Chapter 1

Grayson Bennet
"They've spotted her!" I exclaim, pointing at the monitor. "Abby is running out of time, she's not going to make it."
"Stay cool, Gray," Aaron says with eyes peeled to the monitor. "Abby has got this." Abby works feverishly to assemble her rifle in heavily wooded darkness. Using thermal cameras, I can see that she's getting the job done efficiently,
but she'll need to hurry because the assassins are rapidly closing in on her. My muscles coil tightly with the desperate need to go help her. But that would defeat the purpose, I have to let Abby get herself out of this. Yes! She slaps the magazine into the rifle and scrambles to a prone position
on her belly just as the attackers round the corner. With expert precision, she squeezes off three shots, nailing each of her attackers square in the chest.

She leaps up from the ground and takes off running across the field at astonishing speed. I'm constantly amazed at how far she's come since our time in the forest after the plane crash. That fateful day of our initial meeting
seems like a whole lifetime ago. And now at three months pregnant, my wife is fitter than she's ever been. She must be to confront all the dangers that lie
ahead of her, of us. Abby reaches the old, abandoned farmhouse and cautiously enters. In the
window to the left, I see two shadowy figures move in her direction. It's all I can do not to dart out of the room, but I grip the arms of my chair, forcing myself to remain put.
She freezes in place having heard something, perhaps the creak of an old floorboard. She raises her rifle and makes a sweep of the room. Backing away slowly, she withdraws into the kitchen while keeping her rifle trained upon
the pursuers. She makes her way to the door, seemingly to leave rather than confront them. She reaches behind her to turn the nob, never taking her eyes off the two
men. The door swings open and I nearly leap out of my seat as a large man  barges into the kitchen startling Abby.
Stumbling forward, she quickly regains her footing and swings around to fire on the assailant, but he's already barreling down on her swiping the gun away with his large paw of a hand. "Abby!" I say through gritted teeth.

On instinct, she drives her knee up hard between his legs dropping him to his knees. Almost instantaneously, a gun is in her hand. She slams the butt of it against his head knocking him out cold. At that moment, the other two assailants burst into the room. She fires at
the first, hitting his chest to drop him. But the other one hurls a knife at her gun hand forcing her to drop it.
Before she can retrieve it, he rushes her, throwing a fist at her. She ducks and drives her fist into his gut. He stumbles back a step before taking another
swing at her. She bends back like an acrobat and his fist finds nothing but air.  Taking advantage of his imbalance, she kicks him in the side hard enough to
crack ribs. Despite his groan of pain, he lashes out, swinging his arm at her. She barely blocks it with her forearm, but the power of it knocks her back. He presses the
attack, with a form of Taekwondo striking out with his hands.
I shoot from my chair, not knowing how much more I can stand. That's my wife! My pregnant wife! Aaron grips my arm and gives me a stern look. "She knows what she's doing, Gray. Just chill." He's right. During our days at Princeton University, we all pledged our lives to the fraternity of the Obsidian Knights, a secret society that our fathers
belonged to before us, as well as their fathers before them. If Abigail is to hold onto the leadership reins she's inherited, she must survive this crucible on her own. And I've been training her well for it.

Sure enough, Abby matches him blow for blow, deftly weaving and bobbing to elude his strikes while landing her own. After about a few seconds of this, she spins around and swings out her arm to bury a blade in the side of his
neck. He grabs his throat and makes gurgling noises before slumping to the floor. Abby stands over him breathing hard from the exertion but none the worse
for wear. I'm elated to see how efficiently Abby dealt with her attackers. Aaron turns to look at me with an annoying I told you so smirk. We'll see if he still feels so smug in the next five minutes. Abigail Bennet-Winchester
I hear the distinct sound of a baby's cry as I stand there in the kitchen of the dilapidated house. I place my hand on my belly even though there's no bump
to feel. I lick my lips and prepare to complete my mission.
It's hard to believe that less than six months ago, I was an attorney who had no idea that I was Arthur Winchester's daughter. Everyone thought that one
of his older sons would be the heir to his great fortune and leadership role at the High Table of the Obsidian Knights.
Only Arthur shocked everyone by naming me, his only daughter, as his heir. All my life I believed Luther Harrison, another Knight of the Obsidian,
was my father. But Luther had simply hidden me away from my greedy, power-hungry brothers who'd rather see me dead than bend the knee to me. Now that my true father, Arthur, has passed away, I have officially been recognized as head of the Obsidian Knights. From amongst those knights,

