Chapter 6 - Beneath St. Vincent's
The first bullet struck the counter.
Kendrick shoved Willa behind an overturned table.
Titan disappeared through the kitchen.
"Where is he going?"
"Being smarter than us."
Kendrick fired twice toward the shattered window.
A man outside ducked.
"Back exit."
They ran.
The diner kitchen smelled of dust and old grease.
Kendrick kicked open the service door.
A man was waiting outside.
Before he could raise his weapon, Titan hit him from the side.
The man crashed into a garbage container.
"Good boy," Willa breathed.
They reached Kendrick's car.
Two SUVs blocked the street.
The third had moved behind them.
"Trapped," Willa said.
"Not yet."
Kendrick grabbed her hand.
They ran toward an alley.
More footsteps followed.
Willa's lungs burned.
She had spent six years avoiding danger.
Kendrick Ashford appeared capable of attracting it simply by walking into a room.
At the end of the alley stood a chain-link fence.
Willa stared.
"You've got to be kidding."
Kendrick interlocked his hands.
"Up."
"I'm wearing boots."
"Wonderful. Use them."
She stepped into his palms.
He lifted.
Willa climbed over.
Titan somehow found an opening beneath the fence.
Kendrick followed.
A bullet struck metal beside his shoulder.
They ran another block.
Then a gray delivery van screeched around the corner.
The side door opened.
Willa prepared to run.
Kendrick didn't.
One of his guards leaned out.
"Boss!"
They climbed inside.
Only when the doors closed did Willa realize Kendrick was bleeding.
"You're hit."
"Graze."
"That's blood."
"Excellent observation."
"Take off your jacket."
Kendrick blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"You're not dying from stubbornness while I'm sitting here."
The guard in front looked like he wanted to laugh and was equally afraid to.
Kendrick removed his jacket.
The bullet had cut across his upper arm.
Willa pressed clean gauze against it.
He watched her.
"You've done this before."
"My family didn't exactly live a peaceful life."
"You never told me what your father did for us."
"He managed legitimate financial holdings."
"Adrian Bennett was one of the best forensic accountants in New York."
Willa looked up.
"You knew that?"
"My father respected him."
"Your father murdered him."
Kendrick's face hardened.
"Maybe."
Willa stopped.
"What does that mean?"
"It means the more I learn, the less certain I am that my father knew what happened."
She stared.
"Don't rewrite history because it's uncomfortable."
"I'm not."
"Your name was on the order."
"I know."
"Then stop saying maybe."
Kendrick leaned closer despite the pain.
"The order I signed said extraction."
Willa froze.
"What?"
"Your father was supposed to be brought to a secure location for questioning."
"That's not what I saw."
"I know."
His voice fell.
"I think Barrett changed it after I signed."
The van became silent.
Willa searched his face.
"Why should I believe you?"
"You shouldn't."
The answer surprised her.
"Not yet."
Kendrick continued.
"But Celeste apparently believed there was enough doubt to investigate me instead of simply running."
Willa released pressure from his arm.
The bleeding had slowed.
"She said something once."
"What?"
"That the most dangerous lie is one containing enough truth to survive."
Kendrick smiled sadly.
"That sounds like her."
St. Vincent's Church had closed twelve years earlier.
Its stained-glass windows were boarded.
The bell tower leaned slightly toward the street.
Kendrick brought only two trusted men.
No one else knew where they were.
Willa carried Celeste's black key.
Inside, dust floated through shafts of afternoon light.
Titan sniffed every pew.
"What are we looking for?" Kendrick asked.
"Celia said beneath the church."
"Celeste."
Willa glanced at him.
"To me she was Celia."
Kendrick considered that.
"Fair."
They found stairs behind the altar.
The basement contained old parish records, broken chairs and storage cabinets.
Then Willa saw a black metal door.
A symbol had been painted across it.
Nine.
Kendrick stopped.
"Vault 9."
"But the note said not the one in Ashford Tower."
"This is the real one."
The key fit.
Inside waited no money.
No diamonds.
No weapons.
Only boxes.
Documents.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Years of secrets.
Willa stared.
"Your wife built an archive."
Kendrick walked inside like a man entering his own grave.
The first box was labeled BENNETT.
Willa's hands shook.
She opened it.
Photographs spilled across the table.
Her childhood home.
Her father's office.
Her mother leaving a grocery store.
Caleb walking Titan—then Duke—through a park.
Willa covered her mouth.
Someone had watched them for months.
Kendrick opened a folder.
Inside was the original order.
Extraction authorization.
Signed by Kendrick Ashford.
