THE ASSASSINATED PRESIDENT

Chapter 3: The Woman Who Killed the President

Kaelen could not recall ever being married.

And yet, there was a woman, somewhere in the fragments of his mind, who was crying.

Elena

His wife.

He looked at Seraphine as if he had never seen her before.

"You knew."

"You knew I was married."

"I knew."

"And you never told me?"

"You didn't remember."

"That wasn't your decision to make."

"I know."

Her voice was soft, almost apologetic.

Kaelen turned away.

Sirens were growing louder below them, their red lights flashing between the buildings as police cars swarmed the street.

He looked down at the photograph.

Elena was beautiful, but that was not what got to him.

It was the look on his own face.

He was not smiling at her, but rather, he was looking at her like he trusted her with his life.

Kaelen swallowed hard.

"Why would my wife kill me?"

Seraphine finally met his gaze.

"She didn't."

"Then why would someone send me that message?"

"To make you believe she did."

"That's not an answer."

"No," Seraphine said, "it's the beginning of one."

A shot rung from the rooftop across the street.

Concrete exploded from the side of the building Kaelen was on.

Seraphine grabbed his arm and pulled him down.

"Move!"

They dashed towards the side of the roof and Kaelen kept a firm grip on the photograph.

Elena's face was etched into his mind.

He barely even knew her, but somehow, Kaelen felt as if he was losing a part of himself.

They reached the edge of the roof and Kaelen looked across to the other building.

There was a small gap between the two rooftops.

Seraphine went first, and Kaelen followed close behind, nearly slipping off the edge of the roof.

Seraphine caught his jacket.

"Careful."

Kaelen pulled himself up.

"I'm beginning to dislike your concept of 'safe havens.'"

"You're alive."

"Barely."

They climbed down a maintenance hatch and emerged into a large, empty warehouse.

Seraphine locked the door behind them and Kaelen eased against one of the walls.

"Tell me everything about Elena," he said.

Seraphine hesitated.

"Everything?"

"Everything."

"She was your wife for four years,"

"Children?"

Seraphine's silence answered the unasked question before she spoke.

"I'm beginning to dislike your habit of asking difficult questions," Kaelen muttered.

"Children?"

Seraphine's gaze dropped to the floor.

"One."

Kaelen's breath caught in his throat.

"What's his name?"

"Adrian."

Kaelen stared at her.

A wave of something foreign washed over him and Kaelen found himself recalling images of a small boy running through a garden with a red airplane in his hands.

A voice calling out to him.

Daddy!

The pictures flashed past his eyes and as suddenly as they came, they vanished.

Kaelen opened his eyes.

"Where is he?"

Seraphine looked away.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?“After your assassination, Elena disappeared.”Disappeared?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"People believed she was involved,"

Kaelen gave her a puzzled look.

"Because she killed me?"

"That's what the government claimed,"

Kaelen let out a bitter laugh.

"So, my wife supposedly killed me, buried me, and then vanished?"

"That's the official story."

"And what do you believe?"

Seraphine met Kaelen's gaze.

"I believe someone wanted both of you dead."

A sound echoed from the other side of the warehouse.

Kaelen raised a hand to signal for silence.

Footsteps.

Two, maybe three people.

Seraphine reached for her weapon.

"How many?"

"Six. Maybe seven."

"You can tell that from footsteps?"

"I've had plenty of practice,"

The door to the warehouse creaked open and a man stepped inside.

He was dressed in a police uniform and Kaelen kept his eyes on the stranger.

The officer raised his weapon.

"Elias Vey?"

Kaelen stepped forward.

"That's me."

The officer's eyes narrowed.

"Put your hands where I can see them."

Kaelen slowly raised his hands and Seraphine crouched behind a stack of crates.

The officer's gaze swept over Kaelen's face and for a brief moment, something like fear crossed his face.

Then, the look was replaced with... recognition?

"President..."

The officer's words were cut off as a bullet found its mark and the man crumpled to the floor.

Kaelen pulled Seraphine behind cover.

Gunfire erupted from the other side of the warehouse and Kaelen and Seraphine kept low until one of the attackers came shambling through the doorway.

Kaelen grabbed the nearest attacker and wrenched him off his feet.

