She Paid Brooklyn’s Most Feared Man Five Dollars to Save Her Mom—Then He Heard His Dead Brother’s Name

Thomas Mercer arrived carrying flowers.

That was why nobody suspected him at first.

He was sixty-two, silver-haired, warmly dressed, with the easy smile of a man who had spent decades making strangers trust him before they realized what he'd asked them to do.

Claire had never met him.

Ivy certainly hadn't.

The guards knew him.

That was enough.

"Andrew called," Thomas said.

"He said the girl and her mother were here."

The lead guard nodded.

"Mr. Mercer is at Ashwood."

Thomas sighed.

"I know. He should've called me sooner."

He held up the flowers.

"May I?"

Claire stood from the sofa.

"You’re Andrew's uncle?"

"His father's younger brother."

Thomas smiled gently at Ivy.

"And you must be the brave young lady everyone's talking about."

Ivy looked at the flowers.

"Those are for Mommy?"

"They are."

"Why?"

"Because she has had a difficult week."

Claire accepted them reluctantly.

"Thank you."

Thomas looked around the brownstone.

He knew the house.

Too well.

He had been inside hundreds of times.

Andrew's father had purchased it thirty years earlier.

Thomas had eaten Christmas dinners in the dining room.

He knew which doors squeaked.

Which staircase led to the garage.

Which cameras had once been added after a break-in.

Most importantly, he knew Andrew's people had been trained to trust family.

"Where's Marco?" Thomas asked.

"With Andrew."

"Of course."

He nodded sympathetically.

"Andrew never learned how to leave danger alone."

Ivy hugged her teddy bear.

"He promised to get Mr. Daniel."

Thomas's smile paused.

Only half a second.

Claire noticed.

"You know Daniel?"

Thomas looked toward her.

"My nephew."

"You thought he was dead?"

"We all did."

There was grief in his voice.

Convincing grief.

Claire had spent years caring for patients' families.

She knew real grief.

Thomas's was nearly perfect.

Nearly.

"What happened to him?" she asked.

Thomas's gaze lingered.

"That's a long story."

Ivy interrupted.

"Mr. Andrew says somebody lied."

Thomas smiled at her again.

"Andrew says many things when he's angry."

"He wasn't angry."

"No?"

"He was sad."

That landed differently.

Thomas turned toward the window.

"Yes."

He spoke quietly.

"Andrew has been sad a long time."

Claire's suspicion softened slightly.

That was Thomas's gift.

He could feel the exact moment someone began doubting him and offer them something human.

The lead guard's phone rang.

He stepped into the hall.

Thomas listened carefully.

Claire noticed that too.

"Do you need something?"

"No."

Thomas reached into his coat.

Claire tensed.

He removed a small wrapped box.

"For Ivy."

"You didn't know she was here until Andrew called."

Thomas smiled.

"I'm old-fashioned. I keep emergency gifts for children."

Ivy's eyes narrowed.

"What is it?"

"Open it."

Claire took the box first.

Thomas laughed.

"Good mother."

Inside was a silver music box.

A tiny ballerina spun when Claire opened the lid.

Ivy leaned closer.

"Pretty."

"It belonged to Andrew's mother."

Claire looked up sharply.

"Why would you give it to Ivy?"

Thomas's smile became sad.

"Because she reminds me of someone."

"Who?"

"Daniel."

Ivy frowned.

"I'm a girl."

Thomas laughed.

"Not your face. Your stubbornness."

Claire closed the music box.

"Maybe Andrew should decide where family things go."

For the first time, something colder appeared beneath Thomas's friendliness.

Then vanished.

"Of course."

The lead guard returned.

"Sir, we need to move Mrs. Callahan and Ivy."

Claire stiffened.

"Why?"

"Security concern."

Thomas turned.

"What kind?"

The guard hesitated.

Thomas used the tone of a man accustomed to authority.

"Tell me."

"Church situation."

Thomas's eyes changed.

Claire saw it.

Not surprise.

Recognition.

"What church?" she asked.

Thomas looked at her.

"Excuse me?"

"The guard didn't say which church."

Silence.

Thomas smiled slowly.

"Andrew grew up around St. Gabriel's. I assumed."

Claire's pulse quickened.

Reasonable explanation.

Too reasonable.

Ivy stood.

"Mommy?"

Claire moved closer to her.

The guard looked between them.

"We should leave now."

Thomas nodded.

"Garage?"

"Yes."

"I'll come."

"No," Claire said.

Everyone looked at her.

Thomas remained pleasant.

"Why?"

Claire couldn't explain it.

Maybe because frightened mothers noticed things armed men missed.

