Chapter 2 - THE NAME THAT DIDN'T EXIST
Willa snapped the locket shut.
Too late.
Kendrick had already seen her reaction.
He stepped inside and quietly closed the door.
"Open it."
"No."
His eyebrow moved slightly.
Most people would have started apologizing.
Willa clutched the locket tighter.
"It belonged to my mother."
"I didn't ask who owned it."
Kendrick extended his hand.
"I said open it."
Willa rose from the sofa.
"No."
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Kendrick surprised her.
He lowered his hand.
"Fine."
Willa blinked.
"That's it?"
"No."
He crossed toward the minibar and poured himself water.
"I'm simply changing questions."
Her stomach tightened.
Kendrick leaned against the counter.
"Willa Hart."
"Yes."
"Born in Newark?"
"Yes."
"Mother deceased?"
"Yes."
"Father unknown?"
She hesitated.
"Yes."
"Worked at six restaurants in four years?"
"That's right."
"No social media. No driver's license before age twenty-three. No childhood photographs online. No high school yearbook. No registered address before 2020."
Willa's face lost color.
Kendrick took a drink.
"You've been busy."
"You investigated me?"
"My daughter selected a stranger out of a room full of people."
He set down the glass.
"Of course I investigated you."
"You had no right."
Kendrick almost smiled.
"You entered a building controlled by my family using a name that appears to have been created six years ago."
Willa went still.
"So let's not discuss rights."
He walked toward her.
"What is your real name?"
"Willa Hart."
"Bad answer."
"It's the only one you're getting."
Kendrick stopped inches away.
"You aren't afraid of me."
She swallowed.
"I am."
"No."
His voice softened.
"You're afraid of something."
His eyes searched hers.
"But it's not me."
Willa stared back.
"You think because you scare everyone else, you understand fear."
"And you think because you lie well, no one notices."
A sudden scratching sound came from the hallway.
The door opened.
Penny slipped inside.
Titan followed.
Kendrick sighed.
"Penny."
The little girl ignored him.
She walked directly to Willa and held up a picture.
Willa took it.
It showed three stick figures.
A little girl.
A giant gray dog.
And a woman with long dark hair.
Above them, in uneven letters, Penny had written:
ANGEL.
Willa stopped breathing.
Kendrick saw her expression.
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
Penny touched Willa's wrist.
Then she whispered something.
So softly Kendrick almost missed it.
"You sang."
Willa's face collapsed.
Kendrick straightened.
"What did she say?"
Penny pointed at Willa.
"She sang to me."
Kendrick's blood went cold.
Three years earlier, Penny had survived the attack that killed her mother.
The car had been forced off a road in Westchester.
Kendrick's wife, Celeste, died before help arrived.
Penny disappeared for nearly two hours.
Titan disappeared with her.
When Kendrick's men found them, Penny was sitting beneath a highway overpass wrapped in an unfamiliar gray coat.
Titan guarded her.
There had been evidence that someone else had been there.
A woman.
But she was gone.
Penny had refused to speak about that night.
Until now.
Kendrick stared at Willa.
"Were you there?"
Willa shook her head too quickly.
"No."
Penny frowned.
"You sang the stars."
Willa closed her eyes.
The old lullaby struck her like a bullet.
Sleep now, little star.
The night can't keep you.
Dawn will find your heart.
And morning will meet you.
She had sung it to a terrified three-year-old girl beneath an overpass while blood ran down her own arm.
She had believed Penny wouldn't remember.
She had been wrong.
Kendrick's voice became dangerously calm.
"Willa."
She opened her eyes.
He was no longer looking at her like a suspicious employer.
He was looking at her like a man standing three feet from the answer to a question that had haunted him for years.
"Who are you?"
Willa's eyes filled with tears.
Before she could answer, Titan suddenly turned toward the hallway.
His growl changed.
Deep.
Violent.
Kendrick immediately reached beneath his jacket.
A second later, the lights went out.
Penny screamed.
May you like
Then a gunshot exploded through the door.
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