I've chosen Grayson Bennet to stand at my side, even though his father was the one who murdered my mother shortly after she gave birth to me. Yeah, it's complicated, and not everyone is pleased to have a woman at the
head. I know this and therefore have to be prepared for anything. But this has come sooner than I imagined.
If this is how they want to play it ... so be it.
I ready my rifle and move stealthily toward the staircase. I spare a glance back at the kitchen door to make sure the guy I knocked out won't be a problem.
My gaze drifts up the staircase wondering if the rickety steps will hold me. It held whoever took the baby upstairs, so it should hold. Still, I ascend
carefully, holding my rifle up before me. The creaking of the stairs announces my approach to everyone above. But I'm ready to be done with this. They'll
soon discover that the Grand Lady of the Obsidian is no one to be trifled with, but rather a force with which to be reckoned.
Bring it! I reach the landing and make my way down the dark hallway. Electricity hasn't seen this place since Clinton was in office. The baby's cry sets me on full alert, all my senses heightened. It sounds like it's coming from the door at the far end of the hall. Which tells me, I'd
better clear the two bedrooms to my right first before rushing headlong to the baby's room.

I pull my night-vision goggles back down and switch them on. I ease forward and reach for the door handle. It squeaks loudly as I turn it. Screw this! I thrust it open and fire into the room sweeping my rifle around the room
and spraying it with bullets. One body goes down, but nothing else moves as I scan the room. Upon closer inspection, I notice the body is nothing more than an old sewing dummy covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.
I kick it aside. That was a waste of good ammo.
The baby's cries grow louder and angrier. I guess it didn't care for all the ruckus either.
I wipe a bead of sweat rolling down the side of my face. My heart pounds loudly in my chest. There's no way it can be this easy. My enemies are far cleverer than this. But there's still one more door to pass before I reach the end of the hall.
Something tells me I won't like what's behind that door. I turn back to the sewing dummy. I haul it up off the dirty floor and carry it out the room. After
all, if it fooled me... I prop it up before the door and then bring my rifle to bear. I brace myself, taking a deep breath. I kick the door open and dodge to the side.
The dummy falls backward under a hail of gunfire. The second it stops; I leap up and unleash my own assault on the shooter. The pain in my shoulder
tells me I've been hit, but nothing fatal. My shots land in his chest and abs, and he flays about before hitting the floor. Just as I breathe a sigh of relief, I catch a blur of motion out of the corner of my eyes.

Before I have a chance to react, he knocks my weapon out of my hands. Instinctively, I drop to the floor to roll out of his grasp. But he's instantly upon me. I get my leg up between us, planting my foot in his chest to propel him
away. He stumbles back and I scramble for my gun.
Before I reach it, he hauls me up by the back of my jacket. I immediately swing out with my fist, landing a blow to his face. His head jerks back, but
he quickly recovers, backhanding me. My head snaps to the side under the power of it, but I've already retrieved my blade. I send two quick jabs to his
side, attacking those kidneys. He thrusts me back with those powerful arms. I land as gracefully as a cat
and ready myself for his attack. He comes at me with a flurry of strikes both with hands and feet jiu jitsu style. I'm no blackbelt, but my lessons don't fail me now as I skillfully dodge his blows while landing my own.
If the stakes weren't so high, I'd admire the beauty, the dance of movement, each parry and thrust expertly timed. No, I have to remain focused. I've got to end this and get to the baby in the other room. During that brief moment of distraction, he sweeps a leg underneath me,
kicking my legs out from beneath me. I gasp aloud as I fall back, knowing how hard I'm about to hit the floor.
His hand shoots out grabbing me by the front of my jacket, halting my fall and suspending me a few inches off the floor.
He whips the ski mask off his face and stares down at me.
"You lost focus, Abby. Never lose focus."

