AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, it's been a while.

I'm sorry if it seemed like I forgot about this book. Trust me I never have, I've just been really busy with school these past few months but now I've finally scraped up some time for you guys, my loyal and adoring reader (I hope you guys aren't tired of this story yet though)

On a side note, the 1 year anniversary of this book is coming up on the 1st of April so, be aware I guess? Lol. On to Chapter 22.

WARNING: This story may contain triggering scenes and strong language not meant for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. (I love to get that outta the way)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters except my OC Kendra and other OC's I might have forgotten to mention. This story is a pure work of fiction (hence its written on) and most of the events and facts are completely made up so... I guess that's it.

Chapter 22 - ...Has An Equal...

"Riiiight. Anyways, we're all here. Let's talk" Shane said. "The floor is open for either one of you to start. The night is still young"

Kendra took a deep breath and turned over to Shawn who with a nervous look on her face. Shawn nodded and gripped her hand gently but firmly as a means of reassuring her that everything was gonna be fine. She gave him a small smile before turning over to Shane.

"Shane I know this may all sound far fetched but just keep your mind open" She paused then inhaled deeply as if to gather up enough strength. "Vince Russo is not who he seems and quite frankly I feel that I should have exposed him a long time ago. Maybe I felt scared, unsure or just didn't wanna bother anyone with my shit. But a few days ago, this man threatened me with one of the most valuable things to me in this life; my career in the professional wrestling industry. So with that, I've decided not to stay quiet anymore. "

"Okay Kendra, this is a huge accusation but..." Shane started.

"I really hate to interrupt you Shane but like you said this is my floor. I'm not a woman of many words and they say actions speak better than words. So I'd like the present to you, exhibit A" She said pulling out the silvery voice recorder and placing it adjacent to Shane on the table.

"Are you ready?" Shawn asked.

"Born ready." She said as she hit the play button.

Meanwhile...

Bret sat in front of his the TV set in his hotel room. The television, though turned on, displayed a static screen which mirrored his current mood. Millions of thoughts running through his mind by the minute all centered around his sister. And the pure guilt which pulsed through his soul.

People could call him a lot of not so nice things. He was arrogant, yes. He had every damn right to be after everything he'd accomplished in his life. He was intimidating, yes. Being soft never got anyone anywhere in this business. He had a bad temper, yes. You'd have one too if you'd been through half the shit he'd gone through in his life and still had to deal with the shit he deals with constantly. But the two things he would never allow anyone to call him were; a bad wrestler, hell no. He knew he was excellent.

And the other thing was a bad brother to his youngest sister. No. He would never tolerate that.

He had gone through hell and back for Kendra and had stuck by her through her tough times. Out of everyone in the family, he was the one naturally obligated to protect her and he never minded that one bit. He'd always done his job the best way he knew how to.

But the girl was too rebellious. She didn't listen. She never adhered to his rules and warnings. She never wanted his protection and she lived live freely. Even after everything.

Like Tina Ortiz said, she was an adult now and he didn't have any right to dictate her life. He agreed. He shouldn't have to tell her what to do or control her every move or action but yet he had to. That's what no one understood.

Kendra was damaged severely and he was the only person who understood the severity of this damage. She was a wild child by nature and he's the only one that knew how to control her. If not for him she would have been lost a long time ago, he knew that for a fact. That's why he was so harsh on her, that's why he never stopped being so hard on her. And it never bothered him one bit.

Till now.

After talking with Tina, learning that somehow he was the cause of whatever it was she was going through, he felt something he hadn't felt in quite a while.

Guilt.

He eyed the phone sitting next to him before picking it up and scrolling down to find to his sister's number. Just to call her and see if she was alright or not. Was that so hard? Yes it was.

After all, he told himself he was going to do that 20 minutes ago.

He felt like a horrible person. Dammit. Why was it so hard? Was their relationship that broken?

Without making any further thoughts he simply grabbed the phone once more to call his sister. He dialed the number. Once. Twice. Thrice. No response. He sighed and clenched his fists trying not to get frustrated. What in the hell was she doing that she wasn't picking up his calls? What if it was an emergency? Hell he was two seconds away from storming over to her room.

But no.

He decided to calm down.

It was only 10:52. Maybe she'd fallen asleep early. Maybe.

Tomorrow's gonna be another day.

Meanwhile...

