Chapter 7 - The abandoned church smelled like rain and old wood.Kendrick entered first.
Willa followed.
No guards.
No backup.
Only Titan.
The mastiff moved silently beside them.
Kendrick checked every aisle.
Nothing.
Then the church doors slammed shut.
A projector turned on.
Elena appeared.
Kendrick froze.
She was sitting in the same church.
Three years earlier.
Alive.
“If you're seeing this, Kendrick, then you found her.”
Willa stared at the screen.
Elena looked directly into the camera.
“Her name is not Willa.”
Kendrick looked at the woman beside him.
“She was given the name after her sister died.”
Willa's breathing stopped.
Elena continued.
“She is the last living witness.”
“To what?”
Willa whispered.
The recording answered.
“To the night the Ashford empire was born.”
Kendrick frowned.
“What?”
Elena's voice shook.
“Your father didn't build this organization.”
Kendrick stepped closer to the screen.
“He stole it.”
The projector went black.
Then another video started.
A much younger Kendrick stood beside his father.
Behind them were dozens of men.
Among them was Willa's father.
And Elena.
Kendrick stared.
“That was twenty years ago.”
Willa looked at her father.
“He knew your family.”
“He was one of my father's closest men.”
“No.”
She pointed.
“He was standing beside Elena.”
Kendrick looked closer.
A child stood between them.
A little girl.
Willa.
But another child stood beside her.
Her sister.
Someone had scratched the sister's face out.
Then the sound of a gunshot came from the balcony.
Kendrick pulled Willa down.
Titan barked.
A bullet struck the projector.
Lights exploded.
“Run!”
They moved toward the rear corridor.
Footsteps followed.
Kendrick fired twice.
Someone screamed.
A man stumbled into the light.
Kendrick grabbed him.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed.
“You're already dead.”
Kendrick pressed the gun against his throat.
“Who?”
The man smiled.
“Your brother.”
Kendrick stopped.
“I don't have a brother.”
The man coughed.
“You do.”
Then he died.
Willa stared at Kendrick.
“Could someone have implanted memories?”
Kendrick shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what did he mean?”
A phone began ringing.
Kendrick searched the dead man's pocket.
An old flip phone.
One message.
DON'T WORRY.
I'LL TELL HIM SOON.
KENDRICK DOESN'T REMEMBER ME.
Willa stared at the screen.
“Someone wants you to believe you had a brother.”
Kendrick looked at the church walls.
Then his expression changed.
“No.”
“What?”
“I remember.”
He touched his head.
A childhood memory came back.
Two boys.
Same age.
Same father.
One name.
Julian.
Kendrick stumbled backward.
“Julian.”
Willa stared.
“Your brother?”
Kendrick nodded.
“He died when we were children.”
“How?”
“Our father said he fell through the ice.”
“And you believed him?”
Kendrick's voice dropped.
“I watched him drown.”
Silence.
Then Titan growled.
He was staring beneath the altar.
Willa crouched.
A metal box had been hidden there.
Inside was a photograph.
Two little boys.
Kendrick.
Julian.
And behind them stood a young Barrett.
On the photograph was written:
ONE OF THEM WAS NEVER AN ASHFORD.
Willa looked at Kendrick.
“Which one?”
A gunshot tore through the church.
The photograph flew from her hands.
Kendrick grabbed her.
Across the aisle stood a man.
Older.
Scarred.
Alive.
He stared at Kendrick.
May you like
Then smiled.
“Hello, little brother.”
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