Eve Of A Thousand Wakes

010 Tooth And Nail

"Get inside, now!" Ashley screamed, lunging at Tessa and shoving her bodily through the door.

Tessa stumbled, startled, and they both went down in a tangle on the floor. Ashley was up in an instant, slamming the door and throwing the lock, her face white with terror.

"Listen…" Tessa mumbled, getting to her feet. "You're being weird, Ash. Please let me be and leave my room. Aren't you supposed to be on your pre-wedding date with Jake?"

"I have an important photo shoot with Teen Vogue. I know you're the Palmer Princess, but you can't bully me like this! Not even as a prank!"

Ashley turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "Do they call me the Palmer Princess? That's a terrible moniker."

Tessa bit her lip and scoffed. "Aren't you acting like a spoiled princess right now? Locking me in my own hotel room? What's wrong with you? Has the anxiety of marriage gone to your head? Are you going to dump my brother?"

Ashley shook her head. "I'm trying to save you, so don't get in the way. Your Teen Vogue interview is scheduled for next week. This one is fake! Didn't you see that hulking guy? Did he look like normal hotel staff to you?"

Tessa winced and shrugged. "I didn't really pay attention."

She took a deep breath. "All right. Even if I believe you for a minute… What exactly are you afraid of? This is a top-notch hotel with tight security. You should know that, since the Palmers practically use this place as their backyard."

"I don't have time to explain," Ashley snapped, her eyes already cutting around the room, cataloguing exits. "Tell me—is there any other way into this suite?"

Tessa shook her head, thinking. Then something occurred to her. "Oh, wait! There's a fire escape from the balcony!"

"God, dammit!" Ashley bolted onto the balcony—and froze.

A muscular man was already halfway up the fire escape, a silenced gun hanging from his belt like it was nothing. Her instincts had been right all along.

As soon as the man realized he'd been spotted, he quickened his pace. Ashley gasped and stepped back in alarm.

They had to run. Except there was nowhere left to run to—trapped between a door about to splinter and a man climbing straight toward them. What was a defenseless woman supposed to do against trained killers?

Then something hardened in Ashley's chest. Fine. She'd fight.

She went back inside and scanned the room frantically, looking for a weapon. Finding nothing else useful, she grabbed a sharp paper spindle from the desk and returned.

The man was already climbing into view, his head rising over the edge of the balcony, when Ashley swung her arm like a bowler and drove the spindle straight through his eye.

It stuck there, buried to the hilt. He screamed, clutched his face, and toppled backward down the fire escape.

Tessa watched the spectacle in horror and was about to scream when Ashley covered her mouth. "Shh! There are more of them! Hold it together, Tess!"

A heavy banging shook the suite door behind them. Someone was trying to break it down.

"Let's go down the fire escape," Ashley instructed. This time, Tessa didn't protest and followed obediently.

They were halfway down when another fierce-looking man appeared on the floor above, climbing down the fire escape.

Ashley and Tessa had almost reached the landing below when the man pulled out a gun and aimed it at them, one arm hooked around the fire escape railing as he climbed down the rungs.

"Stop, or I'll shoot!" he warned. The color drained from both women's faces.

"Who are you working for?" Ashley demanded, mustering some courage.

The man grinned viciously. "Scarlet Palmer sends her regards."

Ashley clenched her jaw. Was that evil bitch behind this attack, too? Then these men must be from the Zetelica gang. Tessa began weeping hysterically as reality hit her.

Ashley's heart slammed against her ribs, but she forced her voice, her hands, her whole body to stay steady. She'd been given a second chance at life and a warning about Tessa's death.

None of it meant anything if she failed right here, right now.

Ashley had no weapon. Even if she did, fighting an experienced goon without the element of surprise—like before—would be next to impossible. Tessa tugged at her arm, panicking.

Ashley needed a weapon—something that would work on a guy like him, a Zetelica gang member.

'Anything at all!' she racked her brain. 'Think, Ashley! Otherwise, you're going to die again! Think!'

The man continued down the fire escape, his gun trained on them. At the height of her panic, an idea struck Ashley. 'Yes!'

She tore at the laces of her top and yanked it off in one motion, baring her bra to the open air.

The man's jaw dropped, his whole body forgetting, for one fatal second, what it was supposed to be doing. His grip slipped from the railing. His boots skidded on the wet metal. And then he was falling, headfirst, toward the ground.

Thirty feet. A dull, final thud against the pavement. He didn't move again—dead, or as good as.

Tessa looked like she'd seen a ghost. The most dreadful crime movies she'd watched growing up had come to life right in front of her eyes. She clung to her sister-in-law and whimpered like a rain-soaked cat.

Ashley quickly put her halter top back on and led Tessa away. Hotel staff were already bustling upstairs, drawn by the commotion. The two women left the hotel unharmed and caught a taxi on the nearest street.

Ashley looked back at the hotel through the rear window, already shrinking into the distance. Something about coming back had changed the shape of things.

The danger to her, to everyone she loved, hadn't just stayed the same—it had multiplied, and it was arriving faster than it ever had before.

Having power like this should have made her feel safer. Instead, it left her wired with dread—because every choice she made now seemed to ripple forward into something worse.

But one thing hadn't changed at all. Ashley Palmer was done letting anyone push her around.