Chapter 9 - Ivy's Second Deal
Ivy had learned two important things that week.
The first was that adults could be wrong.
The second was that adults usually didn't expect children to notice.
Ethan Vale certainly didn't.
He was busy arguing with Claire about the papers arranged on the altar.
Gideon Vale was arguing with Thomas about the keys.
The armed men were watching the church doors.
Nobody was watching Ivy closely.
That was their mistake.
She heard the tapping again.
Three.
Pause.
Three.
Andrew.
Or someone helping Andrew.
Either way, it meant she shouldn't cry.
So she didn't.
Instead, she slipped one hand into her pink backpack.
Her teddy bear was still clipped to the zipper.
Inside were crayons.
Two crackers.
A broken pencil.
And Marco's phone.
She had stolen it by accident.
Mostly.
Earlier at the brownstone, Marco had placed it beside her cereal bowl while answering another call.
Ivy picked it up because she wanted to see the picture of her mother.
Then Thomas arrived.
Then everything happened quickly.
Ivy had shoved the phone into her backpack when Claire pulled her upstairs.
Marco hadn't noticed.
Now Ivy felt the phone.
No signal.
She pressed the side button.
Locked.
She knew Marco's code.
Not because he'd told her.
Because she'd watched him enter it three times.
417.
Room number.
Adults really underestimated children.
The phone opened.
Still no service.
But there was a notes app.
Camera.
Flashlight.
And something called "Emergency Beacon."
Ivy pressed it.
A warning appeared.
SEND LOCATION WHEN CONNECTION AVAILABLE?
She pressed YES.
Then returned the phone to her backpack.
"What are you doing?"
Ivy froze.
Thomas stood beside her.
"Nothing."
He looked at the backpack.
"Give it to me."
"No."
"Ivy."
"No."
Thomas sighed.
"You're very much like Daniel."
"You keep saying that."
"He was difficult too."
"Maybe you were mean to him."
Thomas stared.
Claire almost smiled despite herself.
Thomas held out his hand.
"The bag."
Ivy hugged it.
"No."
Thomas looked toward Claire.
"Please."
Claire shook her head.
"She's seven. You can survive a backpack."
Thomas's eyes narrowed.
Then he turned away.
Ivy relaxed slightly.
Claire leaned down.
"What did you do?"
Ivy whispered:
"Sent something."
"To who?"
"I don't know."
Claire closed her eyes.
Wonderful.
Across the church, Gideon Vale approached Andrew's uncle.
"Where's the key?"
Thomas touched his pocket.
"Safe."
"Give it to me."
"No."
Vale laughed.
"We've been partners twenty-three years."
"We've tolerated each other twenty-three years."
"Same difference."
"Not tonight."
Ethan looked impatient.
"Can we finish this?"
Claire stared at him.
"You really think forcing someone to sign marriage papers makes you married?"
Ethan's expression darkened.
"You humiliated me."
"I told you no."
"In front of staff."
"You asked me out during my shift."
"You laughed."
"Because you said you'd never been rejected before."
Ethan's jaw clenched.
Claire suddenly understood the absurdity.
This entire nightmare had partly grown from a rich man's son hearing a word he'd never been trained to accept.
No.
Gideon Vale looked disgusted with his own child.
"This was never about affection."
Claire turned.
"What?"
Vale spoke to Ethan.
"You wanted her controlled. Fine. But you've turned this into theater."
Ethan snapped:
"You said I could have her."
Thomas shook his head.
"Listen to yourself."
Ethan glared.
"You're one to judge?"
Thomas stepped closer.
"Yes."
The men around them shifted uneasily.
The alliance was deteriorating.
Claire noticed.
So did Ivy.
And beneath the floor, Andrew heard enough through the thin boards to understand.
He whispered to Daniel:
"Vale and Thomas are splitting."
Daniel leaned against the wall.
"Always were."
"How do you know?"
"Thomas visited Ashwood."
Andrew stared.
"When?"
"Every few months."
"Why?"
"To make sure I hadn't talked."
Rage flashed across Andrew's face.
"He visited you?"
Daniel nodded.
"He'd sit beside my bed while I was sedated."
"What did he say?"
"Mostly about you."
Andrew's expression changed.
"What about me?"
"That you were becoming more powerful than Dad."
"And?"
"That someday you'd thank him for protecting the family."
Andrew almost laughed.
"From you?"
"From the truth."
Elena touched Andrew's arm.
"Later."
She pointed upward.
Two guards approaching the side stair.
Andrew nodded.
They moved.
Upstairs, Thomas finally pulled the brass key from his pocket.
Vale smiled.
"Good."
"I'll open the vault."
"We'll open it."
"No."
Vale's smile disappeared.
Thomas continued:
"The agreement was I get the ledger. You get Daniel."
Daniel heard.
His face tightened.
Andrew whispered:
"Agreement?"
Daniel nodded.
"Thomas wants the ledger to control everyone named inside."
"Vale wants to destroy it."
