Page 105 of Forged in Steele

Bristol’s eyes widened and a baffled look crossed her face.

What? Was she signaling something? Had he done the wrong thing? Had his actions put her life in danger?

“I’m sorry.” Jared held up his hand. “I won’t move again. I promise. But I need to tell Bristol I love her too. I never stopped. I can see that now. Clearly. Please don’t take her life. Take me instead.”

Reya returned the gun to Bristol’s head. Bristol met his gaze and smiled.

What in the world? Smiling with a gun at her head? Had she lost it?

“Nothing to fear.” She calmly reached up and grabbed the gun barrel.

“No! No! Bristol, no!” Jared charged toward them.

Bristol wrestled the gun out of Reya’s hand.

Jared’s heart refused to beat, but somehow he kept moving forward.

Bristol aimed the gun at Reya. “On the ground, now!”

Reya flashed her gaze up to Bristol but then dropped to the ground.

“Of all the foolish things to do.” Jared wrenched his handcuffs free and jerked Reya’s arms behind her back. He secured the cuffs and turned her to face the drive where Reed was jogging over to them.

“I’ll put her in the car.” Reed grabbed Reya’s cuffs and directed her off the porch.

Jared took Bristol by the shoulders then drew her into his arms for a quick hug and released her. “Does she have Luna? Is she here?”

Bristol smiled. “Safe inside.”

“Thank you, God!” He held her gaze. “You shouldn’t have taken such a risk. Reya could’ve fired. Hit you. Me. Reed.”

“Actually, she couldn’t.” Bristol smiled. “It was impossible.”

“I don’t understand.”

“When she started waving the gun at you, I saw the answer to our problem.”

“That’s when you smiled at me.”

She nodded and held up the gun. “This is a Springfield XDS 9mm. One of my favorite carry guns so I know it well, and it has a live round indicator that you can see and feel.”

She pointed at the top of the slide. “It’s flat right now, but if I chamber a bullet.” She pulled back the slide, dropping a bullet into the chamber, and a metal piece popped up on the slide. “You can see the indicator now shows it’s loaded.”

“So she didn’t have a bullet in the chamber and couldn’t fire on us.” Jared shook his head. “I didn’t know about the indicator.”

“And neither did Reya. The gun belongs to her twin.”

“Valerie Zupan.”

Bristol flashed her eyes wide. “How did you find out about her?”

He explained about the fingerprint. “That’s how I knew to go to Reya’s to look for you. Then the team found this cabin. Made sense she would come here.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Who’s the man in the driveway?”

Bristol’s smile fell, and a haunted look darkened her eyes. “A man Sonya Pratt had an affair with, and he believed he was Luna’s father. He tried to take Luna, and Reya shot him.”

“Could he be the father?”

“His story rang true. We’ll have to question Sonya, but hopefully not tonight.” Bristol took his hand and led him into the cabin.

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