Chapter 2 - Someone Wanted Everyone Dead
“DOWN!”
Ruiz threw himself over Amara.
A bullet struck the steel bar behind them.
Glass exploded across the rooftop.
Guests screamed.
The second agent dragged Julian behind a concrete planter.
Eleanor dropped flat.
Another shot hit the restaurant wall.
“Where is it coming from?” Ruiz shouted.
“North building!”
Amara struggled to breathe.
Her chest burned.
But something else bothered her.
The shooter wasn’t aiming randomly.
The first shot had come toward Ruiz.
The second—
toward Eleanor.
“They’re trying to kill her,” Amara gasped.
Ruiz stared.
“Who?”
“Eleanor.”
Eleanor heard her.
Her face changed.
For the first time all night, the arrogance disappeared.
“Get me out of here.”
Julian stared at his mother.
“You know who’s shooting?”
“I said get me out!”
Ruiz grabbed Eleanor by the arm.
“Start talking.”
Another round struck the planter.
Julian ducked.
Eleanor screamed.
“Victor Crane!”
Amara looked up.
“Who?”
Eleanor’s mouth trembled.
“My husband’s business partner.”
Julian stared at her.
“Dad never had a partner named Crane.”
Eleanor looked at him with something close to pity.
“Your father had an entire life you knew nothing about.”
The rooftop door flew open.
Three tactical agents rushed out.
Ruiz pointed toward the neighboring building.
“Shooter north side!”
The team moved.
Paramedics finally reached Amara.
They cut open the fabric around the wound.
One medic looked at her.
“You’re lucky.”
“Doesn’t feel lucky.”
“The bullet hit the pendant under your dress.”
Amara blinked.
The small silver pendant Vincent’s attorney had mailed her three months earlier.
She had never understood why.
The bullet had struck it, changed direction, and torn across her chest instead of going straight through.
Amara looked at Eleanor.
“You knew about the pendant.”
Eleanor said nothing.
“You stared at it when I walked in tonight.”
Still nothing.
Amara suddenly understood.
“You didn’t shoot me because I exposed Julian.”
Eleanor’s face tightened.
“You shot me because you recognized this.”
Amara lifted the damaged pendant.
Julian looked between them.
“What is it?”
Eleanor whispered:
“A key.”
The rooftop seemed to disappear around Amara.
“A key to what?”
Eleanor looked toward the shattered window.
Then back at her.
“To the account Vincent died protecting.”
Amara’s phone buzzed again.
Not a call this time.
A message.
From Vincent.
DO NOT LET ELEANOR SEE WHAT IS INSIDE THE PENDANT.
Amara slowly looked down.
There was a tiny seam along the silver edge.
And Eleanor was staring directly at it.
The next chapters are on the left side of your screen.
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