Chapter 6 - The Night Someone Came to Silence Me
Nobody moved.
Vivienne's gun remained pointed at Mom.
Dominic stood ten feet away.
My father was closer.
I was closest.
That terrified me.
Vivienne looked exhausted.
Not unstable.
That would have been easier.
She looked deliberate.
“You're surrounded,” Dominic said.
“Not anymore.”
“What did you do?”
“Fire alarm in the west wing. Your agents are evacuating.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
Vivienne smiled.
“People are wonderfully predictable when alarms start ringing.”
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
Dominic looked at the laptop.
“Take it.”
“No.”
Vivienne looked at me.
“She brings it.”
Of course.
I reached for the drive.
Dominic said my name.
“Grace.”
“I know.”
I picked it up.
Walked slowly.
Vivienne extended her free hand.
“Give it to me.”
I stopped six feet away.
“You tried to have Dominic kill me.”
“Yes.”
The casual answer hurt more than denial.
“Why?”
“To bring your father out.”
“You could have contacted him.”
“He wouldn't answer.”
“So you decided my death might help?”
“I decided Dominic Mercer killing Daniel Holloway's daughter would restart a war.”
Dominic's face turned cold.
“And while we destroyed each other?”
“I would remove the evidence.”
I looked at her.
“You stood behind him that night.”
“Yes.”
“You watched him point the gun.”
“Yes.”
“Were you hoping he'd pull the trigger?”
She smiled faintly.
“Yes.”
Something inside me settled.
Fear was still there.
But beneath it came anger.
Clear.
Useful.
I held up the drive.
“My mother first.”
Vivienne laughed.
“You don't negotiate.”
“I just did.”
Her eyes narrowed.
I dropped the drive onto the floor.
Then stepped on it.
“Move her away from the gun or I crush it.”
Dominic stared at me.
Vivienne's expression changed.
“You wouldn't.”
“You hired me to clean apartments for three months without realizing I spent seven years cleaning hotel bathrooms to pay medical bills.”
I pressed my heel down.
“You have dramatically underestimated how stubborn poor women can be.”
Mom almost laughed.
Vivienne moved the gun slightly away from her.
“Kick it over.”
“Move farther.”
She did.
I kicked the drive.
It slid across the floor.
Vivienne bent instinctively.
Dominic moved.
Everything happened at once.
My father grabbed Mom.
Dominic hit Vivienne's wrist.
The gun fired.
Glass shattered.
I dropped.
Dominic and Vivienne struggled.
The gun slid toward me.
I stared at it.
For one second, I saw the service closet again.
Dominic's weapon.
My bare feet.
Cold pasta.
My mother's phone call.
I grabbed the gun.
“Stop!”
They froze.
I pointed it toward the floor.
Not at Vivienne.
Not at Dominic.
“Move away from each other.”
Dominic did.
Vivienne stared at me.
“You don't have the nerve.”
“Maybe.”
I stepped backward.
“But I have the gun.”
The door burst open.
Federal agents entered.
Vivienne was on the floor in seconds.
Handcuffs clicked.
She screamed then.
Not before.
Not when she lost the drive.
Not when Dominic disarmed her.
When Agent Alvarez read her rights.
Because that made it real.
Her power was over.
Or so we thought.
As agents pulled her toward the door, Vivienne turned to Dominic.
“You still don't know what Victor did.”
Dominic ignored her.
She smiled.
“Ask Daniel who actually ordered the Warehouse Four fire.”
My father went pale.
Dominic looked at him.
Vivienne saw it.
Then she laughed.
Agents removed her.
The room became silent.
Dominic faced my father.
“Who ordered it?”
Dad didn't answer.
“Daniel.”
My father sat slowly.
“Your uncle.”
“Anthony?”
“Yes.”
Dominic stared.
“He died in the fire.”
“He started it.”
“Why?”
“He was part of Bennett's network. Then he tried to betray them.”
“What happened?”
“Victor discovered everything.”
Dad rubbed his face.
“Your father came to stop him.”
“And Anthony?”
“Locked himself inside with the records and set the fire rather than let Victor take them.”
Dominic looked toward the broken window.
“So my father spent the rest of his life protecting the Mercer name from something his brother did.”
“Yes.”
“And died without telling me.”
“Yes.”
I watched Dominic absorb a lifetime of inherited guilt.
Then Dad added:
“Victor also spent years looking for me.”
Dominic turned.
“To kill you?”
“No.”
