Page 88 of The Price of Mercy
I suddenly regret keeping the truth from her.
Rather than spill our secret, I pull her in for a kiss and indulge in the feel of her body against mine. I can hardly catch my breath when I pull away, my racing heart making it impossible to keep my hands from shaking. “Mercy,” I whisper, pressing our foreheads together. “We’re going to keep your family safe.”
Her eyebrows pinch together. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Zane?”
Fuck, I shouldn’t have said anything at all.
“I just wanted you to know that.”
In case one of us dies.
It’s not likely, but if Sam doesn’t uphold his end of the deal or if Samuel has a trump card, we could easily get screwed over tonight.
I squeeze Mercy’s hand. “Promise me that you won’t do anything reckless tonight. I want you in bed by midnight.”
Pursing her lips, she tugs her hands free. “I’m not going to turn into a pumpkin, Zane. You’re acting strange.” Her face pales a moment later. “Is it because… we…” She bites her lip. “Is this because we had sex?”
The air rushes from my lungs. I’m making everything so much worse. “No, Mercy, that’s not it at all. I just want you to stay safe while I—” Murder a horrible human being— “Look around. Okay? I’ll check the basement for the others.”
“It’s blocked off.” Mercy crosses her arms over her chest as the color returns to her face. “Plus the door only opens with a key that my father has. It’s an old, iron lock that won’t budge without that key, Zane. You can’t pick it. I’ve tried.”
A smile tugs at my lips. “Since when are you into lock picking?”
She rolls her eyes. “Since I was ten with a mischievous younger brother to torment.” Pushing me backwards, she huffs. “C’mon, let’s check the damn door, if you’re so curious.”
“That’s not necessary?—”
Mercy doesn’t take no for an answer. She marches down the hall to a side room separated by a thick curtain. Pulling it back, she steps inside and doesn’t wait for me to follow. “See, it’s not even?—”
Boxes litter the floor, with more than one sagging open and their contents spilling out. Mercy steps over them and shoves them aside as she cuts a direct path to the far corner of the room where an ominous wooden door sits half open.
“That’s not possible. It should be locked.” She bends down and picks up a worn door handle before dropping it into an open box. “No one should be down there, Zane, it’s not safe?—”
Voices float up from the stairwell. Male voices.
“What do you mean, it’s not safe? Why isn’t it safe?”
“It’sreallyold. Like, one of the rooms from when this building was first built in the eighteen hundreds. I think it used to be a furnace, or something, before my family turned it into cold storage.” She shuts her eyes and presses her palm to her forehead. “But my dad closed it off because the electrical never worked, and it showed signs of structural damage. He and my mom reinforced the main floor and installed steel beams to keep it from sinking, but the cellar isn’t made from steel. It’s original brick like most of the rooms up here.”
“It’s not safe.” My chest contracts until my ribs pinch together. Kane wandered into some dank basement and is going to get himself killed for the sake of revenge—or love, I tell myself, although the two are closely related. The only reason he wants to take revenge on Samuel is because of how badly he hurt me and could hurt Mercy.
Taking a breath, Mercy opens her eyes. “No, it’s not safe.”
We both stare into the shadows, neither of us taking the first step into the darkness. I don’t want her to go down there, but honestly, I don’t want to go myself, either. Why the fuck would Kane go down there? Does he have a death wish?
“Malachi is down there,” Mercy gasps, rushing towards the steps. “He’s the only one who would have known it was here?—”
Grabbing her by the waist, I pull her away from the ledge. “Hold on, Mercy, you can’t just run down there!”
“Like hell, I can’t! He’s my brother, Zane. You don’t understand.”
“I’m not letting you get yourself killed!”
She sputters. “I’m not dying, Zane, I’m saving him!”
“We arenotgoing down there without a plan.” This is exactly why I didn’t want to rush into anything with Samuel. When we go half-cocked, we get horrible outcomes. The only reason Kane and I almost got pinged for a double homicide a few years ago is because I hadn’t analyzed all the variables yet. Tonight feels a lot like that exact situation; if we’re not careful, we’re all going down.
“Fuck the plan,” Mercy snaps, tearing herself free from my grasp. “I’m not leaving my brother ever again. I can’t let anything happen to him.”
