Chapter 3 - SOMEONE WANTED HER DEAD
Kendrick hit the floor.
"Penny!"
Titan lunged.
Willa grabbed Penny and rolled behind the sofa as a second bullet punched through the wall.
Glass shattered.
Kendrick fired twice toward the hallway.
A man cursed.
Footsteps ran.
Titan charged through the doorway.
"Stay down!" Kendrick shouted.
Another gunshot.
Then silence.
Kendrick moved.
Fast.
Controlled.
By the time Willa looked up, he was already in the hallway.
A security guard lay unconscious beside the elevator.
Titan stood over another man dressed in catering whites.
The attacker was alive.
Barely.
Titan had his jaws locked around the man's forearm.
"Release."
Titan let go immediately.
Kendrick kicked the gun away.
Barrett came running with six armed men.
"What happened?"
"Someone tried to kill a waitress," Kendrick said.
Barrett looked at Willa.
Then at the attacker.
"Why?"
"Excellent question."
Willa was still holding Penny.
The little girl shook against her.
Willa whispered the old lullaby.
Almost without thinking.
"Sleep now, little star..."
Kendrick turned.
Penny's breathing slowed.
"...the night can't keep you..."
His face hardened.
There was no denying it now.
Willa had been there.
Three years ago.
The attacker groaned.
Kendrick crouched.
"Who sent you?"
The man laughed through bloody teeth.
"Go to hell."
Kendrick glanced at Titan.
The laughter stopped.
"Who sent you?"
Nothing.
Willa stepped closer.
Then she saw something on the man's wrist.
A tattoo.
A black crown crossed by two knives.
Her face went white.
"No."
Kendrick noticed.
"You recognize it."
Willa stepped backward.
"No."
"Willa."
"Don't call me that."
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Everyone froze.
Kendrick slowly stood.
"What should I call you?"
She looked around.
Barrett was watching.
That made the decision for her.
"Nothing."
She picked Penny up and handed her gently to Kendrick.
"I need to leave."
Kendrick laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"Someone fires through my guest room trying to kill you, my daughter identifies you as the woman who saved her life, and your solution is to leave?"
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
"I can't."
Barrett stepped closer.
"Kendrick, clearly she's involved in something dangerous."
Willa looked at him.
For one second, raw hatred flashed across her face.
Barrett saw it.
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Kendrick caught that too.
Interesting.
Barrett knew her.
Or feared her.
Maybe both.
Kendrick turned to his security chief.
"Lock down the building."
Willa's panic returned.
"Kendrick—"
"No one leaves."
"You can't keep me here."
"Someone just tried to put two bullets through you."
"I've had worse nights."
Kendrick stared.
"That's not reassuring."
Penny suddenly spoke.
"Don't let him take her."
Kendrick looked down.
"Who?"
Penny wasn't looking at the attacker.
She wasn't looking at the guards.
She was staring at Barrett.
Every muscle in Kendrick's body tightened.
Barrett forced a laugh.
"Children say strange things after a shock."
Penny buried her face against Kendrick's chest.
"No Uncle Barrett."
The hallway went silent.
Willa's eyes closed.
There it was.
The secret she had hoped never to hear from Penny's mouth.
Barrett's face turned hard.
Kendrick stared at his uncle.
"What does she mean?"
"Nothing."
Kendrick's voice dropped.
"Barrett."
Barrett spread his hands.
"She's traumatized."
Penny began shaking again.
Willa couldn't stand it.
"Stop."
Everyone looked at her.
She stepped between Penny and Barrett.
"Get him away from her."
Barrett's expression twisted.
"You have no authority here."
Willa looked straight at him.
"No."
Then she reached under the collar of her uniform and pulled out the silver locket.
"But my father did."
Barrett stopped breathing.
Kendrick's gaze dropped to the engraved name.
EVELYN MERCER.
His eyes rose slowly.
Willa's voice trembled.
"My name isn't Willa Hart."
She looked directly at Barrett.
"My name is Evelyn Mercer."
Barrett's face went completely white.
And Kendrick finally understood.
Because he knew that name.
Everyone in the Ashford Syndicate did.
May you like
Daniel Mercer's entire family had supposedly died six years ago.
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