Chapter 2 - THE DARKNESS WASN'T AN ACCIDENT
The first gunshot came three seconds after the lights went out.
It shattered the drawing room window.
Adrian threw himself over me.
"DOWN!"
Glass exploded across the marble.
Evelyn screamed.
I felt Adrian's arm wrap around my shoulders as another shot struck the fireplace.
"Marco!" Adrian roared.
A man's voice answered from the hallway.
"Boss, west entrance is compromised!"
Adrian pulled a pistol from beneath his jacket.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I had worked at Blackthorne Estate for four months.
I'd seen armed guards.
I'd heard whispered conversations about shipments and rival families.
But I'd never experienced anything like this.
"Harper."
Adrian's voice was sharp.
"Look at me."
I obeyed.
"Can you walk?"
"I think so."
"Take my mother. Stay behind me."
Evelyn was shaking so badly she could barely stand.
I grabbed her hand.
"It's okay, Mrs. Blackthorne. We're going somewhere safe."
She stared at me.
"Robert said the walls would protect us."
I didn't understand.
But Adrian did.
His expression changed.
"Mother, what walls?"
Before she could answer, another gunshot echoed.
Adrian pushed us toward a bookshelf.
He pressed something beneath the carved wooden frame.
The entire shelf moved.
A narrow staircase appeared.
"Inside. Now."
I helped Evelyn through.
Adrian followed, pulling the shelf closed behind us.
Emergency lights flickered along the stone walls.
For several seconds, all I could hear was Evelyn crying and the distant thunder of gunfire.
Then Adrian spoke into his phone.
"Lock down the property. Nobody leaves without my authorization."
A pause.
"Find Victoria Sterling."
Another pause.
"And bring me every security recording from the last forty-eight hours."
He ended the call.
I leaned against the wall, trying to steady myself.
My cheek throbbed.
Blood had dried beneath my nose.
Adrian noticed.
"You're hurt."
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding."
"I've had worse."
He stared at me.
"That's not reassuring."
Evelyn suddenly pulled me closer.
"Don't let them take her."
Adrian frowned.
"Take who?"
"Harper."
My stomach dropped.
"Mrs. Blackthorne?"
She looked toward the ceiling.
"Robert said the girl would come."
Adrian became very still.
"What girl?"
Evelyn shook her head.
Then she whispered something that made the air seem colder.
"The one with the silver bracelet."
My hand instinctively moved beneath my uniform sleeve.
Around my wrist was a thin silver bracelet.
My father had given it to me when I turned sixteen.
It had a tiny engraved letter Q.
I'd worn it every day since.
Adrian followed my movement.
"Show me."
I hesitated.
"Sir?"
"Your bracelet."
Slowly, I pulled back my sleeve.
Adrian stared at the silver band.
For the first time since I'd met him, the most powerful man in New York looked genuinely shaken.
"Where did you get that?"
"My father."
"What's his name?"
"Daniel Quinn."
Adrian took one step backward.
Then another.
"That's impossible."
I felt a chill.
"Why?"
He reached into his jacket and removed his phone.
After several seconds, he found an old photograph.
He turned the screen toward me.
The picture showed a younger Evelyn standing beside her husband, Robert Blackthorne.
Between them stood a smiling man holding a baby girl.
The man was my father.
And the baby was wearing my silver bracelet.
Adrian looked at me.
"Harper, your father disappeared from my family's life twenty-seven years ago."
May you like
He swallowed.
"Because everyone believed he had been murdered."