Beside it was another.
Execution authorization.
Same signature.
Different text.
Willa couldn't breathe.
Kendrick placed both pages together.
"The signature is identical."
"Copied."
"Yes."
Willa touched the original.
For six years she had hated Kendrick because of a piece of paper.
Now two pieces of paper told two completely different stories.
It did not erase what happened.
But it changed the shape of the monster.
Another file contained financial transfers.
Barrett's name appeared nowhere.
Shell companies did.
Celeste had highlighted recurring payments.
Willa read one recipient.
"Mercer Strategic Consulting."
Kendrick's expression darkened.
"Barrett owns it through his nephew."
Willa opened another folder.
Photographs of witnesses.
Each followed by a death certificate.
"Three witnesses," she whispered.
"All dead."
Kendrick looked sick.
Then Titan barked.
They turned.
The dog stood before an old monitor.
A small red light blinked.
Willa pressed a button.
The screen flickered.
Celeste appeared.
Alive.
Willa gasped.
Kendrick forgot how to move.
Celeste sat in a plain room wearing a gray sweater.
Her hair was tied back.
She looked exhausted.
"If you're watching this," she began, "then I failed to finish what Adrian Bennett started."
Kendrick lowered himself into a chair.
Celeste continued.
"Adrian discovered Barrett had been laundering syndicate money through humanitarian foundations and selling internal intelligence to rival organizations."
Willa's hands curled into fists.
"He tried to tell Silas Ashford."
Celeste swallowed.
"Barrett intercepted the evidence."
Kendrick whispered, "God."
"He framed Adrian as the traitor. Kendrick signed an extraction order believing Adrian would be questioned."
Willa looked at Kendrick.
His eyes remained fixed on the screen.
"Barrett replaced the order."
Celeste's voice broke slightly.
"The Bennett family was attacked that night."
Willa started crying without realizing it.
"Marianne Bennett died in the fire. Adrian was killed outside the house."
She paused.
"Willow escaped."
Willa closed her eyes.
"And Caleb Bennett was taken alive."
Her eyes flew open.
Kendrick stood.
Celeste continued.
"I have not discovered where Barrett sent him."
Willa grabbed the table.
"He was alive."
"At least after the fire," Kendrick said.
Celeste looked directly into the camera.
Then came the words that destroyed whatever remained of Kendrick's composure.
"Barrett also knows I discovered the truth."
Kendrick gripped the back of the chair.
"If something happens to me, it was not an accident."
Willa covered her mouth.
Celeste continued.
"Penny saw Barrett confront me in the private garage two days ago. She is too young to understand what she saw."
Tears appeared in Celeste's eyes.
"If I die, protect her from him."
Kendrick turned away.
His shoulders shook once.
Only once.
Willa didn't touch him.
Some grief deserved silence.
Then Celeste said something else.
"Kendrick, if you're watching this, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
He looked back.
"I was afraid the moment you knew, Barrett would know too."
Her voice softened.
"You trusted him like a father."
Kendrick's eyes closed.
"He isn't."
A long pause.
"And Willow..."
Willa froze.
Celeste smiled faintly.
"If you survived long enough to see this, stop blaming yourself for surviving."
Willa broke.
Six years of guilt cracked open at once.
Her knees gave way.
Kendrick caught her.
She should have pushed him away.
Instead she clutched his shirt and cried.
Not politely.
Not silently.
She cried for her father.
For her mother.
For Caleb.
For Celeste.
For the twenty-one-year-old girl who had run into the rain while her family burned.
Kendrick held her.
No promises.
No empty comfort.
Only arms around someone who had carried too much alone.
When Willa finally looked up, their faces were inches apart.
Something shifted.
Dangerous in an entirely different way.
Kendrick's gaze dropped briefly to her mouth.
Willa felt it.
So did he.
They separated.
Immediately.
"This changes nothing," she whispered.
"No."
But his voice said otherwise.
A phone rang behind them.
One of the guards answered.
His face drained of color.
"Boss."
Kendrick turned.
"What?"
The guard swallowed.
"It's the penthouse."
Kendrick's expression hardened.
"What happened?"
"Penny's gone."
The room stopped.
Willa stared.
"What do you mean gone?"
"Her nanny was found unconscious. The cameras looped twelve minutes of old footage."
Kendrick's face transformed.
"Seal the city."
The guard hesitated.
"There's more."
"What?"
"They found this written across Penny's bedroom wall."
He held up his phone.
A photograph filled the screen.
Three words had been painted in black.
BRING THE KEY.
May you like
And beneath them:
COME ALONE.
