Chapter 6 - The Rule Nell ChangedGus wanted to go alone.
I refused.
Nell surprised both of us.
“So do I.”
I stared at her.
“Absolutely not.”
Her expression went flat.
“You lasted almost twenty-four hours.”
“Nell, you have cracked ribs.”
“And a functioning brain.”
“This isn't happening.”
She pointed toward June.
“This is happening because of our daughter.”
“You can help from here.”
“No.”
Gus cleared his throat.
Neither of us looked at him.
Nell lowered her voice.
“Roman, Silas has spent fifteen months winning because you keep thinking like a man who has to carry everything alone.”
“I am not putting you in danger.”
“I am already in danger.”
That stopped me.
“He knows where I live. He knows my daughter's routine. He planted a tracker in her toy. Hiding in another room isn't safety.”
I hated the truth of it.
Nell continued.
“You told me I get choices.”
“You do.”
“This is my choice.”
Eventually we compromised.
Which meant Nell remained in the secured suite while participating through an encrypted video connection.
She called it compromise.
I called it losing an argument.
Gus didn't care.
His younger sister, Maggie, had been taken from her apartment forty minutes earlier.
The kidnappers sent one demand.
Bring the Mercer trust ledger. Come alone.
There was no trust ledger.
Not physically.
But whoever called didn't know that.
So we created one.
Nell had the idea.
“If Silas thinks Gus will betray you for his sister, let him.”
Gus stared at the screen.
“I like your ex-wife.”
“She likes being called that less than you think.”
Nell ignored me.
“We give him exactly what he expects. A frightened man carrying stolen information.”
“And then?”
“We trace where Maggie is moved.”
Gus nodded slowly.
Three hours later, he walked into an abandoned boat-repair warehouse carrying a leather folder.
I watched from three blocks away.
Nell watched through surveillance.
Silas never appeared.
Instead, Victor Salazar did.
The man who had been involved in Nell's crash.
“You brought it?” Victor asked.
Gus held up the folder.
“My sister first.”
Victor laughed.
“That's not how this works.”
“It is today.”
The exchange lasted eleven minutes.
Long enough for us to tag Victor's vehicle.
Long enough for Gus to hear Maggie's voice through a phone.
Long enough for Victor to reveal something he shouldn't have.
“Mr. Mercer should've stayed divorced and childless.”
Gus's jaw tightened.
“Which Mr. Mercer?”
Victor smiled.
“Exactly.”
Then he left.
We followed him.
Not directly.
Three separate cars rotated surveillance until Victor reached an old estate west of Miami.
Maggie was inside.
So were four armed men.
Gus wanted to charge the house.
I stopped him.
“We wait.”
“For what?”
“For them to move.”
“My sister is in there.”
“I know.”
His eyes were wild.
“Then act like you'd act if it were June.”
That hit harder than he intended.
Nell's voice came through my earpiece.
“Roman.”
“Yes?”
“He's right.”
I closed my eyes.
She continued.
“But so are you.”
Gus looked at me.
Nell said, “If you rush the house, Silas learns the trap failed. If you wait too long, Maggie pays for it.”
“So?”
“Give Victor a reason to leave.”
“With what?”
“The real thing he wants.”
I understood.
Me.
Ten minutes later, I called Victor from my personal number.
He answered after two rings.
“Roman Mercer.”
“You've been looking for me.”
Silence.
“Interesting.”
“You want control of the trusts.”
“I want nothing.”
“Silas does.”
Victor didn't answer.
“I have the legal codes Malcolm Vane prepared.”
Still silence.
“Tell my uncle I'll trade.”
“For what?”
“Maggie Ferris.”
Victor laughed.
“You'd trade two billion dollars for an employee's sister?”
“She isn't an employee's sister.”
I looked at Gus.
“She's family.”
Gus looked away.
Victor's amusement disappeared.
“I'll call you back.”
He did.
Twelve minutes later.
Different location.
Different instructions.
And proof Maggie was alive.
We made the exchange at dawn.
It wasn't clean.
Nothing involving Silas was ever going to be clean.
But Maggie came home.
Victor escaped.
And we recovered a phone he dropped while leaving.
On that phone was a message from Silas.
Change of plan. We take the child within seventy-two hours. The mother is irrelevant after that.
I read the sentence twice.
Then a third time.
Nell's voice came over the secure line.
“Roman?”
I couldn't answer.
She had seen it too.
For fifteen months, I had feared my world would kill Nell.
Now I knew exactly how little Silas valued her life.
I drove back to the rehabilitation suite before sunrise.
When I entered, Nell was sitting beside June's crib.
I crossed the room.
For once, I didn't speak.
I just knelt in front of her.
She looked down at me.
“You can't keep me safe by leaving again.”
“I know.”
“You can't protect June without trusting me.”
“I know.”
“And if you ever decide to divorce me for my own good again—”
“We're already divorced.”
“That is not the point.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Then Nell reached down and touched my face.
The contact nearly destroyed me.
“I was so angry at you.”
“I know.”
“I still am.”
“I know.”
“But when I thought that SUV might kill me…”
Her voice shook.
“I thought about you.”
I covered her hand with mine.
“What did you think?”
“That I hated dying while you still believed leaving me had saved me.”
I lowered my forehead against her hand.
Then June started crying.
Both of us moved instantly.
Nell looked at me.
I looked at her.
For one brief second, we weren't divorced.
We weren't hunted.
We weren't damaged.
We were simply two exhausted parents arguing silently over who was going to pick up the baby.
I won.
June stopped crying the moment I lifted her.
Nell rolled her eyes.
“Traitor.”
June smiled at me.
Then my phone rang.
Gus.
“Boss.”
His voice sounded wrong.
“What?”
“We identified the insider closest to you.”
I tightened my hold on June.
“Who?”
There was a long pause.
May you like
Then Gus said the last name I expected.
“Your mother.”
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