Page 4 of Hacker Revelation

“You will make an awesome police officer.” I pointed to the group of kids that played in the corner of the room. The center had added an area with toys and a jungle gym inside so the mothers could work on studies and keep an eye on their kids. I had learned that women who were abused at home didn’t like their kids being out of sight. “Why don’t you go play with Chance while I talk to your mommy?”

Tommy jumped off Lily’s lap and ran toward his friends.

When the little man reached the jungle gym, I asked my burning question. “Now, tell me why you are walking with a limp, favoring your left side, and wincing when someone touches you?”

“How can you tell?”

“I have a skill set.”

She let out a sigh before answering. “Everyone around here talks about their past except you. How did you get this skill set? Were you a cop?”

I’d been asked many times about my past. It had become a joke. I made up a new story each time I was asked, and now everyone wanted to hear what the next story would be. The kids loved to hear the stories I made up. The previous day, I had told them I was an ex-circus clown on the run. The foundation didn’t ask questions because Alexander Ross Sr. had brought me to the center and told everyone I was a new volunteer. Alexander Sr. was Antonio’s dad, and everyone at the clinic adored him.

Something about Lily made me want to tell her the truth, but we needed to get her help first. “Stop changing the subject and answer the question.”

“Tommy was having a hard time sleeping. Greg was supposed to be at wor—” Lily reached up and covered her eyes. The sound of her sob made my anger rise. “He got fired. Said it was my fault.”

Any man that blamed the mother of his child for being fired deserved a slow, painful death. It looked like Betty and I were going hunting again. Betty was my sniper rifle. On second thought, Greg didn’t deserve a quick death. He deserved to be tortured for hours.

There was no way Antonio would let me turn the basement into a torture chamber, so I mentally made a list of items I would need for a storage locker. My loving husband wanted me to acclimate myself back into society after being a world-renowned assassin. I didn’t think it was fair that Antonio still got to hunt people down and take them out.

“Did you go to the hospital to make sure you were okay?”

“Yeah. I have a broken rib. The doctor said it will heal in time.”

Lily needed to find another place to stay. She used the outreach center for help with her GED, but she didn’t feel it was appropriate to take a bed when so many women lived on the street.

“You can’t go home. I’m having one of Antonio’s men pick you up and take you to a safe house until we figure something else out.”

The look on Lily’s face told me all I needed to know. She hadn’t planned to leave Greg. Many women stayed in abusive relationships because of fear or because they thought it was normal. Deep down in my gut, I feltLily stayed because she didn’t think she could do any better. Years of being belittled had taken a drastic toll on her self-esteem.

“No!” she shouted. “He will hurt your friends.”

At her shout, everyone’s attention zeroed in on us. I waited for everyone in the room to go back to their conversations before I said, “I’ve taken on men ten times worse than Greg, and so has my husband’s staff.”

“So you’ve said.”

I ignored her remark and changed the subject. “I want to see if any of you ladies want to take a self-defense course. I can teach it in the craft room if we move the tables.”

Lily’s shoulders tensed at my words.

“If the violence is too much, I understand. You ladies mean so much to me.I want you to have all the things necessary to take care of yourself. But I understand if it is too violent.”

“No, I want to learn on one condition. Tell me who taught you. I think you came here to heal something yourself, and if you don’t talk about it, you won’t be able to.”

My story was so messed up that I highly doubted she would believe it. Over the years, I’ve made a lot of enemies who tricked me intothinking they were on my side. It was hard to trust people, but something about Lily made it easy to trust her. Deep down, I knew she wouldn’t betray me. She reminded me a lot of my sister’s friends, Bridget and Jessica.

I took a deep breath. “You won’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“I’m a retired assassin for the CIA.”

Lily laughed so hard that she winced from the pain. “Oh my god, that is so funny.” When she noticed I hadn’t laughed, she sobered up quickly. “You're serious?”

“I said you wouldn’t believe me. But I’ve left the life behind.”

“Umm, can you do that?”

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