"...and there we go" Kendra spoke up after over fifteen minutes of silence from the three parties, other than the voices coming from the voice recorder. She nervously bit her lip as both she and Shawn observed Shane's expressions. "I know it's a lot to take in Shane, but he crossed the line when he threatened my career"

"Bullshit!" Shane yelled slamming his hand on the table suddenly. The action was enough to startle Kendra who flinched as Shawn instinctively wrapped his arm around her. Her heartbeat began to hasten. "He didn't cross the line with that, he crossed it when he started stealing all your ideas and passing it off as his and he sure as hell crossed the line by having Gunn assault you. That's a criminal offense!" Shane yelled with annoyance.

"Slow down tiger." Shawn said in a joking but serious tone. "Yes we all know Russo is an asshole but instead of wasting your energy belittling him here, how about you book an appointment with daddy and let's get this show on the road. What do you say?" Shawn proposed.

"Oh I'm all up for it. The evidence is overwhelming. That jackass will be out of this company. If he's not lucky he may go straight to fucking jail!" Shane yelled. He looked over at Kendra who still looked startled, crutching into Shawn's arm. Shane sighed in an attempt to calm himself down. "Sorry for startling you Kendra. Honestly I knew something was up with Russo from the very day you pitched in that storyline idea. I promise we will get rid of that bastard and you'll be free to enjoy your internship" Shane said.

"Thanks Shane. That means so much. Whatever you need me to do or say just let me know. I'm tired of being intimidated" Kendra said. Shane nodded.

"I can only understand. Just remember to hold on to that voice recorder and don't forget to gather as many pieces of evidence you can gather. That son of a bitch won't know what hit him" Shane said as he stood up. "I have to take my leave. I'd say it was a pleasure and it was but hopefully, we'll all meet again under more pleasurable circumstances" Kendra nodded.

"Thanks for meeting us here Shane" Kendra said expressing her gratitude. Shane smiled.

"Sure kiddo, just helping out a friend in need and repaying my debt at the same time. See you around" He said before taking his leave with his two... bodyguards? Two men in black who they'd just noticed followed Shane out as well. Kendra and Shawn gave each other puzzled glances.

"I get Mafia vibes from their whole family. Let's get outta here" Shawn proposed. Kendra gave him a humorous smile as they both got up as well and exited the building. "Well, that went well" Shawn commented once they were outside.

"Surprisingly. I dunno. I feel like this is the calm before the storm." She asked. Shawn shrugged.

"Most definitely. The next few days are gonna be tasking. You've got to be on the edge"

"Should I be worried?"

"Nah. It's all gonna work out I guarantee you." Shawn assured not failing to give her a little back rub. Within the few days they'd become more accustomed to each other, Kendra no longer found it too weird when Shawn became a bit touchy feely with her.

It was still weird but they were friends now.

"Thanks alot Shawn. I literally don't know who else I could've gone to with this. Curt and Sable are well..." She trailed off leaving Shawn to imagine. "...and my brothers well..."

"Huh?"

"Okay literally I have no excuse. I just..." She was caught off by Shawn who placed a finger to her lips.

"It's alright. I understand. And you're very. Anything for my favorite girl" He said with a wink which mad her laugh.

"Oh wow. The favorite girl of Shawn Michaels. What an honor" She said with enthusiastic sarcasm. Shawn responded with a playful glare which made them laugh. Kendra subconsciously grabbed her phone out of her pocket. Her laughter ceased.

"Hey what's the problem?" Shawn asked looking over at her phone before she even had the time to hide it. He frowned as well. 3 missed calls from Bret. "So, there's a problem"

"I guess" She said with a sigh as she looked down at her feet. "We should probably head back to the hotel. I'm exhausted." She said with a yawn. "What's wrong?" She asked Shawn once she'd finally looked up at him. She noticed he had a concerned look on his face.

"You never did tell me how you got that black eye" He said. Kendra's eyes widened as she was caught off guard.

"I already told you. I walked into a door!" She defended. Shawn eyed her skeptically.

"Kendra, I'm not an idiot. I'm a professional athlete and I know a bad black eye when I see one. You don't get that kinda shiner from walking into a door" He said. She stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

"Alright Shawn. Are we ready to head back to the hotel?" She asked. He nodded but never stopped giving her the previous look. "Better."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hey this isn't the way to my house. Where are we going Elijah?" Kendra asked as she began to sober up a little. Elijah was clearly driving into the woods.

"Yeah. It's a shortcut. Don't worry. You'll soon be home free" He announced. Kendra had a gut feeling telling her something was wrong. That or she desperately needed to puke.

"Driver stop please. I need to puke." She announced.

"You're not going anywhere Kendra. We'll soon be home" She noticed the sudden hoarseness in his voice. Something didn't make sense. "Kendra?" She didn't respond as her eyes were suddenly fixed on the neck of the driver in the front seat. She suddenly froze.

