Page 87 of Forged in Secrets

Instead, the young woman laughed.

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed, examining her immaculate fingernails as she continued to grip the pistol. “You won’t shoot me.”

Ben felt his palms beginning to dampen as he held the gun even more tightly.

The smug witch was right. He couldn’t do it. Not with his brother at the other end of his target’s weapon. All it would take was a split second for her to pull the trigger.

Before he could argue with Jade, Grace stepped forward, walking toward her without so much as a glance at the deadly firearm she held. “What happened here?” she demanded.

Her voice shook a little, but Ben’s heart warmed with approval. He hated that she was here and putting herself at risk, but until they figured out their next move, the only option was to try and keep Jade talking.

Katie had hopefully called for help by now, and when Grace failed to show up for the ransom swap they’d planned with the Hintons, Gabe would eventually come to their aid. He knew that they had been going for the yacht. Biding their time might be enough for all of them to survive this. Unless he could think of another way out of this that didn’t involve jumping Jade for her weapon or shooting her himself.

He glanced down at Craig. He was breathing, but it was clear he was in very bad shape. Without medical care, Ben doubted the man could go on much longer.

Asher looked over his shoulder.

There was none of the usual laughter in his blue eyes, only hollowness and sorrow.

“He got hold of a liquor bottle and swung it at my face,” he said, turning back to Craig and continuing to keep a firm hold on his gunshot wound. “I was keeping Jade close,” he added quickly. “I thought she was the threat.”

The side of Jade’s mouth quirked up into a half smile as she listened without comment.

She was the threat, all right.

Ben felt the gun wavering ever so slightly in his fingers.

When he’d been a cop, he’d never been forced to kill.

But his partner had, and it almost ruined Ben’s life along with his own.

He steadied his hand.

Jade was still holding the gun, but she didn’t look like she was fully prepared to pull the trigger.

It would be so easy to move his finger and fire his own. She wouldn’t have time to react.

But could he bring himself to do it if there was any chance of de-escalating the situation some other way?

“He had to have known he had no chance attacking me with a bottle while I had a gun in my hand,” Asher was saying, his words mingling together as he tried to explain himself. “He had to have known that, but he did it anyway. Protecting his daughter, I guess. He actually got a partial hit in before I moved.”

Asher looked down and tensed his jaw, resettling the makeshift bandage on the man’s chest. Ben could read his twin’s emotions, no matter how he tried to keep them buried.

“Asher, it’s going to be okay,” Grace said gently. “It was self-defense–”

Ben shot her a hard glance. To his relief, her mouth snapped shut at once. He couldn’t focus on helping Asher if she was going to draw Jade’s ire. He wished that he’d insisted she go with Katie. He could have dragged her to the bridge using brute force if he had to. But it was too late now.

Instead, he turned to his twin once more.

“And then what?”

“Obviously, I pulled the trigger!” Asher snapped, a rare burst of anger flashing in his eyes. “I made a choice. I didn’t want to. As soon as he went down, I started trying to help him.”

Ben felt his stomach twisting before his twin spoke again. It wasn’t difficult to predict what had happened.

“She grabbed my gun when I bent down to help her father. I screwed up. I know I did, alright, so don’t start.”

Ben swallowed hard, determined not to let his brother’s defensiveness affect his own emotions. It had been a foolish rookie mistake. Asher knew better than to let his guard down for even a moment. But right now, he had to maintain control. Nothing else mattered.

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