Page 70 of Under Pressure

“So why would I go behind his back?” Kendra bit her lip, knowing she had already done just that.

“I’m trying to help him.” Sky’s voice rose, ire flashing in her eyes. “You know sometimes he can’t help himself.”

Kendra took a step back, pushing the stroller with her. Sky raised her hands again.

“Look, just meet me there.” Sky stepped back, watching Kendra’s reaction carefully. “You’ll get answers. Answers you need to know.”

Her focus drifted back to the stroller where Leo slept. Kendra leaned in, blocking her gaze, protectively covering the stroller.

“Why should I believe you?” Kendra twisted, looking over the park for the nearest person she could call to for help.

“Because they can fix him. They have the data you need.”

Kendra snapped her gaze back, widening her eyes at Sky. “No—”

“Yes,” Sky pushed. “A way to make him normal again. You’ll find it there.”

Kendra opened her mouth to refuse but was distracted by a fussing Leo. When she looked up, the woman was walking away again through the busy park. Kendra watched her leave, conflicted. She reached into her stroller, picking up Leo, cradling him with love. She gently kissed his face—his soft, squishy baby cheeks.

As soon as the woman left the area, Kendra reached over and picked up the paper on the bench. Stuffing it into her pocket, she marched her stroller in the opposite direction, toward her house. As she went whipping by sauntering evening ramblers, an eagerness and urgency rose in her. She had an address. Potential next steps. Stifling flashing red warnings, she grew more determined and more inside her own head.

Tenacious as she could be, it was an opportunity she couldn’t shelve. She didn’t know if she should do it, but she couldn’t deny the pull she felt. Would she forever regret not going? What if it could help her son?

What if it could fix Delta?

When she returned to her home and explained her cocked-up plan to Sienna, it was not well received. Their disconnect grew as they stood face-to-face in the hallway of Kendra’s bungalow.

“This is not your responsibility. Why do you think you should be doing this—let alone doing this by yourself?” Sienna was livid, her tenor rising to levels Kendra never heard.

Kendra held her ground, digging her heels in.

“I owe this to Leo. I have to find out.”

“You owe it to Leo to stay safe. This isn’t safe. If it’s so important, why don’t we ask someone to help you?” Sienna stood up to Kendra, straightening her spine.

That only made Kendra more entrenched, as she fought back through a tight jaw.

“I have to do this.”

“You think you have to do everything, but you don’t,” Sienna continued. “You can be so stubborn, Kendra. And one day, it’s going to be a very big problem for you.”

The warning was clear—but Kendra snubbed it.

Shaking her head, she countered, “This is the only way I see.”

“That’s exactly the problem, isn’t it? You only see your way,” Sienna cried out, turning to walk away. Over her shoulder, she snapped back, “Just call Delta. He should get that information. Not you.”

“I can’t call him,” Kendra grumbled behind her.

Sienna stopped dead in her tracks, her groan echoing through the hall. “I understand your lack of faith in this man, but he’s the fucking Navy SEAL, not you.”

Kendra opened her mouth but closed it quickly. What was she supposed to say to that? As Sienna marched down the rest of the hall, leaving Kendra in her wake, she found herself gazing at the front door, torn between the fantasy she’d always have and the reality she didn’t want. The sun finally dipping beneath the horizon drowned her in shadows, lonelier than ever.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“You have arrived at your destination,” the app announced, “Twenty-five Willow Avenue.”

At the address given to her by Sky, Kendra braked her car in front of a non-descript five-story red brick building on the edge of the city. Here I am, she thought as she parked and looked for signage advertising what the building housed. She saw nothing. And no one.

---