"Elijah I don't feel good. I need to come down. It won't be up to a minute" She pleaded.

"Puke in the fucking car!" Elijah yelled. "Speed up Guillermo!" He said to the driver.

"I'm getting out of here" She said to herself trying to open the car door but it was locked. She tried to unlock it only to turn and be on the receiving end of a close fisted punch which hither right in the face. knocking her out instantly.

With that Kendra jumped straight outta sleep with tears flowing freely from her eyes. The nightmares looked like they were back and there to day. She looked over at the clock. 8:52. It was her day off. She might as well get started with her day.

Sabes, are you free today? - Kendra

With that she quickly got outta bed heading straight to the mirror to see the severity of the damage on her face. And God was it horrendous.

In addition to her already nasty black eye which was thankfully getting better, she also noticed that she had bloodshot eyes, tiny eye bags and her eyes were also red and puffy from tears. She looked horrible to say the least.

Of course. You finally wanna hang out? - Sable

Kendra smiled. It had really been a while since they hung out. And God knew that she needed a female friend to talk and vent to after the shit she'd been through this week.

Duh. I'm free today - Kendra

Awesome. I'll be in room your room as soon as I can - Sable

Good for her. Kendra knowing her day was planned and set in motion, she decided to get ready. She brushed her teeth, took a shower and started getting dressed. She was in the middle of getting putting her hair up in a loose bun when she heard a knock the door.

"It's open" She said not turning away from her mirror. She had expected to hear Sable's voice or see the blonde in the reflection of the mirror but no. Instead she the reflection in the mirror was her ever so loving brother Bret Hart leaning on the wall. "Hi Bret"

"How are you?" He asked. Kendra froze at this question. She wasn't sure if she could remember the last time Bret had asked her this question but that was not even the point. The point was how his voice sounded. It sounded somber. She began to tense up. Where was Sable anyways?

"Uhh... I'm good. Fine. Just getting ready for the day as you can see" She said once she was finally done with her hair.

"Hmm. So how's work been?" He asked.

"Good" She said. Could he just leave? This was getting kinda off character for him. Since when did Bret just come over and randomly check on her without yelling or criticizing her about one thing or the other. Something didn't feel right.

"Alrighty then." He said leaving both of them in silence for a little while as Kendra walked over to the other side of the room to grab her sneakers. "So, any reason as to why you didn't pick up my calls last night?" Bret asked with a hint of suppressed frustration in his voice.

And there it was.

"I was busy" She replied not even bothering to look back at him and she put on her shoes.

"What if there was an important message I wanted to pass across?"

"Then you'd have sent me a text or called Owen to call me instead. I would've picked up his call or at least returned it" She said with a shrug. She noticed Bret clench his fist which showed he was angry. "Any problem?" She asked standing up. "But no. Because there wasn't any important message you wanted to pass across was there." She said walking up to him. "Was there?"

"You're getting on my nerves Kendra. I was just calling to check up on..."

"Bullshit!" She said cutting him off. "You don't care a damn about me and you know it" She attacked. Bret narrowed his eyes.

"Don't fucking say that."

"Why shouldn't I? It's the truth." She said with a sad smirk. "Or wait, maybe you heard a rumor about me kissing someone and maybe this time you decided to let me talk instead of taking actions into your own hands?" Kendra blasted. Bret didn't respond but kept his eyes narrowed at her. She could see a vein pumping in his head which should have been her indication to stop but she didn't care. She went on. She was so sick and tired of Bret. "Let's face the facts Bret. We're both adults here. I'm not a kid anymore."

"Kendra..."

"You know I talked to Tina two nights ago. I'm guessing she told you something that triggered you to talk to me right and that's why you called huh? Not because you care but the guilt is eating you up inside huh? Admit it to yourself Bret you give a fuck about me and you never h..." Before she could finish that statement Bret grabbed her by the arm and slammed her into a wall. Kendra looked up at him with wide eyes as his hand balled up into a fist which he raised up in the air with the clear intention to strike her. But instead it hit the wall behind her cracking it slightly. Kendra winced and shut her eyes close.

"Don't you ever repeat that! I do care about you. I always have and I always will. I have sacrificed a lot for you so don't you ever forget that... look at me when I'm talking to you!" He yelled. Kendra slowly opened her eyes. Almost immediately, she noticed Bret's expression soften.

"You could've fooled me" She whispered.

Flashback, 3 nights ago.

"Listen Bret..." Kendra started.

