SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Two: We Will Do Better—Next Time
Albert and Janessa Williams ran into the ER of the local hospital, bellowing for a nurse to find their daughter.
“This way,” a doctor said when he saw the future mayor and his wife. “She came in just a few minutes ago.”
“What happened?” Albert demanded as he and his wife followed the doctor down a hall.
“Shot in the chest,” the doctor said, pushing open a door. “Luckily, she was wearing a vest.”
“Lyra!” Janessa cried out as she rushed to her daughter, who was sitting up on the hospital bed.
“Mom,” Lyra said, hugging her mother.
“Baby girl,” Albert said, pulling his daughter from his wife’s embrace. “Thank God.”
Lyra sighed, “yes. Thank God you are an overprotective father who loves his baby girl.”
Albert chuckled as he backed away from the bed. “Are you okay?”
Lyra nodded.
“She will be sore, but she’s fine,” the doctor said. “The vest stopped the bullet, and the padding she had surrounding her; protected her from falling face-first onto the sidewalk.”
Albert took a deep breath. “See,” he said with a grin. “I told you the stuffing was a good idea.”
Lyra snorted, “yeah, and it kept my date from wanting to see me.”
Janessa looked at her daughter. “Codie didn’t show?”
Lyra shook her head. “I waited over two hours for him. When I stepped out of the restaurant, the gunman shot me.”
“Did you see him?” Albert asked.
Lyra shook her head. “Not really. The van was black, and the passenger in the backseat leaned out the window long enough to shoot me.”
“I knew this date was a bad idea!” Albert growled angrily.
Janessa looked at her husband. “We can’t keep her hidden away forever, Al.”
Albert looked at his wife and daughter and sighed. “No, we can’t. Just a bit longer, then I will be mayor….”
“And she will be an even bigger target,” Janessa said, turning back to look at her daughter. “It took us too long to have a child. I don’t want to lose her.”
Lyra watched a tear slide down her mother’s cheek. She looked up at her father, who was also crying. She knew they had tried for a long time for a child before she was born, but she didn’t know how much that had affected her parents.
“I will be okay, Mom,” Lyra said with a smile.
Janessa pulled her daughter into another hug.
Lyra looked over her mother’s shoulder at her father.
“I have a phone call to make,” Albert said, smiling at his daughter.
Lyra nodded and watched her father leave the room, the doctor right behind him.
Albert pulled out his phone and dialed the number to Tony Pistola’s office.
“Pistola Protections, how may I direct your call?”
“Get me Pistola, now,” Albert growled.
“I am sorry, sir, but….”
“This is Albert Williams, and I want to talk to Tony Pistola, NOW!”
~🎃~
“Sir, Mr. Williams is on line four, and he doesn’t sound happy.”
Tony Pistola grunted, “Thank you, Alison.”
Alison nodded and left the office.
Tony lifted the phone and pressed four. “Mr. Williams, what can I do for you?”
“You’re fired! And you won’t see a penny for your service!”
“We have been watching over your daughter for the past three days, and nothing has happened. What is wrong now? Did you find someone cheaper? Because I can guarantee with the favor and discount, you won’t find anything cheaper.”
“My daughter was shot tonight! Do you consider that nothing?!”
Tony jumped to his feet. “Shot?!”
“Yes! Shot!”
Tony moved around his desk and started pacing his office. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Where are his men?
“I am going to let everyone know what kind of business you run….”
“Wait!” Tony shouted. This can ruin him and his company. “Have any of my men come to you?”
“No,” Albert growled.
“Fuck,” Tony grumbled. “Please, sir. Let me find what happened. I have not heard from my men, and this is the first I have heard about your daughter being shot….”
“Of course, it is. Do you think I would announce that they failed at killing her?”
“Is-is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Lucky for you, I am overprotective and forced her to wear a disguise and a bulletproof vest under her clothes.”
Tony snorted. Figures the man would go to such extremes. But apparently, it was needed. Fuck. He had thought his fear was nothing but a father fearing for his child. He has kept her under lock and key her whole life. Not many know of her existence.
From what he had found, the girl grew up using her mother’s maiden name rather than her fathers’ name.
“Let me find my men, and I will get back to you.”
“I already fired your ass….”
Tony hung up the phone with a grunt. He will make this right—he has to.
~🎃~
Maverick stared at his boss. “Wait, what were they doing following the girl?”
“Albert Williams hired us to watch over his daughter. He got a letter threatening her life, and he wanted her watched twenty-four-seven.”
Maverick pulled his foot up onto his knee and watched his boss pace the office.
“Albert Williams’ daughter was shot under our protection?” Maverick asked.
Tony grunted. “Yes.”
“Where are the men who were supposed to be watching her?”
“They were in the store next to the restaurant. They said they had seen someone spying on her and went after the man. By the time they came back to the sidewalk, the ambulance had taken Miss Williams away. They have been searching for the missing man and the van.”
Maverick nodded. “And what do you want me to do? This isn’t my normal job.”
“I know. I had thought of you and your team first, but you were in Russia. This is an important job, and apparently, the future mayor has a cause of alarm.”
Maverick nodded. Indeed, the man did. Codie was supposed to go on that date with the girl, and now she’s in the hospital. If Codie had shown up, would the girl have been safe, or would Codie be in the hospital, or worse, dead?
