Page 99 of Forbidden Forget-Me-Not

“I’m not asking you to kill him. Choke him out. Knock him out. Tie him up. I don’t care, but he can’t sound the alarm.”

“You’re lucky I love you so much, woman,” Goran grumbled, making me smile.

I held out the balaclava for him to put on.

Swearing under his breath, he pulled it on over his head.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

If I were going to lose everything, it would not be because I sat back and did nothing.

“Follow me,” Goran ordered, jogging down into the ditch. We followed the fence line, then slowed and stopped. “Stay here.”

He disappeared into the dark without another word. For a second, I almost told him to wait.

The stables’ fence loomed ahead, tall and quiet under the moonlight. Security lights from the barn cast pale halos across the paddocks, but this area was shadowed.

I knew these grounds better than anyone who worked them. I spent every moment here when I wasn’t at school. Without even meaning to, I had memorized every fence post and drainage ditch.

My father might own it on paper, but it was mine in my heart.

My nerves climbed with every second Goran was gone. I almost screamed when he suddenly appeared right beside me.

“The guard is still five minutes out. He’s lazily walking and smoking a cigarette. You head to the barn. I’ll take care of him when he comes around.”

With a nod, I edged through the hedgerow and kept low as I crossed the open stretch toward the barn, careful to avoid the motion detectors. Every step I took thundered in my ears.

The stable doors were locked with a chain.

Are you kidding me?

Didn’t my father know how dangerous that was? Frustrated, I moved to the sliding door that opened into the hay storage. I pulled it toward me and managed to ease through the gap.

He might have barred me from the property, but this just proved he didn’t know what he was doing. Barns cannot be locked as tightly as vaults. What if there was a fire or a horse in distress?

The smell hit me first. Hay. Leather. Everything that screamed horses. It felt like home.

The door to the aisle opened with a soft groan, and I froze.

Nothing.

Just the hum of the single overhead light and the steady breathing of horses half asleep.

Reaching the back door, I unlocked it from the inside and propped it open before heading to the tack room. I opened the locker, grabbed my halter, and slipped it over my head to carry with me. Then I pulled out my saddle and bridle and dashed over to Atlas’s stall.

“Hey, handsome,” I whispered, softly.

Atlas lifted his head, ears snapping forward.

As quietly as I could, I unlocked his door and crept inside, setting the tack down on the ground. I hadn’t been expecting the loud whinny he gave me in greeting.

“Shhh.”

I looked over my shoulder, worried we would alert the guard in the viewing room. Sure enough, the door opened.

Shit.

I ducked down, but the stall door was open slightly, and it was too late to close it.