“To bring me home.”
That mattered.
I saw it in Dominic's face.
His father hadn't been innocent.
Men like Victor Mercer rarely were.
But he hadn't killed mine.
And sometimes the truth didn't redeem the dead.
It simply stopped the living from carrying the wrong crime.
Three days later, Vivienne Bennett was formally charged.
Then others followed.
Executives.
Former police officers.
A judge.
Two lobbyists.
The scandal consumed New York.
Dominic cooperated with investigators.
So did my father.
My mother returned to the hospital voluntarily, which she complained about constantly.
I returned to work.
Dominic hated that.
“You're joking.”
We stood in Mom's hospital room.
“No.”
“You're going back to cleaning?”
“I have rent.”
“I'll pay it.”
“No.”
“Your mother's hospital balance?”
“No.”
“I already—”
“You what?”
He stopped.
I stared.
“Dominic.”
“I may have handled it.”
“You paid eighteen thousand dollars?”
“Eighteen thousand seven hundred forty.”
Mom looked fascinated.
I looked murderous.
“You had no right.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because I could.”
“That is the most billionaire sentence I've ever heard.”
Mom covered a laugh with a cough.
Dominic glanced at her.
“You're enjoying this.”
“Very much.”
I folded my arms.
“I'll pay you back.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Then I'll work for you.”
He stared.
“As what?”
“I don't know.”
“Absolutely not as a maid.”
“Why?”
His expression became uncomfortable.
Mom smiled.
I wanted to disappear.
“Stop.”
“I didn't say anything,” she replied.
“You're thinking loudly.”
Dominic almost smiled.
The strange thing was that after nearly being killed twice, arguing about hospital bills felt intimate.
Normal.
Dangerously normal.
Dad entered.
His expression erased the humor.
“What?”
He held an envelope.
“Federal prosecutors found another account.”
Dominic straightened.
“Bennett?”
“No.”
Dad looked at me.
“In Grace's name.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Opened in 1999.”
“I was a baby.”
“I know.”
“How much?”
Dad hesitated.
“Twenty-three million.”
I laughed.
Nobody else did.
“Oh.”
I sat.
“That's not funny.”
“No,” Dominic said.
“It really is.”
I had eaten cold pasta in a closet because I couldn't afford hospital bills.
Somewhere, an account with my name contained twenty-three million dollars.
“Where did it come from?”
Dad handed me the papers.
Initial deposit:
VICTOR MERCER.
I looked at Dominic.
“Your father?”
He read the document.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dad spoke quietly.
“Insurance.”
“For what?”
“For what happened to us.”
I stared at the balance.
I felt nothing.
Money was supposed to solve problems.
This money created twenty-seven years of questions.
“I don't want it.”
Dominic looked at me.
“Don't decide today.”
“I said I don't want it.”
“Then don't spend it.”
“What am I supposed to do with twenty-three million dollars I don't want?”
Mom answered.
“Something better than the men who created it.”
I looked at her.
That sentence stayed with me.
That night, I stood alone outside the hospital.
Dominic joined me.
No security close enough to hear.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?”
“Lowering the gun.”
He looked at me.
“That seems like a low standard.”
“You'd be surprised.”
Silence.
Then he said:
“I knew you weren't dangerous before the phone call.”
“You still pointed it at me.”
“I said I knew. I didn't say I was certain.”
I smiled.
He stepped closer.
“Grace.”
My heart accelerated.
“Yes?”
“I've been trying not to do something.”
“What?”
“This.”
He kissed me.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Nothing about Dominic Mercer was usually careful.
That was why I kissed him back.
When we separated, I couldn't stop smiling.
“This is a terrible idea.”
“Probably.”
“My father might hate you.”
“Your father has been dead for twenty-seven years. He can adjust.”
I laughed.
Dominic smiled.
Then his phone vibrated.
He checked it.
The smile vanished.
“What?”
He showed me the message.
It was from Agent Alvarez.
VIVIENNE BENNETT NEVER REACHED FEDERAL DETENTION.
My blood went cold.
A second message appeared.
TRANSPORT VEHICLE FOUND EMPTY.
Then my own phone rang.
Unknown number.
Dominic looked at me.
“Don't answer.”
But I already had.
Vivienne whispered:
“Grace, you took everything from me.”
A pause.
“So now I'm going to take the one person you finally chose.”
Behind Dominic, a black SUV turned onto the hospital drive.
May you like
Its headlights went out.
The doors opened.
