Chapter 20
"I’m done," Anna announced, snapping a plastic lid shut with the finality of a judge’s gavel.
Aiden looked up from his espresso. "Done with lunch? Or done with the fact that Leo tried to feed the dog his math homework again?"
"Done with the school board and the PTA," Anna said.
"I’m resigning from the school. Between the bounty on your head and the fact that our assistant was a Rossi spy, I can’t spend eight hours a day explaining the alphabet to toddlers. I’m transitioning to full time security detail."
Marcus, who was gingerly testing his range of motion by reaching for a donut, paused mid air.
"Does this mean the Wraith is officially out of retirement? Because if so, I need to go buy more life insurance. For everyone else, not me."
"It means," Anna said, pinning Marcus with a look that made him drop the donut, "that I am the shadow. I drop the kids off. I pick them up. I vet every blade of grass between the front gate and the classroom door."
Aiden’s expression softened, though the worry remained etched in the corners of his eyes. "The twins need a normal life, Anna. Or as close as they can get to one while their father has a multi million dollar price tag on his skull."
"They’ll have it," she promised. "But we’re changing the protocol. You don't ride with us, Aiden. Not until I’ve cleared the board."
Aiden nodded grimly. The logic was sound, even if it stung. If a sniper or a bomber took a shot at the King, he couldn't risk the kids being in the blast radius.
A week into this new routine, the tension in the estate was thick enough to choke a horse. Aiden was surviving three assassination attempts a day, mostly low level freelancers who thought they were faster than they were.
"This is getting tedious," Anna remarked one evening.
"I’m thinking of visiting the heads of the families. A quick tour. Kill the Dons in their sleep, burn the houses, be home in time for the twins' bedtime story."
Marcus, who was finally back on his feet and trying to look tough, let out a bark of a laugh.
"Good one, Anna, Kill the Dons in their sleep. You almost had me there. Man, your sense of humor is getting dark."
He stopped laughing when he realized neither Anna nor Aiden was smiling. Anna was just staring at a specific bolt on her rifle with terrifying focus.
"You can't kill them all, sweetheart," Aiden said gently, reaching over to place a hand on hers.
"There’s a balance. If you take out all the heads at once, the power vacuum will pull the entire country into a full scale mafia war. It’ll be chaos. Blood in the streets, no rules. It’s bad for business, and even worse for safety."
Marcus's jaw hit the floor. "Wait...she wasn't joking? You were actually considering a multi state killing spree before snack time?"
Anna shrugged. "It seemed efficient."
Marcus swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing.
God, she’s scary, he thought. I’ve seen Aiden level a building, but she talks about genocide like she’s planning a grocery list.
"Fine," Anna sighed, a sound that made Marcus wonder if he should start praying.
"No killing the Dons. But I’m sending a message. They’ve clearly forgotten who I am."
The next twenty four hours in the underworld were later referred to as "The Night of the Heirs."
Anna didn't go for the kings. She went for the princes.
The eldest son of the Moretti family was found tucked into his bed, his throat slit so cleanly the coroner claimed he likely never even stirred.
In the Valenti family, the favorite, the man groomed to take over, was picked off by a single headshot through a triple pane, bulletproof window from three miles away.
?The carnage didn't stop there. The Luciano heir was neutralized in a high security penthouse, and the Kovacs enforcer met a similar silent end.
At every scene, the signature was the same, a single, polished brass casing engraved with a 'W,' leaving the underworld in a state of absolute, paralyzed terror.
The 'W' was the universal signature of the Wraith. She only used those casings when a job was personal. When it was close to home.
She didn't kill them all, though. She left the younger brothers, the favorite daughters, the "spare" heirs alive, but she left a 'W' casing on their nightstands while they slept.
It was a silent promise, I was here. I could have ended it. Withdraw the hit, or I’ll finish the set.
The effect was instantaneous. Half the freelancers had their contracts canceled. The Dons were terrified. You can fight a war against an army, but you can't fight a ghost who can walk through your security like it's smoke.
The name Wraith became a curse whispered in shadows again after the "Night of the Heirs," it was clear she was officially out of retirement.
When Anna finally returned to the estate, specks of blood staining her hands and her rifle heavy on her shoulder, Aiden didn't ask for a report. He simply pulled her into a crushing hug.
