Chapter 4 - THE HEARTBEAT THAT BROKE HIM
Daniel did not speak during the drive to the hospital.
He sat beside me in the back seat, one hand clenched into a fist against his thigh.
His other hand remained open between us.
Waiting.
Not touching.
That was unlike him.
Daniel had never been uncertain about touching me before.
He placed his hand at the small of my back in crowded rooms.
Reached for my fingers under restaurant tables.
Pulled me against him in his sleep without waking.
But now he seemed afraid that even contact required permission.
I looked at his open hand.
Then slowly put mine into it.
Daniel closed his fingers around mine immediately.
Too tightly.
I winced.
He loosened his grip.
“Sorry.”
Marco sat in the front passenger seat.
He looked at us through the mirror but said nothing.
Daniel asked,
“Any pain?”
“No.”
“Cramping?”
“No.”
“Dizziness?”
“I’m scared, Daniel. I’m not dying.”
His jaw tightened.
“Don’t use that word.”
I looked at him.
He stared straight ahead.
“Why?”
No answer.
I understood.
Women who love him always end up dead.
The message.
Sofia’s sister.
Maybe others.
At the hospital, we did not go through the emergency waiting room.
Daniel made one phone call.
Within minutes, a physician met us at a private entrance.
I wanted to be angry about the privilege.
Then I realized I did not care.
Not tonight.
They took blood.
Asked questions.
Checked my blood pressure.
Then finally, the ultrasound.
Daniel stood beside the examination table.
His face looked carved from stone.
The technician moved the wand.
The screen changed.
Gray.
Black.
Shadows.
I searched for the shape I remembered from the previous appointment.
My throat tightened.
Then the technician smiled.
“There.”
Daniel moved closer.
“What?”
She pointed.
“Your baby.”
Daniel stared at the screen.
His entire body became still.
Then she adjusted the volume.
A rapid sound filled the room.
Fast.
Tiny.
Impossible.
Daniel’s eyes snapped toward the machine.
“What is that?”
“The heartbeat.”
He looked at me.
Then back at the screen.
The technician smiled again.
“Strong and right where we’d expect at this stage.”
Daniel gripped the edge of the counter.
For a moment, I thought he might fall.
The technician left us alone after printing several images.
Daniel still had not moved.
I watched him.
“That’s your baby.”
His eyes remained on the screen even though it had gone dark.
“I heard it.”
I smiled through tears.
“So did I.”
He looked down at the ultrasound photograph in his hand.
The most powerful man I knew held that thin piece of paper as though it were made of glass.
“I almost lost you tonight.”
“No.”
His eyes met mine.
“Someone broke into your sister’s apartment.”
“And Marco stopped him.”
“Because I put Marco downstairs.”
“That’s true.”
“If he hadn’t been there—”
“He was.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
There it was again.
The request I had been making for eighteen months.
This time Daniel did not turn away.
He pulled the chair closer and sat.
“My father had two sons.”
“Vincent and you.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you tell me you were an only child?”
“Because in my mind, he stopped being my brother a long time ago.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at the ultrasound.
“My father built his business through trucking and warehouses in the seventies. Some of it legitimate. Some of it not.”
“I know enough about that part.”
“You know rumors.”
“Whose fault is that?”
His jaw tightened.
“Mine.”
He continued.
“Vincent was twelve years older than me. My father treated him like the future. I was the second son. The one who went to college. The one who could handle the legitimate businesses if Vincent handled everything else.”
“What changed?”
“Vincent enjoyed fear too much.”
Daniel’s voice was flat.
“He didn’t use violence because he thought it was necessary. He liked it.”
I felt cold.
“Elena Vasquez?”
Daniel nodded.
“She overheard Vincent talking about a shipment he was moving through one of our restaurants. He convinced himself she had told someone.”
“But she hadn’t.”
“No.”
“Did you know what he planned to do?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
“If I had…”
He stopped.
I believed him.
Maybe because for the first time Daniel was not hiding the ugliness behind vague words.
“What happened afterward?”
“I found out where he had taken her.”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“I got there too late.”
His voice had changed.
Softer.
Haunted.
“She was still alive.”
My breath caught.
“For how long?”
“Minutes.”
“Oh, God.”
“She was nineteen.”
I thought of Sofia.
All that anger.
All those years.
“Was Sofia there?”
