Chapter 6 - THE DRAWN WEAPON
She could not form a sentence. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She stared back and forth between the three reaching children and the tall, pale man standing over her, her mind fracturing under the weight of buried memories fighting their way to the surface.
Behind Adrienne, standing near the mahogany pillar at the edge of the booth, one of the four Sterling Guards reacted differently from the rest.
While the other three bodyguards kept their eyes scanned toward the restaurant floor, this guard—a man with a scarred jaw and tense eyes—stared down at the Waitress in pure, unadulterated terror.
Without receiving a command, the scarred guard drew a black semi-automatic pistol from his shoulder holster, his thumb flicking the safety switch off with a sharp metallic click.
Adrienne snapped his head around toward his employee. "Lower that weapon!"
But what made Adrienne pause was not just the drawn gun. It was the absolute panic etched into the guard’s face. The man wasn't pointing the weapon to protect his boss; he was aiming it at the kneeing woman because he recognized her face with absolute, horrifying certainty.
The Waitress saw the barrel of the gun pointing down at her chest. She saw the guard's trembling hand and the dread in his eyes.
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The three children continued to lean forward from their high chairs, their small fingers brushing the edge of her sleeve, the youngest trembling as he whispered once more into the rain-slicked silence:
"Mama..."
