Page 92 of His Forbidden Alliance

Remington and Dante held Rafe back as Lorenzo took me upstairs to meet the ambulance.

36

RAFE

“Let me go!” I struggled to free myself from Remington and my brother.

“No, Rafe, you’ve got to stay here,” Remington said. “You’ve got to make an official statement.”

I shook my head. “A statement? What do you mean? I can’t—” I glanced back at what was left of Ivanov. “Oh, fuck.” I stumbled toward the corner of the room and vomited.

My stomach was trying to turn itself inside out. Dante moved his hands in circles on my back until I was done. Then I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth. The room spun around me when I rose.

“I couldn’t stop shooting,” I said.

Dante put an arm around me. “It’s okay. I don’t know that any of us could have in that position.”

I glanced at Remington. “You want me to admit that I did this to the cops?”

“No,” Remington said. “I want you to say you saw Zach do it.”

“Absolutely not! I won’t have him arrested. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect him. I’ll go to jail⁠—”

“Stop!” Remington cut me off. “All you have to do is talk to Maria. You just need to give her a statement.”

“Maria? Zach’s boss?”

“Right. She should be here by now.”

Had I missed something? “Here? What the fuck is she doing here?”

“Working with us.”

Had I been right? Was Remington giving her info? “Why would I say it was Zach?”

“It was self-defense,” Remington explained. “He had no choice.”

“But…” I shuddered. “He wouldn’t have done that for self-defense.”

“He was under intense mental strain. He’d been in captivity. You know what Ivanov is like. You say Zach’s been working undercover; he was confused. Maria will write it up, and it will be fine. I know you want to protect Zach, but this is the best way to do it. It doesn’t link him with any of us.”

“But it links me. I’m here.”

“You were spying on Ivanov. That’s all.”

I thought I might vomit again. “I don’t think I can do this.”

Dante squeezed my shoulder. “You can do this, Rafe.”

“But won’t she know I’m lying?”

Remington smiled. “As long as she has a story to tell her superiors, it doesn’t matter.”

“How do you know that? How do you⁠—?”

“That’s enough for now.”

“Are you working with them?”