Maybe because Thomas knew too much.

Maybe because Daniel had spent nine years surrounded by people who smiled while keeping him asleep.

"Andrew told me to stay with his guards."

"These are his guards."

"You're not."

Thomas's smile vanished completely.

The room changed.

The lead guard's hand moved toward his jacket.

Thomas sighed.

"I hoped we could do this quietly."

The guard drew.

He never finished.

Two of Thomas's men entered from the rear hallway.

They had been inside before Thomas rang the bell.

One pressed a weapon against the guard's back.

Another appeared near the kitchen.

Claire pulled Ivy behind her.

Thomas looked disappointed.

"Nobody needs to be hurt."

Claire's voice shook.

"What do you want?"

"The girl."

"No."

"Mrs. Callahan."

"No."

"Please don't make bravery inconvenient."

Ivy peeked around her mother.

"Mr. Andrew will be mad."

Thomas looked at her.

"He will."

"He's scary when he's mad."

A strange sadness entered Thomas's expression.

"Yes."

"I paid him."

Thomas glanced at Claire.

"What?"

Ivy lifted her chin.

"Five dollars."

For some reason, Thomas laughed.

Not cruelly.

Genuinely.

"Of course you did."

Claire pulled Ivy closer.

"Why does Gideon Vale want her?"

Thomas's laughter stopped.

"Gideon doesn't."

"Then who?"

"I do."

Ivy whispered:

"Why?"

Thomas looked at her for a long moment.

"Because you're the only person Daniel might trust."

Claire felt cold.

"Daniel doesn't know Ivy."

"No."

Thomas nodded.

"But he knows what her mother did."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It will."

Thomas gestured toward the garage.

"We're leaving."

Claire didn't move.

One of Thomas's men raised his weapon slightly.

Thomas frowned.

"Lower that. She's a child."

The man obeyed.

Claire recognized something unsettling.

Thomas wasn't pretending to have rules.

He actually had them.

That didn't make him safe.

It made him more dangerous.

"Where are you taking us?"

"St. Gabriel's."

"No."

Thomas's expression hardened.

"Andrew is already going."

"Then why do you need us?"

"Because Andrew still thinks tonight is about Daniel."

"It isn't?"

Thomas looked toward the music box still sitting on the table.

"No."

He opened it.

The ballerina began to turn.

Soft music filled the room.

Then Thomas pressed a hidden latch beneath the velvet lining.

A tiny compartment opened.

Inside was a key.

Old brass.

Claire stared.

Thomas removed it.

"Daniel stole this key from his father nine years ago."

"Andrew's father?"

Thomas nodded.

"He hid it before he disappeared."

"Where?"

Thomas looked at Ivy.

"Inside something nobody in the family would throw away."

The music box.

Andrew's mother's.

Claire suddenly understood.

"You knew it was here."

"I suspected."

"You came for the key."

"And Ivy."

"Why Ivy?"

"Because Daniel won't tell us where the second key is."

Claire's heart pounded.

"What does it open?"

Thomas slipped it into his pocket.

"A box beneath St. Gabriel's Church."

"What's inside?"

Thomas looked tired.

"Proof."

"Of what?"

"Everything."

Outside, one of Andrew's security vehicles accelerated unexpectedly.

Thomas glanced toward the window.

"We're out of time."

The lead guard, still held at gunpoint, met Claire's eyes.

Very slightly, he moved his left hand.

Three fingers.

Two.

One.

The lights went out.

Claire grabbed Ivy.

The guard attacked.

Someone shouted.

Glass broke.

Claire ran toward the stairs, pulling Ivy beside her.

"Go!"

They reached the second floor.

A man appeared ahead.

Claire turned.

Another behind.

Trapped.

Then Ivy did something nobody expected.

She opened the small linen closet beside them.

"Mom!"

"What?"

"Inside!"

They squeezed between shelves.

Ivy pulled the door closed.

Darkness.

Claire could hear men's footsteps.

"How did you know?"

Ivy whispered:

"I checked the house for dungeons."

Claire stared at her daughter in the dark.

There would be time later for that explanation.

Footsteps passed.

Then stopped.

The closet door handle moved.

Claire covered Ivy with her body.

The door opened.

Thomas stood there.

He sighed.

"I truly didn't want to frighten her."

Claire glared at him.

"Then stop."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because nine years ago, Daniel Mercer found evidence that could destroy every powerful man who built this city’s underground empire—including his own father."

Thomas leaned closer.

"And tonight Andrew is going to learn that his father didn't merely know Daniel was alive."

Claire stared at him.

Thomas delivered the rest quietly.