Chapter 9 - THE MAN WHO RAISED HIM
Mercer Vale walked into the room as if he owned the hospital.
Silver hair.
Expensive suit.
A pistol in his hand.
Dante stood between Mercer and Mara.
“Uncle.”
Mercer smiled.
“Nephew.”
“You should’ve stayed retired.”
“And let you destroy everything I built?”
“You built it with my father.”
“I built it while your father played hero.”
Dante’s face went cold.
“You killed him.”
Mercer shrugged.
“I corrected a mistake.”
Mara saw Dante’s hand move toward his coat.
Mercer aimed at her.
“Don’t.”
Dante stopped.
Mercer smiled.
“There’s the difference between you and Antonio.”
“What?”
“He never had anything I could use against him.”
His gun shifted toward Mara’s stomach.
“Now you do.”
Dante’s face changed.
Mara had never seen genuine fear there before.
“Don’t point that at her.”
“Oh, this matters?”
Mercer laughed.
“A baby. That’s inconvenient.”
Dante’s voice lowered.
“If you hurt her, there’s nowhere on earth you’ll be safe.”
“I’m seventy-two. I’m not worried about long-term planning.”
Mara glanced toward Bianca.
Bianca was on the floor beside the dropped gun.
Just three feet away.
Bianca saw Mara looking.
For the first time in their lives, they understood each other without words.
Mercer kept talking.
“Thorne and I had a good arrangement.”
Dante’s eyes stayed on the weapon.
“You killed my father for a politician?”
“Your father wanted out.”
“Out of what?”
“Everything. He wanted to turn legitimate.”
Mercer sneered.
“He had a conscience.”
“Sounds terrible.”
“Don’t be cute.”
Mercer stepped closer.
“Antonio wanted to expose Thorne. Eleanor Whitfield had the records. Your father protected her.”
Mara’s fists tightened.
“So you killed him.”
“And Thorne destroyed her credibility.”
Dante looked at Mara.
There it was.
The whole story.
Two men had crushed two families to protect power.
Mercer raised the gun.
“Give me the flash drive.”
Mara held it tighter.
“No.”
“Mara,” Dante said softly.
She looked at him.
“Give it to him.”
“No.”
“Please.”
That word shocked her.
Dante Vale did not say please.
Mara looked at her unborn child’s father.
Then at Mercer.
Then she smiled.
Mercer frowned.
“What’s funny?”
“You think this is the only copy?”
His face changed.
Mara lied smoothly.
“I uploaded everything.”
Dante understood immediately.
“To where?”
“Everywhere.”
“You’re lying.”
“Shoot me and find out.”
“Mara,” Dante warned.
Mercer aimed at her head.
Bianca lunged.
She grabbed the gun.
A shot exploded.
Everyone screamed.
Mercer shoved her away.
Dante hit him.
They crashed into the wall.
The gun slid beneath the bed.
Gabriel and security officers rushed in.
Mercer was dragged to the floor.
Bianca sat against the wall, shaking.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
Mara rushed to her.
“You were shot.”
Bianca stared at the blood.
Then at Mara.
“I guess I finally did something useful.”
Her eyes rolled back.
“Bianca!”
As doctors rushed in, Gabriel looked at Dante.
“We have another problem.”
“What?”
“Senator Thorne is gone.”
Dante stared at him.
“Gone where?”
Gabriel’s face was grim.
“He took the evidence from the brownstone.”
Mara looked at her empty hand.
Then remembered the flash drive Preston had given her.
May you like
She still had one copy.
And Senator Thorne didn’t know it.