The fight was brief, but Kaelen had barely lowered the man to the floor when he took a moment to glance towards the entrance.

"There's more of them."

Seraphine grabbed Kaelen's arm.

"Don't!"

"They're coming for you."

"That's exactly why I should go after them,"

Kaelen looked at the weapon in his grasp.

Being this familiar with its weight was not a comforting sensation.

Nevertheless, Kaelen turned towards the entrance.

Three men appeared in the doorway and the first raised his weapon.

Kaelen shot him and the second attacker lunged at him from the side.

Kaelen ducked and drove his elbow into the man's ribs, knocking the weapon from his hand.

The final gunman turned to run, but Kaelen nearly chased him down before a voice in his head told him not to.

Never chase the man who is running.

Kaelen paused.

That voice was familiar.

Lucien.

Kaelen turned to the wounded man.

"Who sent you?"

The gunman chuckled, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"You're asking the wrong question."

"What question should I ask?"

"Why did you survive?"

The smile vanished from the man's face.

Then, he bit into his cheek and Seraphine was at his side in an instant.

"Stop him!"

It was too late.

The man's body went limp and Kaelen stared at the corpse.

"What did he take?"

"Cyanide capsule,"

Kaelen turned to Seraphine.

"You seem to know a lot about this world."

"I've been investigating your death for seven years.“And how much did you find?”Long enough to learn that every answer leads to another body."

Kaelen looked at the dead man.

"Then, let's find Elena."

Seraphine shook her head.

"We don't know where she is."

Kaelen pulled the photograph from his pocket.

"I know where she was."

He turned it over, revealing three words Kaelen had not noticed the first time.

Hotel Saint Veyr.

Seraphine's face twisted in confusion.

"You recognize it?"

"It was your favorite hotel,"

Kaelen gave her an odd look.

"My favorite?"

"You and Elena stayed there for your honeymoon,"

Kaelen stared at the photograph.

A memory surfaced.

The quiet room, the rain that fell against the windows of the hotel, and the feel of Elena's head resting against his chest.

Her voice, saying the words that still rang in his ears.

Promise me you'll never become like them

Kaelen looked up.

"What did I promise her?"

Seraphine looked away.

“You promised you'd protect Adrian.”

The name hit Kaelen harder than the bullets that had filled his chest.

A child's face popped into his mind.

After that, the image of a figure standing by a crib, gun in hand, and the agonized scream of Elena filled his vision.

Kaelen grabbed his head.

"Kaelen!"

Kaelen fell to his knees as something, no, someone was reaching into his mind.

Elena stood in a dark hallway, clutching a file to her chest.

She was petrified.

"It's not the Circle," she whispered.

Kaelen turned to her.

"Then, who?"

Elena looked past him.

Someone was there.

Someone Kaelen trusted.

Someone who wore a presidential security badge.

The vision stopped.

Kaelen gasped and Seraphine knelt beside him.

"What did you see?"

Kaelen looked up at her.

"The Sovereign Circle weren't responsible for my assassination,"

Seraphine's face went pale.

"What?"

"They were involved,"

"Then, who killed you?"

Kaelen stood.

"I don't know."

He turned to the doors of the warehouse.

"But, I know who was there."

"Who?"

Kaelen hesitated.

The name in his head made his blood run cold.

Because, it belonged to someone who had served at his side his entire term as president.

Someone he had trusted implicitly.

Someone who had carried his coffin.

Kaelen let the name out slowly.

"Darius Vale."

Seraphine went rigid.

"The current President?"

Kaelen nodded.

The man who had taken over after his death, who had stood at his funeral, and who had promised the country that Kaelen's sacrifice would not be in vain.

Kaelen suddenly understood.

Maybe, the biggest threat to his presidency had not stolen it from him, but rather, it had been waiting for the perfect moment to do so.

Seven long years, and now the dead President was coming back for what he believed was rightfully his.

Kaelen looked at Seraphine.

"Take me to the capital,"

She shook her head.

"You don't understand what you're getting yourself into."

"I understand perfectly,"

Kaelen looked back at the photograph of Elena.

"I have a wife to find,"

Seraphine's expression hardened.

"A son to find,"

Kaelen turned towards the distant lights of the capital.

"And a President to confront."