Page 36 of The Price of Mercy
I’d never forgive myself if I hurt him.
Letting Mercy handle the tough questions is selfish, but if I look Zane in the eyes and he lies to my face, I don’t know how I’ll react. There’s only so much I can forgive, and we’re toeing a line that I don’t want to cross. Mercy shouldn’t have that kind of hold on my heart, but… here we are.
In the middle of this fucking mess.
I debate standing nearby while Mercy questions Zane, but in the end, I can’t stomach the betrayal. I claim the big, empty space on the bed beside Sam. He glances over at me with disgust before turning his attention back to the other side of the room. The four of us are silent as Mercy decides what she wants to do. The knife I stole from Sam hangs limply from her fingertips. I’m not so sure she’s going to go through with the interrogation. I should walk over there and encourage her, whisper promises in her ear about how everything is going to be okay and no one will be mad at her no matter what she says or does—not even Sam, despite how badly he’s trembling. Jesus, the whole bed is shaking.
Clearing my throat, I extend a flimsy olive branch. “You okay?”
Sam’s muscles tense, and the bed creaks as he pulls at his bindings. “You can’t seriously be asking me that.” He laughs, a short bark of a sound that makes Mercy jump. Quieting down, he watches closely as she takes a small, tentative step towards Zane.
He can’t touch her, but she can touch him. It’s perfect for bridging the divide between them. Zane may not realize it, but he craves physical intimacy like a cat, feigning independence while secretly envious of the golden retriever that gets all the attention.
Cautiously, she brushes the back of her knuckles against the swollen flesh over his jaw. “Did Sam do this?”
Zane doesn’t reply, glaring a hole into the floor so that he doesn’t have to look at herorat me. I know that he’s fuming about being tied up and defenseless, but if I asked him directly about what happened the other night, I know he would lie. If not outright, then by omission. Or, he’d distract me with his body the same way I used to keep my targets from asking toomany questions about me. It’s an S-class move for manipulative bastards, but that’s what Zane is.
The most manipulative bastard I know.
He doesn’t seem like it when you first look at him. Quiet. Pretty. Cautious. To outsiders, he appears weak-bodied and meek, but to me, he’s the strongest person in the world. He’s the backbone of our entire illegal operation, keeping me in line while somehow sane and happy at the same time.
I don’t think I’ve thanked him for all the years he’s given me.
Sam exhales slowly and stops trying to break free. He taps his heel against the bedspread, antsy like Zane has been all day.
“It must be frustrating,” I mutter, taking a deep breath. “Watching your girl fall for someone else.”
His foot stops moving. “She’s not falling for anyone.”
We watch in silence as she links her arms around the back of Zane’s neck and hooks her thighs over his, straddling him like a lover.
“Does that look like a woman resisting her heart?” Shaking my head, I can’t stop a smile from curving on my lips. “She might not love him, but she feels for him in a way that you and I can’t understand. I see him as my other half, and you?—”
Sam’s jaw clenches.
“You can’t see past your possession kink to consider how anyone else feels. Not even her.” I draw in a breath as the woman in question nuzzles Zane’s cheek, likely whispering something that Sam and I are too far away to hear. “But there are other people involved in this. Me. You. Zane. We’re like this…” I struggle to find the right analogy and fall silent.
“Mercy’s like the night sky.”
For once, I agree with Sam.
He draws a steady breath and exhales slowly. “She glitters, you know? In all that darkness, she glows with her own light. Even when you can’t see her. Even when no one is payingattention. She doesn’t do it for anyone else. She just… exists in her own universe.”
Mercy embraces the man I love, enveloping him in a glow so soft that I’m suddenly speechless. A flicker of warmth inside my chest quickly turns into a flame, growing stronger with each beat of my heart. She may have been alone in the past, but that’s not what I’m seeing now. The woman in front of me is expanding her universe the only way she knows how: by following her heart.
“Until she decides to let one of us in,” I murmur, knowing that Sam can hear me.
“Yeah.” Sam’s voice catches. “Until she lets us in.”
SAM
Every muscle in my body winds tight as I watch Mercy climb into Zane’s lap. He’s tied up, so he can’t touch her, butshe’stouchinghim.The last person on earth she should want to be around.
Why? Why does she do this to herself?
I’ve watched her take in strays from the side of the road. A bird with a broken wing. A dog whose head won’t stop shaking. Feral cats who hiss when you get too close. She feeds them and brings treats and medicine and attempts to get them tagged as strays if she can’t bring them home with her.
“It’s not their fault,” she told me once. “They’re victims of a broken system.” She calls it injustice while others call it survival of the fittest.
