Chapter 5 - The Bargain They Never Expected
Jude locked down the estate before sunset.
No staff members were allowed outside. Guards doubled at every entrance. Cars were moved into secure garages. Every phone line was monitored.
Audrey sat in the third-floor bedroom with Brinley asleep in her lap.
Jude had not told her to leave the room.
He had not told her to stay away from the east wing.
For the first time, he had broken his own rules.
The old nursery no longer felt forbidden.
It felt like the only place in the mansion where Jude Mercer had ever been honest.
Reggie stood near the door, speaking into an earpiece.
Jude was at the window, looking out over the dark Providence skyline.
“They want us,” Audrey said.
“They want leverage.”
“That means us.”
“Yes.”
Audrey swallowed.
“You could hand us over.”
Jude turned slowly.
“You think I would do that?”
“I think you are a man who has survived by doing difficult things.”
His eyes held hers.
“I am.”
“And Tristan owes them.”
“He does.”
“And Brinley is connected to him.”
Jude’s expression hardened.
“She is not a debt.”
Audrey looked down at her sleeping daughter.
“She shouldn’t be here.”
“No child should be dragged into adult violence.”
“You know that better than anyone.”
Jude looked away.
The silence between them changed.
Then Reggie approached.
“We found Tristan.”
Audrey stood quickly.
“Where?”
“An abandoned cannery near the waterfront,” Reggie said. “Bellini territory.”
“Is he alive?”
“For now.”
Jude’s voice lowered. “How many guards?”
“Too many for a direct extraction. But there is something else.”
Reggie placed a tablet on the table.
Security footage showed Tristan sitting in a chair inside a warehouse.
His face was bruised, but he was alive.
Across from him stood a man in an expensive navy suit.
Salvatore Bellini.
Audrey recognized him from the news.
He was charming in public. A philanthropist. A businessman.
But his eyes were empty.
On the recording, Salvatore leaned close to Tristan.
“Your wife will come,” he said. “Mothers always come.”
Tristan shook his head weakly.
“No. Audrey doesn’t know anything.”
Salvatore smiled.
“Then we will teach her.”
The video cut off.
Audrey’s hands shook.
Jude noticed.
“Sit down,” he said.
“I’m not sitting down.”
“Audrey.”
“You don’t understand. Tristan may have done terrible things, but he is Brinley’s father.”
“I understand.”
“No, you understand revenge. You understand power.”
Jude’s face tightened.
“You think I don’t understand losing a child’s father?”
The words hit her.
Audrey looked toward the photograph of Noah on the shelf.
Jude’s voice became quieter.
“You want to save Tristan. I will help you save him. But you will not trade yourself or your daughter for him.”
“What choice do we have?”
Jude walked to the desk and opened a drawer.
Inside was a small wooden box.
He placed it on the table.
“What is that?” Audrey asked.
“The reason the Bellinis have been hunting Tristan.”
Inside the box was a flash drive.
Jude looked at it for a long moment.
“Twenty-five years ago, after Noah was taken, I began collecting evidence. Names. Transactions. People who helped the Bellinis move children, weapons, and money through the city.”
Audrey stared at him.
“You had proof against them all this time?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you use it?”
“Because I wanted to destroy them myself.”
The honesty in his voice was frightening.
“But Tristan found out about it?” Audrey asked.
Jude nodded.
“He stole copies from a hidden Mercer account. He tried to sell them to Bellini. But Bellini realized the information could destroy his entire family.”
“So now they want the files back.”
“Yes.”
Reggie’s phone rang again.
He listened, then handed the phone to Jude.
Jude’s expression went dark.
“What is it?” Audrey asked.
Reggie answered.
“Bellini moved the deadline. Midnight is no longer enough.”
Audrey’s heart pounded.
“What did he say?”
Reggie looked at Brinley.
“They want the child brought to the cannery.”
Jude’s face became terrifyingly calm.
“No one touches her,” he said.
Then he picked up the wooden box.
May you like
“Tonight, we end this.”
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