Chapter 2 - The Name Nobody Was Supposed to Remember
Tessa turned around.
Marco stood in the doorway.
His face had gone pale.
“What name did they send you?”
Tessa locked her phone.
“Why do you care?”
“Because if it’s the name I think it is, you need to leave.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
The sentence froze her.
Marco checked the corridor.
Then lowered his voice.
“Was it Elias Mercer?”
Tessa’s stomach dropped.
The message had contained exactly that name.
ELIAS MERCER REMEMBERS MOSES ROWE.
“How did you know?”
Marco closed his eyes.
“Damn it.”
Before he could explain, Damian appeared at the far end of the corridor.
He had put on a black coat.
Two men stood behind him now.
So much for arriving alone.
His gaze moved from Marco to Tessa.
“You made your decision?”
Tessa looked at the threatening photograph again.
Her mother.
The spoon.
Elias Mercer.
“No.”
Damian’s expression did not change.
“No, you haven’t decided?”
“No, I’m not giving you an answer until you tell me what you know about my grandfather.”
Marco stepped back.
Damian noticed.
“What did he tell you?”
“Nothing.”
“Tessa—”
She held up the phone.
“Someone sent me a picture of my mother.”
Damian moved instantly.
Not panic.
Command.
“Show me.”
“No.”
“Tessa.”
“You don’t own me.”
His jaw tightened.
Then, unexpectedly, he nodded.
“You’re right.”
That answer disturbed her more than anger would have.
She handed him the phone.
Damian read the message.
Something in his face changed when he saw the name.
“Elias Mercer.”
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“A man who should have died twenty years ago.”
Tessa stared.
“That doesn’t answer anything.”
“It answers enough for tonight.”
“No. It answers nothing.”
Damian turned to one of the men behind him.
“Rafe, get someone to Mrs. Rowe’s building. Quietly.”
Tessa stepped forward.
“Wait.”
“My people will protect her.”
“Your people?”
“They’re security.”
Marco gave a humorless laugh.
Damian looked at him.
Marco stopped.
Tessa wanted to refuse.
Then she looked at the photograph again.
Someone had been close enough to take it.
Her mother had no idea.
“Fine.”
Rafe left immediately.
Tessa wrapped both hands around the old spoon.
“My grandfather knew Mercer?”
Damian looked at the initials.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Through me.”
Tessa stared at him.
“You were what, eighteen?”
“Seventeen.”
He pointed toward a small private dining room.
“Sit.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“That wasn’t an invitation to dinner.”
“Then don’t order me.”
Damian paused.
Then opened the door.
“Please.”
Tessa walked inside.
Marco started to follow.
Damian blocked him.
“No.”
Marco’s mouth hardened.
“You know I’m involved.”
“That’s why you’re not coming in.”
Damian shut the door.
The room was small.
One table.
Four chairs.
Wine cabinets.
No windows.
Tessa remained standing.
Damian leaned against the table.
“When I was seventeen, my father was already running most of the businesses I later inherited.”
“Businesses.”
“Yes.”
“You mean organized crime.”
“I mean businesses.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It’s accurate enough for the conversation.”
Tessa crossed her arms.
“Keep going.”
“My father had enemies. Elias Mercer was one.”
“Why?”
“Mercer ran crews on the waterfront. Extortion. Cargo theft. Drugs. Anything profitable.”
“And your father?”
Damian looked at her.
“My father did things I won’t defend.”
That surprised her.
“He and Mercer began a war.”
“And my grandfather?”
“Fed people.”
Tessa frowned.
“Moses Rowe’s restaurant sat between neighborhoods that hated each other. Cops ate there. Dockworkers ate there. Men who would shoot one another outside ate two tables apart inside.”
“That sounds like him.”
“He had one rule.”
“No trouble under my roof.”
Damian nodded.
Tessa’s eyes narrowed.
“How do you know the exact words?”
“Because he said them to my father.”
Damian looked away for the first time.
“The night everything changed, Mercer’s men followed me.”
Tessa stopped breathing.
“I was seventeen. Stupid. Angry. I thought being Victor Voss’s son made me untouchable.”
