Chapter 1 - The ShotThe gunshot echoed through Bennett’s Corner Café.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then the screaming began.
Claire pulled Emma against her chest and dropped behind the counter.
“Mom!”
“I’ve got you. Stay down.”
Another shot cracked outside.
The café windows trembled.
Daniel Seo stood in the middle of the room.
His expression had changed completely.
The gentle stranger Emma had invited to Christmas was gone.
In his place stood the man Chicago whispered about.
Cold.
Still.
Lethal.
He raised one hand.
The two men outside his sedan reacted immediately.
One sprinted toward the café.
The other disappeared around the corner.
Daniel looked at Claire.
“Kitchen. Now.”
Claire hesitated.
“I don’t know you.”
“You don’t have time to.”
A third shot struck the front window.
Glass exploded across the floor.
Emma screamed.
Daniel crossed the room in two strides and pulled them both behind the thick brick wall separating the dining area from the entrance.
Claire stared at him.
“How do you know where to stand?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
He listened.
Footsteps.
One.
Two.
A pause.
Then the back door opened.
Daniel moved faster than Claire could see.
He grabbed the man who entered and slammed him against the wall.
The gun dropped.
Emma buried her face against Claire’s coat.
“Don’t look,” Claire whispered.
There was a brief struggle.
Then silence.
Daniel bent down, picked up the weapon, and checked the magazine.
His face hardened.
“They weren't shooting at me.”
Claire’s heart stopped.
“What?”
He looked at her.
“They were shooting at your daughter.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“Why would anyone want Emma?”
Daniel looked toward the broken window.
“I don't know yet.”
Then the man he had pinned against the wall laughed.
A low, ugly laugh.
“You really don't?”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
The attacker suddenly bit down.
Claire heard something crack.
The man's body went limp.
Poison.
Daniel stepped back.
“He killed himself.”
Claire stared at the dead stranger.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“What kind of people kill themselves rather than talk to you?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“The kind who know what happens if they don't.”
Sirens approached in the distance.
Claire grabbed Emma.
“We're leaving.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You can't go home.”
“Yes, I can.”
“No.”
“I don't even know you!”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough. You walked into my café, and now someone is trying to kill my daughter.”
Daniel looked at Emma.
The child was trembling.
Something in his face softened.
“Your daughter saw me crying tonight.”
Claire frowned.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything.”
He crouched in front of Emma.
She looked at him through wet eyes.
“Are the bad men gone?”
“For tonight.”
Emma sniffed.
“Are you a bad man?”
Daniel stared at her.
Nobody had ever asked him that.
Not directly.
Not without fear.
“No,” he finally said.
Emma studied him.
“My mom says good people don't scare children.”
Daniel glanced at Claire.
“She’s right.”
Outside, police cars arrived.
Claire thought the nightmare was ending.
It wasn't.
Daniel's phone vibrated.
He answered without looking at the screen.
A voice spoke.
Daniel's face went pale.
Claire couldn't hear the words.
But she saw something she had never expected to see on the face of a man like him.
Fear.
Daniel ended the call.
“What happened?” Claire asked.
He looked at Emma.
Then at Claire.
“Someone just found your home.”
Claire's stomach dropped.
“What?”
“They're waiting there.”
She tightened her arms around Emma.
“Who?”
Daniel looked toward the shattered window.
“The people who fired those shots.”
A police officer entered the café.
“Sir, step away from the woman and child.”
Daniel ignored him.
He looked only at Claire.
“You have ten seconds to decide whether you trust me.”
Claire's voice shook.
“And if I don't?”
Daniel's answer came quietly.
“Then you're walking Emma straight into a trap.”
He held out his hand.
Outside, another black SUV turned the corner.
Its headlights went off.
Daniel watched it approach.
“Your ten seconds are almost gone.”
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And Claire suddenly realized the most terrifying part wasn't that Daniel Seo was dangerous.
It was that she had nowhere else to go.
