Chapter 11
Mercer arrived with two cars.
Not an army.
He didn’t need one.
Men like Adrian Mercer preferred to enter houses where betrayal had already opened the door.
My guards let him through the outer gate.
On my order.
Victor stared at me.
“You’re insane.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I’m tired of middlemen.”
Mercer entered the living room wearing a charcoal suit and no tie.
Fifty-two.
Calm.
Polite.
Dangerous because he enjoyed appearing reasonable.
He looked at Ethan beneath the bruising.
Then Victor.
Then Natalie.
Finally me.
“This appears to have gone poorly.”
I almost smiled.
“For them.”
Mercer glanced at Lily.
She stood behind my guard.
“Pretty child.”
I stepped between them.
His eyes returned to me.
“Touchy.”
Victor stood.
“We had an agreement.”
Mercer laughed softly.
“You had a promise.”
“You said—”
“I said I’d consider your proposal.”
Victor’s face changed.
There.
He had built treason around a maybe.
Mercer looked at Natalie.
“And the livestream?”
“Gone.”
“No.”
I held up the phone.
“Saved.”
His smile faded slightly.
Good.
I continued.
“Full recording.”
Victor muttered:
“Sebastian.”
Mercer ignored him.
“What do you want?”
“Names.”
“Whose?”
“The Whitmore men you bought.”
He smiled.
“Bought is rude.”
“Names.”
“No.”
I shrugged.
“Then leave.”
Victor stared.
Mercer laughed.
“You think I came for permission?”
“No.”
“I came because this family asked me to.”
He gestured toward Natalie.
“Your wife.”
Toward Victor.
“Her father.”
Toward Ethan.
“Her brother.”
Then he smiled.
“You should ask why three people closest to your home preferred me.”
Natalie looked at him.
Not confidently.
Nervously.
That mattered.
I looked at Mercer.
“Why?”
He answered simply:
“Because I told each of them a different lie.”
Victor went still.
Ethan frowned.
Natalie whispered:
“What?”
Mercer looked almost amused.
“Victor thought he’d gain territory.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“Ethan thought he’d become my liaison.”
Ethan stared.
“And Natalie…”
He looked at my wife.
“…thought I would protect her unborn son.”
Natalie stopped breathing.
Mercer smiled.
May you like
“I never planned to protect any of you.”
And suddenly the traitors realized they had been used too.