“What happened?”
“They grabbed me.”
Her grip tightened around the spoon.
“They were going to trade me for territory. My father refused.”
Tessa stared.
“He refused to save his own son?”
“He believed paying ransom invited more ransom.”
“That’s monstrous.”
“Yes.”
No defense.
No excuse.
Just yes.
Damian continued.
“I escaped the building where they were holding me. I had a knife wound in my side. I made it six blocks before I collapsed behind Rowe’s House.”
Tessa knew that alley.
She had played there as a child.
Her grandfather used to keep milk crates near the back door.
“Moses found you.”
“He pulled me inside.”
The room felt suddenly smaller.
“He knew who you were?”
“Immediately.”
“And still helped you?”
“He helped everyone.”
Tessa’s throat tightened.
That sounded like Moses.
Damian touched his chest near his ribs.
“He stitched me up on the kitchen table while your grandmother boiled water.”
“My grandmother?”
“Mae.”
Tessa’s eyes filled before she could stop them.
Mae had died when Tessa was twenty-three.
“She never told us.”
“They were protecting you.”
“From what?”
“From what happened next.”
Damian paused.
“Mercer discovered where I was.”
Tessa waited.
“My father’s men came too.”
“What happened?”
“Your grandfather stood in the doorway with a cast-iron skillet in one hand.”
Despite everything, Tessa almost laughed.
“That sounds like him too.”
“He told both sides they could kill each other somewhere else.”
“What happened?”
“They listened.”
“Why?”
“Because Moses had spent twenty years feeding men when they were broke, hiding kids when fathers came home drunk, giving cops coffee at three in the morning, letting mothers buy meals on credit he never collected.”
Damian’s voice softened.
“He had something neither my father nor Mercer understood.”
“What?”
“People loved him.”
Tessa looked at the spoon.
“So why did the restaurant close?”
“Because Mercer never forgave him.”
The answer came too quickly.
Tessa looked up.
“What did he do?”
Damian hesitated.
“Tessa—”
“What did he do?”
“Three months later, your grandfather died.”
“I know. Heart attack.”
Damian said nothing.
Her skin turned cold.
“No.”
“Tessa.”
“No.”
She stepped backward.
“My grandfather had a heart attack.”
“That was the official cause.”
“Stop.”
“Moses had no heart condition.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I had his medical file reviewed.”
“When?”
“After he died.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t believe it.”
Tessa shook her head.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Her phone rang.
Mom.
Tessa grabbed it.
“Mom?”
“Tessie?”
Her mother sounded irritated.
Not frightened.
“Where are you?”
“Home. Why?”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“Lock the door.”
“Tessa, what happened?”
“Just lock it.”
A knock sounded on Ruth’s end.
Tessa’s blood went cold.
“Mom, don’t answer.”
“I’m not—”
Another knock.
Then a man’s voice.
“Mrs. Rowe? Security.”
Damian nodded.
His people.
Tessa released a breath.
Ruth opened the door despite Tessa shouting not to.
A man introduced himself as working for Damian Voss.
Ruth went silent.
“Tessa.”
“Yes?”
“Why is a Voss man at my door?”
Tessa looked at Damian.
“You know that name.”
Ruth whispered something.
“Tessa, come home.”
“Mom.”
“Now.”
“Do you know Elias Mercer?”
Silence.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Tessa felt her knees weaken.
“Mom?”
Ruth’s voice dropped.
“Where did you hear that name?”
Tessa closed her eyes.
Everybody knew except her.
“Someone sent it to me.”
“Come home.”
“Who is he?”
“Not over the phone.”
“Did Grandpa really die of a heart attack?”
Ruth inhaled sharply.
Tessa had her answer.
“Mom.”
“We thought it was over.”
“What?”
“We thought Mercer was gone.”
Damian took the phone gently.
“Mrs. Rowe.”
Ruth’s voice became ice.
“Damian Voss.”
“Yes.”
“You stay away from my daughter.”
“I’m trying to keep her safe.”
“That is exactly what your father said to mine.”
Damian froze.