“No. She was twenty-four and living in Miami. Elena had called her earlier that night.”
Daniel rubbed his hands together.
“I stayed with Elena until she died.”
I closed my eyes.
“She asked me not to leave her.”
A tear slid down my cheek.
Daniel looked away.
“Afterward, I decided Vincent would never inherit anything.”
“How?”
“I took every person loyal to him and gave them a choice. Leave. Work under new rules. Or stand beside him and lose everything.”
“And your father?”
“He had a stroke before he could stop it.”
The irony was not lost on me.
“And Vincent went to prison?”
“Yes.”
“For Elena?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
“There wasn’t enough evidence tied directly to him. I gave investigators evidence on financial crimes, extortion, trafficking stolen goods, anything I could make stick without exposing people who would be killed if they testified.”
“So Sofia hates you because you didn’t get justice for her sister.”
“Yes.”
“Does she know you tried?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t make grief logical.”
“No.”
“Why would she work with you now?”
“Because Vincent contacted her first.”
Daniel looked toward the hospital door.
“He told her he could prove I had been involved in Elena’s death.”
“Was that true?”
“No.”
“But Sofia pretended to believe him.”
“Yes.”
“So she became your inside source.”
“Yes.”
“And the kiss?”
Daniel exhaled.
“Vincent demanded proof that Sofia could still get close to me.”
“Still?”
A flicker of something crossed his face.
My heart dropped.
“Daniel.”
He looked at me.
“Were you and Sofia together?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
“No.”
“Then why did Vincent think she could get close?”
“Because Sofia told him she could.”
I frowned.
“She made it up?”
“Yes.”
“Then why kiss you?”
“Because Vincent had a man across the courtyard with a long-range camera.”
I stared.
“You knew?”
“Marco saw him.”
“So you let her kiss you.”
Daniel’s expression tightened.
“For approximately two seconds.”
“Those two seconds destroyed me.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
“I saw your car leaving on security footage.”
I froze.
He continued.
“I watched you stop outside the gate.”
His voice lowered.
“I knew immediately what you thought.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me on the phone?”
“Because Vincent’s people had already breached one of my communications channels. I didn’t know what was compromised.”
“So you chose the operation over me.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
He shook his head.
“I chose keeping you alive over explaining myself.”
“And look how well that worked.”
The words cut.
Daniel accepted them.
I sat up slowly.
“You say everything you do is to protect me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why do I keep finding danger only after it has reached me?”
He had no answer.
“You decided I was safer without information. But that means I couldn’t recognize Sofia. I didn’t know Vincent existed. I didn’t know someone might be following me.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“You’re right.”
“Stop making decisions for me.”
“I will.”
“That easy?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“It might be the hardest thing you’ve ever asked me to do.”
“Why?”
“Because making decisions is how I keep people alive.”
I touched the ultrasound on the table.
“And now you’re going to be a father.”
His eyes followed my hand.
“That means eventually you’ll have a child who does things you cannot control.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“That sounds terrible.”
I laughed.
For one fragile moment, the tension broke.
Then the hospital door opened.
Marco entered.
His face ended the moment immediately.
Daniel stood.
“What?”
“The man from Lily’s apartment talked.”
“Who sent him?”
Marco glanced at me.
Daniel said,
“She hears everything now.”
Marco seemed surprised.
Then nodded.
“Vincent.”
Daniel’s face went cold.
“Where is he?”
“Not the problem.”
“What is?”
Marco handed Daniel a phone.
On the screen was a photograph.
My blood ran cold.
Lily.
She was standing outside the hospital entrance talking to a police officer.
Taken minutes earlier.
Underneath the photo:
ONE MERCER CHILD DIED BEFORE HE WAS BORN.
DON’T MAKE ME DO IT TWICE.
I looked at Daniel.
His face went white.
“Daniel?”
He did not answer.
“What does that mean?”
He stared at the message.
“Daniel.”
Slowly, he sat.
I had never seen him look like that.
Not angry.
Destroyed.
“There was another baby.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
His voice was barely audible.
“Before you.”
My hand went instinctively to my stomach.
Daniel looked at me.
“Her name was Rachel.”
The room disappeared around me.
“She was pregnant.”
I stared at him.
“With your child?”
Daniel nodded.
May you like
And suddenly the anonymous message from the photograph made horrifying sense.
Women who love him always end up dead.