"No you listen to me. What was the one rule I set as you got this internship. WHAT WAS IT?!" He spat out trying to control his anger which he failed at doing. Kendra was paralyzed with fear and couldn't respond. Bret laughed sarcastically. "Oh I see cat got your tongue and it's fine. Probably from all the lip locking with Gunn! How could you?!"

"Bret please let me explain. He was the one that..."

"Save all that. To refresh your memory, the one rule I set was never to get involved with any of the guys in this company. Do you remember?"

"I have a lot to explain please just hear me out" She cried on. Bret chuckled.

"The sad thing is that I'm just trying to protect you but you take it for granted and comfortably whore yourself out. Even after everything you have dealt with. You never learn do you?" He asked. She didn't reply as her eyes brimmed with tears at him bringing that up. Why would he?

"I... you know what I'll show you instead" She said as she reached into her pockets for the recorder. Her eyes widened in shock when she noticed it was longer present. It must have fallen out on her way. Oh no what if it fell into the wrong hands?!

"Well...? Are you done?" Bret asked letting out a frustrated sigh when she didn't respond. "You know what, I think I need to get all what I'm trying to tell you through your thick skull one way or another. And I know the perfect way to"

"Bret what are you talking ab...?" He answered that question with a vicious hard hitting punch straight to her face with an impact that send her flying straight to the ground of the parking lot.

"Get up! I'm not through with you yet. I said get up!" He yelled at her forcing her up only to send her back down to the ground with another hard hitting punch which sent her straight to the ground once again. With that he crouched beside her roughly turning her face to himself. "That was a warning Kendra. The next time you pull a stunt like that, stay the hell away from me cause you won't even fathom what I'll do to you." And with that he walked out of the parking lot leaving behind a confused, hurt and agonized girl.

End Of Flashback

Bret didn't know what came over him suddenly. He remembered his major objective coming here was to talk to his sister and comfort her yet here he was. He looked at her face. The black eye still remained prominent and they eye bags showed to him that she hadn't slept much but the huge takeaways were her eyes and all the emotions they convened. Fear, sadness, anguish, angst, anger, annoyance but most the prevailing one seemed to be disappointment.

"Can you let me go now?" She asked. With that he backed away from her. "Thank you. Now if you don't mind I need to get going. Sable will be here any moment so you better take your leave."

"I'm sorry sis"

"I know. Now bye bye" She said motioning for the door. Bret stayed put. "Oh and if you must know, Tina thinks it's stress related but you and I know otherwise. I'm back to having nightmares again so thank you very much for that" She said with sarcasm dropping out from each word. The shock on Bret's face was unparalleled.

"I..." Bret was cut off by Sable practically running into the room and jumping on Kendra.

"I missed you!" Sable said with Kendra wrapped around in a tight hug. "Today's gonna be awesome. I already have everything planned from start to finish. Oh hi Bret" Sable acknowledged. Bret nodded back at her.

"Rena" He acknowledged as well. "I best be taking my leave" He said.

"Yes. That's the best thing to do" Kendra jibed. Bret gave her one last glance before exiting the room.

"Well that was tense. Is everything alright?" She asked. Kendra nodded.

"Oh yeah. Just Bret being Bret." She said with a shrug.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Mr. McMahon is ready to see you sir" Vince McMahon's PA called out to Vince Russo who sat outside with his legs crossed as he read a newspaper.

"Thank you Paula. I'll be right inside" Russo said. He dropped the newspaper and made his way to the door to the office of the chairman. He gave a slight knock.

"Come in!" The gruff voice of Vince McMahon came in from the other end of the door. Russo took a deep breath and opened the door. "Why Vince Russo, what was so urgent that you needed to see me today?"

"We need to talk about one of my interns." He said placing a document on The Chairman's table which just so happened to be a contract. Vince McMahon though confused, turned it around and scanned his eyes over it.

"Kendra Charlene Hart. Stu's daughter right?" Russo nodded. "So what's going on?"

"It's a long story. But you might want to get your paper shredder ready once I'm done" Russo said with an evil smile.

Oh boy.

Well, this chapter was definitely filled with a lot of game changers huh. Shawn, Kendra and Shane (And Austin) are all working together to put an end to Russo while Russo is doing the exact same thing to them. The Kendra and Bret scenes were a bit hard to write and I'm not even sure I was able to capture the true tone but nonetheless, their complicated relationship will be explored more as we proceed. Kendra's mental health is also something everyone should consider.

Once again thanks for reading, lemme know what you think as usual. And don't forget to always stay tuned for updates.

Stay safe guys.