I stare back into those mesmerizing green eyes. "Come on, Gray," I say, tapping his hand to let me up. "That was pretty good, admit it." He smirks. "Not bad, but there's definitely room for improvement." The assailant in the corner sits up and rolls back his ski mask.
"Damned impressive, I'd say," Aaron says, and he climbs to his feet. He looks down at his chest noting the splotches of paint splatters from the paintball gun. "The
dummy and the way you nailed me. That's thinking on your feet." "Right up until I knocked you off yours," Grayson replies. "It would've knocked the breath out of you if I hadn't caught you. We've got to step up the
training sessions. I need you to be ready for anything in case I'm not there to protect you." "I know, I know," I say testily as I unlatch my light body armor at the
shoulder. "You've been preaching that for weeks now. I think that I've proven, I can handle myself." My expression softens when I see the worried look in his
eyes. Ever since I told him I was pregnant, he's beefed up our security team and implemented these training sessions to ensure that we could handle whatever our enemies threw at us. Of course, our most powerful weapon is The Vault and the wealth of information it contains. That's how we move mountains, not with guns or bombs, but with sensitive information that people want hidden at all costs.
The loud cries of the colicky baby persist.
"Jesus, will somebody turn that off?" I exclaim as it begins to grate on my nerves. Aaron hurries out of the room to see to the matter.

Lines form at the corner of Grayson's eyes as he looks at me. "How are you feeling?" "Strong." "You sure?" he glances down at my belly. "Because if at any moment you
start to feel the slightest discomfort-"
"Gray, we've been over this. Dr. Keller said that strenuous physical exertion is perfectly fine at this stage. If anything, it will help me keep my weight down and keep me agile. Heck, some athletes continue their vigorous
training regimens up well into their second trimester. I'm only in the first. Me and the baby will be just fine, darling." I incline my head and give him a soft smile. "But I love that you worry about us so much. You're going to be such an
amazing father, Gray."
A shroud of sadness falls over his eyes. "I pray you're right, Abby. I didn't exactly have the world's best example."
"The fact that Senator Paul Bennet is your father and you still managed to turn out to be a decent guy tells me everything I need to know about the man I married." I lift onto my toes to kiss his lips. "I have every confidence in you,
both as my husband and as the father of my child."
He smirks. "Children," he corrects me. "There will be three."
I roll my eyes. "Right, because you've seen it. Okay, father of my children." He smirks mischievously as he steps forward and pulls me toward him. "I've already put one in you. Mark my words, more will follow." Ilaugh, "Come on, you." We head out into the hallway with the others.

"You did amazing out there," he says, as we descend the rickety stairs. "I knew it was just a drill but damn it if I didn't want to run in there and rip Mason's head off." I glance over my shoulder and see his brow crease with distress. "I'd wipe out a whole fucking platoon if they tried to hurt my
family." I stop and turn to him. "Gray ..." I lift a hand and stroke his face tenderly. He torched his father's
political career in the U.S. Senate, thus severing ties with him. The rest of his family turned their backs on him, due to the public scourging and humiliation they endured when Senator Paul Bennet fell from grace. Now,
when Grayson speaks of family, he's referring to me and the little one growing inside me. "You know, we're going to have to tell them very soon, Gray. I can't hold Trip off for much longer." His face darkens at the mention of my faux-fiancé's name. I hate it too, but this is the price we have to pay to maintain Carson Donovan's support in the
Obsidian order - I have to pretend to be happily engaged to his grandson, Trip Donovan.
If Carson had a clue that Grayson and I married in secret and are expecting a child, he'd go ballistic and likely put a hit out on Grayson and force me to terminate my pregnancy.
Before we tell Carson the truth, we have to gain enough support within the secret order of the Obsidian to stand against him and solidify my position of leadership at the high table.

The corners of Grayson's green eyes crinkle with delight. "Carson Donovan has no idea what we have in store for him if he tries to come against us." His smile grows broader. "Abby, no more running, it's our time to rule."