?He led her silently to their room. With a tenderness that defied his lethal reputation, he washed the grime from her skin, cleaned her hands, and dressed her in soft silk. He knew what she had done, the blood she had spilled to keep their world spinning.
He loved her with a ferocity that bordered on worship, but as he carried her to their bed, a cold spark of fear remained. No matter how formidable, she was still human. She could bleed. She could break.
That night, they fell asleep anchored to one another, two predators finding peace in the eye of the storm.
?The next morning at the estate, the atmosphere had shifted. Marcus was practically vibrating with excitement.
?"You actually did it," Marcus whispered as Anna inspected the line of guards. "How did you bypass their security without a single alarm? That’s Chicago and New York's finest, and you moved through them like smoke."
?The other guards shifted closer, their ears perked. After the news of the heirs, they were officially more terrified of Anna than they were of Aiden.
?"Focus, Marcus," Anna commanded, her voice sharp. "If your feet are slow, your head is a trophy. If you’re good enough, maybe one day I’ll teach you how to disappear."
?"Okay, okay!" Marcus held up his hands in surrender. "But at least teach me that wrist flick again, the one where you disarm a guy and make him apologize for being born."
?Anna’s eyes flickered with a small, dangerous spark. "Back to the mats, Marcus. Let's see if you can stay on your feet for more than ten seconds first."
The drills were interrupted by the buzzing of a phone. Not Anna’s, and not Aiden’s, the estate's landline.
"Hello?" Marcus answered, still breathless from the workout. His face went pale. "A fever? Right. Yeah. We’ll be... wait, who did you call first?"
He hung up and looked at Anna, panic written across his face. "The school. Mia has a fever. They tried to call Aiden, but his signal is jammed because of the security scramblers he’s running in the city. They couldn't reach you because you were in the basement gym with no reception."
Anna’s eyes narrowed into lethal slits. "And?"
"Nobody updated the emergency contact list, Anna," Marcus whispered. "The school called the next person on the file. They called Sofia."
"Where the hell were the guards?" Anna roared, her voice echoing with a mother’s fury.
"If she’s hurt, I swear I’m going to decapitate every one of them!"
?The guards, hardened men who had survived gang wars, visibly recoiled. One dropped his rifle in a clumsy panic, while the others stood paralyzed. They had seen the Wraith in tactical mode, but this was different. This was primal.
?"Anna," Marcus whispered, his voice trembling. "Sofia has her."
?For a heartbeat, Anna’s world stopped. The blood in her veins turned to ice, and her heart stalled in a cold, hollow vacuum.
?The shock lasted only a second before it shifted into white hot rage. She broke into a dead sprint toward the garage, a blur of lethal intent. Marcus scrambled to keep up as she threw herself into the armored SUV.
The engine roared to life with a predatory growl, and the guards scattered like dry leaves, terrified to be in her path.
Marcus scrambled toward the tactical hub, his breath coming in ragged hitches. He snatched his encrypted burner, his thumb hovering over the speed dial for Aiden’s private line.
?Nothing.
?The call didn't even ring, it just dropped into the digital abyss.
?"Dammit, Aiden, pick up!" Marcus hissed, pacing a tight circle. He tried again. And again. Each time, the screen flashed a mocking connection failed.
?The security scramblers Aiden was running in the city, the very tech meant to keep him invisible to Valenti’s hackers, were working too well. They were creating a dead zone that even his inner circle couldn't pierce.
?Marcus looked toward the garage, where the roar of Anna's engine was already fading into the distance.
He was trapped in a nightmare, the Wraith was on a warpath, the Princess was in the hands of a traitor, and the King was flying blind in the heart of the city, completely unaware that his world was currently imploding.
?He had to get through. If Aiden found out about this from anyone other than him, or worse, if he found out too late, there wouldn't be enough of the city left to rule.
?"Try the secondary relay!" Marcus shouted at the comms tech, his voice cracking with urgency. "Signal flare, back channel, I don't care! Just get the boss on the line before the Wraith burns this entire state to the ground!"
?Aiden was unreachable, and Anna was unleashed. The clock started ticking toward a collision that no one might survive.