Tessa looked between him and the phone.
“My father spoke to Moses?”
Ruth heard her.
“Oh, God.”
“Mom, what aren’t you telling me?”
Ruth started crying.
Tessa had rarely heard her mother cry.
“Your grandfather kept something,” she said.
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Damian straightened.
“What ledger?”
Ruth heard him.
“Don’t you dare.”
“Mrs. Rowe, what ledger?”
“One Moses should have burned.”
Tessa pressed the phone closer.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“I don’t.”
“Mom.”
Ruth was silent.
Then she said, “The spoon.”
Tessa looked down.
“What about it?”
“The initials aren’t just initials.”
Damian’s gaze sharpened.
Ruth continued.
“Your grandfather made three spoons. Yours. Mine. And one for your grandmother.”
Tessa turned the handle beneath the light.
T.R.M.
“The burn mark,” Ruth said. “Look inside it.”
Tessa squinted.
What she had thought was random damage was shaped like something.
A number.
Damian whispered, “Seventeen.”
Ruth inhaled.
“Locker seventeen.”
“Where?”
“The old Fulton Street train terminal.”
Damian grabbed his phone.
Ruth shouted through the speaker.
“No! If Mercer is alive, he’s looking for it too.”
Tessa’s heart hammered.
“What’s in the ledger?”
Ruth answered.
“Names.”
“What names?”
“People who paid Mercer. People who paid Victor Voss. Judges. Police. Businessmen.”
Damian’s face hardened.
“How did Moses get it?”
“He didn’t.”
“Then who gave it to him?”
Ruth hesitated.
“Your father.”
Damian went completely still.
Tessa stared at him.
“You said your father wouldn’t save you.”
“He didn’t.”
“Then why would he give my grandfather evidence?”
“I don’t know.”
Ruth’s breathing quickened.
“Tessa, leave that restaurant.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I need to know what happened.”
“That knowledge destroyed your grandfather.”
“Then maybe somebody should finally do something with it.”
Damian looked at her.
Something like approval flashed in his eyes.
Ruth heard the determination in Tessa’s voice.
“Tessie.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“No.”
“I’m not letting them scare us for another twenty years.”
She ended the call.
Damian spoke first.
“You’re not going to the terminal.”
“I am.”
“No.”
“You don’t get a vote.”
“You don’t understand who Mercer is.”
“And you don’t understand who my grandfather was.”
Damian stepped closer.
“I understand better than you think.”
“Then help me.”
He stared at her.
Finally, he nodded.
They left Vesper through a private exit.
Marco stood across the alley smoking.
When he saw them, he threw the cigarette down.
“You’re going to locker seventeen.”
Tessa stopped.
“How do you know that?”
Marco’s face went blank.
Damian moved between them.
“Answer her.”
Marco looked at Tessa.
“I told you my name was Bellini.”
“It is.”
“No.”
He reached into his jacket.
Damian’s hand moved beneath his coat.
Marco slowly removed a wallet.
Inside was an old photograph.
A young man stood beside Moses Rowe outside Rowe’s House.
Tessa recognized her grandfather immediately.
The other man looked like Marco.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
“Who is that?”
“My father.”
Tessa looked at him.
“What was his name?”
Marco swallowed.
“Anthony Mercer.”
Silence.
“Mercer?”
“My grandfather is Elias Mercer.”
Tessa backed away.
Damian’s men moved.
Marco raised both hands.
“I’m not with him.”
“You expect us to believe that?” Damian asked.
“No.”
Marco looked at Tessa.
“But I know what’s waiting in locker seventeen.”
“What?”
He opened his mouth.
A gunshot cracked from somewhere above them.
Glass shattered.
Damian grabbed Tessa and threw her behind a car.
Marco hit the pavement.
Rafe shouted.
Another shot struck the brick wall.
Tessa covered her head.
Damian pulled a pistol from beneath his coat.
Then Tessa saw something beneath the parked SUV.
A small black box.
Its red light was blinking.
Marco saw it too.
His face changed.
“That isn’t a tracker.”
May you like
Damian looked down.
Marco whispered, “Run.”
