Chapter 3
We moved to the west hallway panic room before the men could recover.
I dragged the conscious one by his collar until he stopped pretending he could resist.
Elena carried Caleb.
Mrs. Fallon limped behind us.
I sealed the door.
Steel locks slid into place.
Emergency lights flickered on, bathing the small room in red.
Caleb shook so badly his teeth chattered.
Elena crouched in front of him.
“Look at me.”
He did.
“You are safe right now.”
His eyes filled.
“I got slapped.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t tell.”
“I know, baby.”
“I bit him.”
Elena let out a broken laugh and pulled him close.
“You did good.”
The man on the floor groaned.
I pressed my shoe against his injured leg.
He went still.
“What’s your name?”
He spat blood.
I increased pressure.
He screamed.
“Rourke! My name is Rourke.”
“Who hired you?”
“You know.”
“Say it.”
His face twisted.
“Victor Kane.”
“Where is he?”
Rourke smiled through pain.
“Closer than you think.”
I crouched.
“Victor Kane vanished two years ago after his men failed to kill me.”
“Not vanished. Retired.”
“No one like Kane retires.”
“He did when Daniel Mercer took what mattered most.”
Elena looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Rourke’s eyes slid to her.
“Your husband was a thief.”
She stood.
No fear now.
Only fury.
“My husband was a good man.”
Rourke laughed.
“Good men don’t work for Adrian Vale.”
Caleb flinched.
I put my hand on the boy’s shoulder.
Rourke noticed.
His smile sharpened.
“There it is. The great Adrian Vale, getting soft over a kid with a bad heart.”
I hit him once.
Not hard enough to kill.
Hard enough to stop the smile.
Mrs. Fallon whispered, “Sir.”
I looked at her.
She had worked for me nine years.
She had seen bodies removed from my driveway, men beg in my foyer, and me give orders that made rooms go cold.
But this was the first time she looked afraid of what I might do in front of a child.
I stepped back.
Caleb was watching me.
That mattered now.
I took a breath.
“Mrs. Fallon, emergency line?”
She opened the cabinet inside the panic room and grabbed the hardline phone.
Dead.
Marcus had done a thorough job.
I removed the back panel beneath the communications box.
There was one last system.
Old.
Analog.
Installed after Isabella died because grief made me paranoid enough to become wise.
I cranked the emergency transmitter.
Static hissed.
Then a voice.
“Vale secure channel.”
I closed my eyes.
Thank God.
“This is Adrian Vale. Estate breached. Security compromised. Marcus turned. Three intruders down inside. Need extraction and medical. Call Dr. Sayegh. Call Lieutenant Marlow at state police, not local.”
“Confirmed.”
I hung up.
Elena stared at me.
“State police?”
“I trust Marlow.”
“You trust police?”
“I trust debts.”
Her face tightened.
“You talk like Daniel.”
I looked at her.
“Daniel learned some of it from me.”
“That doesn’t comfort me.”
“It shouldn’t.”
Caleb sat on the bench, clutching the pill bottle.
I knelt in front of him.
“Let me see your cheek.”
He turned his face.
The mark was red but not split.
My chest tightened again.
“Does your heart hurt?”
He nodded.
Elena stiffened.
“Caleb?”
He tried to be brave.
“A little.”
Panic moved through her.
Not loud.
Worse.
Silent.
She opened the pill bottle.
One pill left now.
The one he had tried to give me was back inside.
She gave it to him with water.
“Slow breaths,” she whispered. “Like we practice.”
He nodded.
His small hands trembled around the cup.
I looked at Rourke.
“You knew about his condition.”
Rourke wiped blood from his mouth.
“Kane knows everything about Daniel Mercer.”
Elena asked, “Why?”
Rourke’s eyes moved to her.
“Because Daniel stole Kane’s daughter.”
The room froze.
I stared at him.
“Victor Kane had no daughter.”
Rourke smiled again.
“Not officially.”
Elena whispered, “Daniel never stole a child.”
“No,” Rourke said. “He rescued one.”
That word changed the shape of the room.
I grabbed him by the collar.
“Explain.”
Rourke’s smile faltered.
“He took a girl from Kane’s private house. Fifteen years old. Sick. Locked away. Kane’s own blood, hidden because she was born weak. Daniel got her out.”
My memory sharpened.
Twelve years ago.
Manhattan courthouse.
A sealed case.
A frightened girl under witness protection.
I had helped Daniel move someone.
He told me less was safer.
I never asked enough.
Elena’s voice was barely audible.
“What was her name?”
Rourke looked at me, then her.
“Isabella.”
The name hit me like a bullet.
My wife’s name.
No.
Not my wife.
Another Isabella.
A girl Daniel had hidden from Victor Kane.
I asked, “Where is she?”
Rourke laughed bitterly.
“Dead. Because Daniel couldn’t save everyone.”
The emergency lights hummed.
Elena held Caleb closer.
Rourke continued, voice lower now.
“Kane blamed Daniel. Then you. Then anyone Daniel loved. He hunted for years. Daniel vanished to keep them alive.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“Elena.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled.
“He would have told me.”
“Not if telling you put you in danger.”
“He left us.”
I had no answer.
Because love and abandonment sometimes wore the same coat when danger held the door.
The transmitter crackled.
“Mr. Vale, extraction team two minutes out. Gatehouse secured. Marcus missing.”
Marcus.
Loose.
Listening.
Maybe still inside.
Then a small beep sounded from Rourke’s phone.
May you like
A new message flashed.
If Mercer’s family is inside, burn the house.
