't said a word since the discussion of Mr. Crawford had begun. And he had said those exact words to me about an hour ago, promising me something he couldn't really ensure. It couldn't be him though, could it? I had just thought about the fact that V seemed older than the boys my age. But Mr. Crawford was probably in his forties. That was too old, right? V couldn't be older than 40.

V locked eyes with me, as if sensing my question.

"We need more to go off of than hair color, possible age, and height," Liza said. "Think, Summer."

I pressed my lips together. Mr. Crawford had been tall too. Possibly the same height. "V..."

"It's not me," his voice rumbled.

Liza turned to him too. "And that's the kind of thing we could rule out if you'd take off your mask." It looked like she was undressing him with her eyes as she scanned him from head to toe. She was looking at him like a piece of meat more than Miles had ever looked at me that way.

"It's not me," V repeated. "I didn't know who Sadie Davis was until she came to New York."

I thought about the things he seemed to know about me. About how he refused to call me Summer Brooks. He didn't say it because he didn't have to. He didn't know Sadie Davis until she came to this city. But he had known Summer Brooks. He knew me. The real me. I wanted to press the issue but I didn't want to cause another fight. I needed to know who he was. Maybe I had more than just Miles to hold on to from my past. I could really use another friendly face.

V turned his head away from me. "But I did see Mr. Crawford. Sadie and him walked into a coffee shop together across from campus on move in day. And then they left separately. I'd recognize him if I saw him again."

"You were watching me even then?" I asked.

"Yes." He still didn't look back at me.

"When you went to my bank, then, it wasn't just a coincidence?" I already knew the answer. I had known it all along.

"I was looking for information."

"And?"

"And nothing. I got distracted."

"So were you there for the bank robbers or something else?"

"I wanted to trace the bank transfer to your account. The men robbing the place was a perk. But they didn't have a connection to Don like I had hoped. And really they just ruined my shot at figuring out more information."

"I've already looked into the deposits," Liza said. "Her parents did leave her a trust fund and had really high life insurance policies. And she got her grandmother's inheritance too. It all came straight from their accounts, no middle man that I could find."

"So maybe Mr. Crawford's just a good Samaritan," Eli said. "Maybe he was a banker or something and found out her inheritance was about to unfreeze because she was turning 18."

Liza shook her head. "And found her how? With a new name and a new address, the police couldn't even locate her."

"So it was someone who knew about my kidnapping?" I wrapped my arms back around myself. "I don't believe that. He wasn't like Don or any of his hit men. He was kind." I didn't feel the flames when I was beside him.

"You just said yourself that you were scared. Maybe you just saw what you wanted to believe."

"You're looking in the wrong place. He was just undercover or something. Like Eli." I pointed to him. "Couldn't you do some digging? Look through your channels or whatever?"

"He's not a cop," Eli said. "I already ran it in the database. Unless he was using a fake name, which is highly possible."

"See. Fake name," I said. "He's probably a cop too. I mean...why else would he help me?"

"She has a point," Eli said. "There's no reason why one of Don's men would help her and risk putting themselves against the rest of the mafia. It doesn't add up, Liza."

"Fine. I'll look into some other things and see what I can find. But like I said, he doesn't work for either office he claimed to, at least with the last name Crawford. And I can't do much without a picture. I'm assuming you didn't snap one when you were spying on them in the coffee shop?" she said to V.

He shook his head. "You've hacked my phone enough times to know that I didn't."

She laughed. It was the first time I had heard her laugh all night.

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