Chapter 8 - THE LEDGER
Mara’s heart broke before fear arrived.
“Daniel.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’re holding a knife to me.”
“I said I don’t want to.”
Dominic kept his gun steady.
“Let her go.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“And then what? You shoot me?”
“If necessary.”
“See? This is why everyone loves you.”
“Daniel,” Mara whispered. “Why?”
His face tightened.
“You think I had choices?”
“We always have choices.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You disappeared.”
“You told me to run!”
“And I stayed!”
His voice cracked.
“I stayed, Anna. Kane found me two days later.”
Mara’s anger vanished.
Daniel’s eyes filled with something she had never seen before.
Shame.
“He kept me alive because he thought Dad told me where the ledger was.”
“What did he do to you?”
Daniel laughed once.
“Everything.”
The knife trembled.
Dominic lowered his gun an inch.
“Daniel.”
“Don’t.”
“I can get you out.”
“You?”
Daniel looked at him.
“You don’t save people, Mercer. You own them.”
Mara whispered, “He protected me.”
Daniel stared at her.
“That’s what powerful men call ownership when they want you grateful.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Daniel pressed the knife closer.
“Where’s the ledger?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dad told you something before the fire.”
“He told me to run.”
“Nothing else?”
Mara closed her eyes.
A memory.
Her father bleeding in the kitchen.
Smoke everywhere.
He grabbed her hand.
“The song, Anna. Remember your mother’s song.”
She had thought he was delirious.
Mara opened her eyes.
“The song.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“Mom’s song.”
Dominic watched them.
Mara whispered the first line.
“Blue moon over water…”
Daniel’s face changed.
“The music box.”
Their mother had owned a wooden music box.
It played that song.
Their father had given it to Mara on her sixteenth birthday.
“What happened to it?” Daniel asked.
“I left it in the house.”
Daniel laughed.
“The house burned.”
“No.”
Mara remembered something else.
“The night before the fire, Dad took it.”
Daniel stared.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic said, “Could the ledger be inside?”
“Maybe.”
A shot cracked.
Daniel jerked.
Blood burst from his shoulder.
Mara screamed.
Dominic pulled her down.
More bullets ripped through the warehouse.
“Kane’s men!” Daniel shouted.
Dominic returned fire.
“Back exit!”
They ran.
Daniel stumbled.
Mara caught him.
“Move!”
They reached Dominic’s armored SUV as bullets punched sparks from the concrete.
Inside, Daniel collapsed.
Dominic accelerated away.
Mara pressed fabric against Daniel’s wound.
“Stay awake.”
Daniel smiled weakly.
“Sounds familiar.”
“What?”
“Mom used to say that.”
His hand gripped hers.
“Anna…”
“What?”
“There’s something else.”
“Save your strength.”
“Kane isn’t after the ledger only.”
“What else?”
Daniel looked at Dominic in the mirror.
Then back at Mara.
“He wants Caleb.”
Dominic’s entire body went rigid.
“Why?”
May you like
Daniel whispered:
“Because Caleb Mercer isn’t your son.”
