Chapter 4 - Glass exploded across the room.Kendrick threw Willa to the floor.
Gunfire tore through the wall.
Titan lunged toward the window, barking furiously.
Guards fired back.
“Get Penny!”
Kendrick's voice cut through the chaos.
Willa crawled toward the little girl.
Penny was frozen beside the doorway.
Willa grabbed her.
“Come on!”
A bullet struck the wall above them.
Penny screamed.
Kendrick reached them.
He shielded both with his body.
“Basement.”
They ran.
Titan followed.
The mansion's emergency doors slammed shut behind them.
Kendrick led them through a tunnel beneath the building.
Willa finally realized why the Ashford estate had survived so many attacks.
It had been built like a fortress.
They reached a steel chamber.
Kendrick shut the door.
Everyone breathed.
Penny clung to Willa.
Kendrick stared at the girl.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Penny?”
The child shook her head.
Kendrick knelt.
Then something strange happened.
Penny reached up and touched his face.
“Daddy is scared.”
Kendrick looked away.
“I’m not scared.”
“You are.”
Willa watched them silently.
Then Penny whispered:
“Mommy was scared too.”
Kendrick went still.
“What did Mommy tell you?”
Penny looked at Willa.
“Don't trust Uncle Barrett.”
Everyone turned.
Barrett had followed them into the chamber.
His face darkened.
“Penny...”
The girl hid behind Willa.
Kendrick slowly stood.
“You knew.”
Barrett shook his head.
“She was a child. She doesn't understand.”
“Then explain how she knows your name.”
Barrett said nothing.
Kendrick raised his gun.
“Last chance.”
Barrett sighed.
“I didn't kill Elena.”
“Who did?”
“I don't know.”
Kendrick's finger tightened.
“Then you're useless.”
Barrett stepped forward.
“But I know who ordered it.”
Silence.
“Who?”
Barrett looked at Willa.
“Your mother.”
Willa felt sick.
“No.”
Barrett continued.
“She ordered the fire.”
“Why?”
“To erase the ledger.”
Willa shook her head.
“She would never.”
“She wasn't protecting you.”
Barrett's eyes hardened.
“She was protecting herself.”
Kendrick stared at him.
“You expect me to believe this?”
“I don't care what you believe.”
Barrett reached into his jacket.
Two guards aimed their weapons.
He slowly pulled out a flash drive.
“This contains the last recording Elena made.”
Kendrick took it.
They connected it to the underground security system.
A video appeared.
Elena stood in a dark room.
Her face was bruised.
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“Kendrick, if you're watching this, I'm already gone.”
Kendrick stopped breathing.
“Don't trust anyone in the family.”
Elena looked directly into the camera.
“Not even me.”
Willa's stomach dropped.
Elena continued.
“Penny isn't who you think she is.”
Kendrick looked at his daughter.
“She is the reason they want the ledger.”
The video glitched.
Then Elena said something that made Willa freeze.
“The girl who survived the fire isn't Willa.”
The room went silent.
Willa whispered:
“What?”
The recording ended.
Kendrick stared at her.
Barrett looked stunned.
Willa's mind raced.
“That can't be true.”
Then Penny said quietly:
“She is.”
Everyone turned.
Penny pointed at Willa.
“That's not Willa.”
Kendrick crouched.
“Then who is she?”
Penny smiled faintly.
And for the first time in three years, her voice sounded completely calm.
“She is the girl Mommy told me to wait for.”
Kendrick stared.
“What girl?”
Penny whispered:
“The real Willa.”
Then the chamber lights went out.
When they came back on, Barrett was gone.
So was the flash drive.
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And on the floor lay Willa's silver pendant.
Broken in half.
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