"Exactly."
"Then why keep you alive?"
"Thomas."
Andrew understood.
Daniel had been insurance against Vale.
As long as Daniel lived, Thomas could threaten to expose everything.
As long as Vale controlled Daniel, Thomas couldn't move openly.
Nine years of stalemate built around a drugged prisoner.
Andrew felt sick.
"What did Dad want?"
Daniel looked at him.
"To give the evidence to federal investigators."
"Why didn't he?"
"He died before he could."
Andrew remembered his father's heart attack.
Sudden.
At fifty-eight.
"Heart attack?"
Daniel's silence answered.
"Vale killed him?"
"I don't know."
"Thomas?"
"I don't know."
Andrew's face hardened.
Tonight he would.
Above them, Vale ordered two men toward the basement entrance.
"Find Mercer."
Thomas looked surprised.
"You think he's downstairs?"
"Where else?"
Ethan grabbed Claire's arm.
She pulled away.
"Don't touch me."
"You don't have a choice."
A voice came from behind him.
"She does."
Everyone turned.
Andrew stood near the side aisle.
Alone.
At least apparently.
Gideon Vale smiled.
"Finally."
Ethan reached for a weapon.
Andrew looked at him.
"Bad idea."
Ethan hesitated.
Vale raised a hand.
"Let him come."
Andrew walked toward the altar.
Claire's eyes filled with relief.
Ivy grinned.
"I told you he'd come."
Andrew stopped beside her.
"You're supposed to be somewhere safe."
"I was."
"That went well."
"Your uncle cheated."
Thomas actually chuckled.
Andrew looked at him.
The humor died.
"Give me the key."
Thomas shook his head.
"You don't understand."
"I understand enough."
"Your father—"
"Protected Daniel."
Thomas's expression changed.
Andrew continued.
"Then you sold him."
"I saved this family."
"You drugged my brother for nine years."
"Vale did."
"And you allowed it."
"I kept him alive!"
Daniel's voice came from the aisle.
"No."
Everyone turned again.
Daniel stood supported by Elena.
Weak.
Unsteady.
Alive.
Thomas went pale.
Daniel stared at him.
"You kept me useful."
Ivy whispered to Claire:
"That's Mr. Daniel?"
Claire nodded.
Ivy looked at him.
"He needs a sandwich."
Claire almost laughed.
Thomas stepped toward Daniel.
"Listen to me."
"I listened to you for nine years."
"Daniel—"
"No."
Daniel's voice strengthened.
"You told me Andrew would get killed if I talked."
Thomas's face tightened.
"You would've gotten him killed."
"You told me Mom knew I was alive."
Andrew looked sharply at Thomas.
Daniel continued.
"You told me she chose not to come."
Andrew's rage became something cold.
Thomas whispered:
"I was trying to keep you stable."
"You let me believe my mother abandoned me."
Thomas looked away.
That was the moment Andrew stopped seeing an uncle.
He saw only a man who had broken his brother piece by piece because it was convenient.
Gideon Vale interrupted.
"Enough family therapy."
He held out his hand.
"Key."
Thomas didn't move.
Vale nodded toward one of his men.
The man aimed at Daniel.
Andrew stepped in front of his brother.
Vale smiled.
"Beautiful."
Ivy suddenly moved.
She walked toward Thomas.
Everyone stared.
Andrew said:
"Ivy."
She ignored him.
Thomas looked down.
"What are you doing?"
Ivy held up her small hand.
A five-dollar bill.
Not the original.
Another one.
Marco had given it to her for the vending machine earlier.
"I want to make a deal."
Thomas stared.
"You want to what?"
"I'll give you five dollars."
"For?"
"The key."
For one second, nobody spoke.
Then Thomas laughed.
Even Vale looked confused.
Ivy stepped closer.
"Mr. Andrew took my other five dollars."
Thomas glanced at Andrew.
Andrew's face revealed nothing.
Ivy continued.
"That means he has to finish his job."
Thomas's expression softened despite himself.
"Ivy, this isn't a game."
"I know."
"Then go back to your mother."
"No."
She held the bill higher.
"You said Daniel was like me."
Thomas looked at Daniel.
A mistake.
Ivy moved faster than anyone expected.
She stomped hard on Thomas's shoe.
He bent instinctively.
Ivy grabbed the brass key from his loose fingers.
Then she ran.
"ANDREW!"
She threw it.
The key spun through the air.
Andrew caught it.
Chaos exploded.
Vale shouted.
Thomas lunged.
Andrew grabbed Ivy and pulled her behind him.
Elena dragged Claire toward cover.
Daniel used his metal pipe to knock Ethan's weapon away.
Marco's emergency beacon finally reached the outside network.
Three blocks away, every one of Andrew's teams received Ivy's location.
And in the church basement, a hidden recording system Daniel had activated nine years earlier began transmitting the entire confrontation to a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C.
A woman Andrew had never met.
A woman his father had chosen before he died.
May you like
The endgame had finally begun.
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