“Why has Williams kept his daughter a secret?” Maverick asked.
“To keep her safe.”
Maverick nodded. He had thought as much when Codie had told him about her.
“Please, Maverick. This looks bad on us, and you and your team are the best. I will keep the others in the field, but I need you.”
Maverick sighed. “Sounds like we’re in a pickle.”
Tony nodded.
“Fine, where do we meet the girl?”
“You don’t….”
“But….”
“Williams doesn’t want his daughter knowing you are there. Just follow her and make sure at least one pair of eyes are always on her.”
Maverick nodded. “Got it,” he said, getting to his feet. “I will gather my men and head to her father’s tonight.”
“Thank you.”
Maverick turned to his boss. “You shouldn’t have sent greenhorns in on this kind of job.”
Tony snorted, “yeah, well, I didn’t think the man’s worries were anything more than an overprotective father’s fear.”
Maverick shook his head. “Never assume. Isn’t that what you always tell us?”
Tony laughed. “Right you are.”
Maverick nodded, then turned and left the office. He has plenty of work to do before he and his men head to the future mayor’s house to protect his secret daughter.
~🎃~
“Easy now,” Janessa said as she led her daughter into their home.
“I am okay, Mother.”
Janessa sighed as she wrapped her arm over her daughter’s shoulders. “I know, but I am your mother, and I will always care—and worry.”
Lyra smiled. “I know.”
“Doctor says you need to rest for the next two days,” Albert said as he walked into the house.
Lyra turned to her father. “I know, Daddy, I was there too.”
Albert smiled at his daughter. It was a rarity nowadays to hear his daughter call him that.
“I know, baby girl.”
“Let’s get her into her room,” Janessa said, heading for the stairs.
Albert nodded. “I will be up soon. There is something I need to look into.”
Lyra and Janessa watched Albert leave the house and looked at each other.
“What was that?” Lyra asked.
Janessa shrugged. “I think he is doubling security.”
Lyra sighed. She won’t be going anywhere alone for a very long time.
“Let’s get you upstairs.”
~🎃~
Maverick watched Albert Williams step out of the house and head to his hiding place. Okay, he hadn’t expected to have direct contact with the soon-to-be mayor. But it wasn’t unexpected after what happened to his daughter.
“I know you’re there,” Albert said, looking into the bush Maverick hid behind.
Maverick stepped out of the bush and nodded to the man. “Mayor.”
“Not yet,” Albert said, looking him up and down. “Are you one of the men who let my daughter get shot?”
“No, sir. Those men are still assigned to you, but my boss went an extra mile and brought me and my team in.”
“What makes you better than the team before you? How can I trust that my daughter won’t be hurt again?”
Maverick took a step closer to the human. “You have my word that your daughter is safe. We won’t let anything happen to her again.”
Albert snorted. “And what makes you better than the others?”
Maverick smirked. “Did you meet the other team?”
“No.”
“Do you know what they are?”
“No.”
Maverick could feel the agitation vibrating off the man and chuckled. “They are wolves. Good men and strong. They made a small mistake by not leaving one man to guard her while they chased after a man who was following your daughter to the restaurant. I won’t make that mistake.”
Albert looked the Shifter up and down—he is a huge man. His arms were almost as big as his legs. He looked like he could bench press the Williams’ Estate.
“So, you will make sure one of your men is with my daughter at all times?” Albert asked.
Maverick shook his head. “No, sir. I will make sure that I am within reach of your daughter at all times.”
Albert looked around, trying to see if he could see any of his men. They were well hidden. He knows that this Shifter had wanted him to see him. That is why he knew his exact hiding place.
“You haven’t answered my question.”
Maverick smirked. He knows what question the man was referring to.
“What question was that—sir?”
“You are all shifters. What makes you so different from the others?”
Maverick’s grin showed off every white tooth in his mouth.
“Because I am a Dragon Shifter and can withstand bullets, fire, and anything else they may throw at us.”
Albert opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water.
Maverick had to hold back his laugh at the look on the man’s face. He didn’t want to piss him off. He’s not only their client—but the future mayor.
“Okay-then,” Albert said, then turned and headed back to the mansion.
Maverick let out a small chuckle and went back to his hiding place.
~🎃~
Lyra let go of the curtain when she saw her father turn back to the house. Who was that man her father was talking to? She peeked out the curtain and watched the man return to the bushes.
“Security?” she wondered aloud.
He was bigger than any man she had ever seen before.
Lyra turned from the window when a knock came to her door.
“Come in,” she called to the door.
“You really shouldn’t invite just anyone into your room. What if I was here to kill you?” Janessa asked her daughter as she entered the room.
Lyra chuckled, “if you were here to kill me, Mother, you wouldn’t have knocked.”
Janessa paused, watching her daughter, and smiled. “Right you are.”
Lyra smiled. “What did you need?”
“Just checking on my daughter. How are you? Do you need anything?”
Lyra shrugged.
“Are you hungry?”
Lyra shook her head.
“Tired?”
Lyra shrugged.
Janessa sighed, “I don’t know what you need if you don’t tell me.”
“Chocolate?” Lyra asked—her left eyebrow raising.
Janessa chuckled, “anything you wish.”
Lyra nodded and watched her mom leave the room. She returned to the window and looked out.
She could no longer see the large man, but he didn’t go far from her thoughts for the next two days.