I pulled Emma behind the stone base of the fireplace while alarms screamed through the estate.
"Stay down."
"Daniel—"
"Stay down!"
My chair had tipped sideways during the movement.
I was on the floor.
Helpless.
I hated that word more than any other.
But Emma was alive.
That mattered more.
Luke and four armed men entered seconds later.
"East tree line!" someone shouted.
Security lights flooded the property.
Emma crawled toward me.
"Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine."
"Your arm is bleeding."
Glass had cut my forearm.
I hadn't noticed.
She tore a strip from the bottom of her apron.
"Emma."
"Hold still."
"A sniper just tried to kill you."
"And you're bleeding."
"This is not the time—"
"It takes ten seconds."
She wrapped my arm.
Even with death somewhere beyond the windows, she was still Emma.
Luke crouched beside us.
"We've got the grounds locked down."
"Get her downstairs."
"No."
Emma and I spoke simultaneously.
Luke looked between us.
I pointed toward her.
"Safe room."
Emma shook her head.
"I'm not hiding while you're here."
"This isn't a debate."
"You can't even get yourself back into your chair."
The words hit harder than she intended.
Her face changed immediately.
"I'm sorry."
I looked away.
Luke reached for me.
I almost refused.
Then I let him help.
That was something the old Daniel Romano would never have done.
Maybe the old Daniel Romano was finally becoming less important.
The shooter escaped.
But he left something behind.
A shell casing.
Luke brought it to me the next morning in an evidence bag.
I recognized the caliber.
So did he.
"Same type?" I asked.
"Same caliber as the round that hit you two years ago."
My mouth went dry.
"That doesn't prove anything."
"No."
"But?"
Luke set another photograph on my desk.
A man captured by a traffic camera near the estate.
Viktor Soren.
A contract shooter who had supposedly died eighteen months earlier.
I knew the name.
"He worked for Cal Mercer."
Luke nodded.
Calvin Mercer had been one of my closest lieutenants before the shooting.
Afterward, he had expanded his influence while publicly remaining loyal.
Too loyal.
I had ignored warning signs because Luke trusted him.
Because I trusted Luke.
"Mercer ordered the hit two years ago?"
"Maybe."
"And now he's targeting Emma."
"Maybe he's trying to finish what he started."
I looked toward the closed study door.
"No."
Luke frowned.
"He isn't trying to kill me."
"How do you know?"
"If he wanted me dead, last night's shot would've been through my head."
Realization crossed Luke's face.
"Emma is leverage."
I hated the word.
Emma refused to leave the estate.
That surprised nobody except me.
"You nearly died."
"So did you."
"I've nearly died before."
"Congratulations?"
"Emma."
She folded towels.
We were in the laundry room because she'd insisted on returning to work.
I had followed her because apparently I had lost all dignity.
"You can't go back to the diner."
"I need my job."
"I'll pay you."
"No."
"Why are you so stubborn?"
She stopped folding.
"Because money from you always comes with protection attached."
"Yes."
"And protection becomes control."
That stopped me.
Emma lowered her voice.
"My mother spent years married to a man who called control love. I won't do that."
"I'm not your father."
"No. But you're used to everyone obeying."
She wasn't wrong.
"What do you want me to do?"
Her expression softened.
"Ask."
I stared at her.
"Ask what?"
"Ask me to stay somewhere safe. Don't order me."
That was absurdly difficult.
I drew a breath.
"Emma, will you please stay at the estate until we know who's behind this?"
She smiled.
"Yes."
"That easy?"
"That easy."
I shook my head.
"You are impossible."
"Takes one to know one."
Her mother was moved temporarily to a secure private wing at Lakeshore.
Emma visited twice a week with security.
One afternoon, she asked me to come.
I nearly refused.
Hospitals and care facilities had become places I avoided.
They smelled like the worst two years of my life.
But Emma asked.
So I went.
Margaret Carter was sitting beside a window when we arrived.
She looked like Emma around the eyes.
Emma knelt beside her.
"Hi, Mom."
Margaret stared.
For several painful seconds, there was nothing.
Then recognition flickered.
"Emmy?"
Emma's entire face changed.
"Yeah."
Margaret touched her cheek.
"You look tired."
Emma laughed through tears.
"Everybody keeps telling me that."
Margaret noticed me.
"Who's your friend?"
I had faced armed rivals without hesitation.
That question terrified me.
"This is Daniel."
Margaret smiled.
"Boyfriend?"
Emma turned bright red.
"Mom."
"What?"
"He's my boss."
Margaret leaned toward me conspiratorially.
"That's what my mother called my father before they got married."
Emma covered her face.
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
Margaret looked delighted.
"You should do that more," she said.
The words stayed with me.
On the drive home, Emma was quiet.
"Good day?" I asked.
"One of the best we've had in months."
"She remembered you."
"Today."
I understood what she meant.
Tomorrow wasn't guaranteed.
Emma wiped her eyes.
"Thank you for coming."
I nodded.
Then she leaned over and kissed my cheek.
A simple kiss.
Nothing dramatic.
My entire body went still.
Emma pulled away.
"Sorry."
"Don't be."
We looked at each other.
For a second, everything outside the SUV disappeared.
Then Luke called.
"We found Mercer."
Cal Mercer was sitting in my study when we returned.
He had come voluntarily.
That made me distrust him even more.
"You think I ordered the shooting," he said.
"Did you?"
"No."
"Then explain Viktor Soren."
Cal's face changed.
"I haven't heard that name in two years."
"Interesting timing."
"Danny, somebody wants you looking at me."
"You're doing a good job of making that easy."
Emma entered unexpectedly.
Cal looked at her.
Something passed across his face.
Recognition.
Emma saw it too.
"Have we met?"
Cal stood.
"No."
"You're lying."
I moved between them.
"Cal."
He looked at me.
Then Emma.
Finally, he exhaled.
"I knew your father."
Emma went still.
"My father?"
"Robert Carter."
Her face drained of color.
"You knew him?"
"Yes."
"How?"
Cal looked at me.
"Robert worked for Romano operations."
Emma turned toward me.
I felt the room change.
"You knew my father?"
"No."
"Did you know his name?"
"Not until now."
Cal continued.
"Robert wasn't just some guy who left his family."
Emma stared at him.
"He disappeared because he was stealing from Daniel's father."
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
Emma's hands trembled.
"What happened to him?"
Cal hesitated.
"Nobody knows."
"That's not good enough."
"Emma—"
She turned on me.
"Did your family kill my father?"
"No."
"You don't know that."
"No."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You paid my mother's bills. You brought me into your house. You put guards around me. And all this time—"
"I didn't know."
"How am I supposed to believe you?"
She walked out.
I followed.
"Emma."
"Don't."
She turned at the stairs.
"Please."
The word stopped me.
"I need space."
I let her go.
That night, she moved into a guest room at the opposite end of the estate.
For the first time in months, the house felt like a tomb again.
At midnight, Luke entered my study carrying an old file.
"I found Robert Carter."
I looked up.
"Alive?"
Luke's face told me the answer wasn't simple.
"No. But there's something else."
He opened the file.
Inside was an old photograph.
Robert Carter standing beside three men.
My father.
Cal Mercer.
And the sniper who had put me in this chair.
On the back, someone had written four words.
ROBERT KNEW WHO BETRAYED DANIEL.