Page 62 of The Price of Mercy
“What? No.” My cheeks burn. “She doesn’t matter.”
Then why is my heart rate accelerating like I’ve been caught in a lie? It’snota lie. She doesn’t matter. She isn’t my end game.
Ezra flicks his gaze to mine. “If you like her, you must tell her. You will be eaten inside otherwise.”
“Eatenupinside,” I correct, scowling.
“You understand. Good.”
No, I fucking don’t, because that’s not what’s happening here. But Ezra’s lack of comprehension isn’t the problem. “We need to check who owns the mortuary.” Maybe that will give us a clue as to what’s going on. Property ownership is public record.Finding out should be easy. As forpersonownership, Sam’s on his own for that one. I may have a few black market connections, but we deal in detached body parts, not living human beings. The market is different.
“Strange business,” Ezra murmurs offhandedly, “to keep the dead. For what? Sake of living?” He blows out a breath. “You cannot bring dead back to life. Holding memory is painful. You must let go.”
My eyes widen as gears turn in my head. I understand dead bodies, and Samuel understands living ones. But who negotiates between the living and the dead? Who has an invested interest in both?
I stand as quickly as I can and walk carefully down the aisle. One of the medical staff calls out to me, but I ignore them and walk faster. Pushing open the exit, I search for Mercy and follow the sound of her voice. Around the corner, behind a stack of empty wooden pallets, I find her on the phone with someone. Kane paces back and forth in the middle of the alley and looks up at her every few steps, clearly not fully listening to her conversation, but invested enough to keep an eye on her. When he sees me, some of the melancholy clouding his aura dissipates.
“Hey,” he murmurs, closing the distance between us. “I didn’t realize you were done.”
They haven’t discharged me, but whatever. “Who is she talking to?”
“Her sister, I think.” Kane immediately shifts gears and takes my hand, pulling me to the side. “Can we talk?”
Anxiety prickles down my arms. “Not now.”
“Soon?”
I meet Kane’s soft blue eyes. Whatever he has to say must be important, because he’s never this formal about anything. Tension pulls at my spine. I’m going to hate this conversation no matter what he wants to discuss. “Soon,” I promise, pecking hislips. The little smile he gives soothes my aching heart more than should be possible.
Taking a quick breath, I press on. “I think I know why Samuel’s interested in Mercy’s family. Sort of.” It’s a long shot, but the theory makes sense in a roundabout way. “They met after Sam’s mom died, right?”
“Yeah?”
“What if they conducted the funeral service?”
Kane presses his lips together. “Um, no offense to Mercy’s family, but they aren’t exactly…” He searches for the right word. “Rich. A job like that would pay a fuck ton.”
“What if they were friends, then? Before Sam’s mom died?”
There has to be something connecting their families; something that goes beyond Sam and Mercy’s relationship. Wright shouldn’t be interested in his son’s girlfriends. There’s something else. Therehasto be something else.
“You thinkSamuel fucking Wrightis friends with Mercy’s dad?”
“No, not Samuel. The mom. Ingrid and—” I forget Sam’s mom’s name. “—Mrs. Wright. Maybe she requested their services while she was sick in the hospital. Some people add funerary clauses to their wills.”
Kane rubs the back of his neck. “I dunno, babe, that still doesn’t explain why he would want to own the Morningstars.”
Why does Samuel want to own anything? Leverage. Power. Possession. He’s doing the same shit with his son, trying to take over his life. “Maybe he’s trying to control Sam, then, and is using the Morningstars as collateral.” That could work in the bastard’s favor. “How close is Sam to Mercy’s family?”
Something shifts in Kane’s eyes. “Close, I think,” Kane softly replies. “Sam called themourfamily. Not just hers, buttheirs.” He glances over at Mercy. “Like how you’re mine.” A gentlenessin his gaze makes him appear ten years younger, like a boy falling in love for the first time.
My heartbeat stills. Seconds turn into minutes that feel like hours. We both stare. Kane at Mercy, and me at Kane. The way he glows for her?—
I choke on frigid winter air when I try to take my next breath. While I’ve been falling in love with him, he’s been falling in love with Mercy. I always knew he would, but the realization that it’s happening now and not in the distant future makes me feel untethered. I’m not surprised, not really, because this is what Kane does—he falls fast and loves hard, no matter who he latches onto. That’s just… who he is. How he’s always been.
It’s why I love him so goddamn much. His heart is ten times the size of mine and beats twice as loud.
“You love her.”
