Chapter 5 - Room 402
The heavy steel service door groaned open, and a tall figure stepped back out into the rain.
It was Andrew. But he wasn't alone.
In his arms, he carried a woman with long brown hair, wearing a white nurse's uniform stained with dirt and dark spots. Her head rested limply against his shoulder, her eyes closed.
"Mommy!" I screamed, forgetting every instruction, pushing the car door open before Viktor could stop me, and sprinting across the wet asphalt through the puddles.
Andrew knelt down as I reached them, carefully lowering my mother onto the dry back seat of the Mercedes.
"Ivy..." my mother groaned, her eyelids fluttering open. She reached out with trembling, bruised hands and pulled me into her arms so tightly I could barely breathe. "Oh, my baby... you're safe. They didn't hurt you?"
"No, Mommy! Mr. Mercer saved me! He's the man from the store!" I sobbed into her shoulder, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Mommy looked up past me, meeting Andrew’s dark, intense gaze. She tried to speak, her voice cracking with exhaustion and fear. "Andrew... I'm so sorry. I tried to help him. I saw the records. They were going to kill him just like they tried to kill you."
Andrew stood tall beside the open car door, his face carved from ice, but his chest heaving with deep, ragged breaths. He looked over his shoulder toward the open loading dock doors.
Behind him, two of his men were wheeling out a frail, gaunt man wrapped in a gray hospital blanket. His hair was long and silver, his face hollowed out by years of chemical confinement, but when the moonlight hit his face, the resemblance to Andrew was unmistakable.
It was Daniel Mercer. Alive.
Daniel blinked against the harsh night air, his dry lips parting as he looked up at the towering man standing in front of him.
"Andy...?" Daniel whispered, his voice sounding like dry autumn leaves scraping across pavement. "Is that... is that really you? Am I dead?"
Andrew dropped to his knees right there in the mud and rain, ignoring the expensive fabric of his trousers, and grabbed his younger brother's bony hands. For the first time all night, the iron mask of the mafia boss completely shattered. A choked, broken sound escaped Andrew's throat as he pulled his brother into his arms, burying his face in Daniel's shoulder.
"You're not dead, little brother," Andrew choked out, his voice cracking with raw, uncontained emotion. "I've got you. You're coming home."
I sat in the back seat next to Mommy, holding her hand tightly, watching the two brothers embrace in the rain. Ashwood Nursing Home burned in our rearview mirror as a distant siren wailed in the night, but I wasn't scared anymore. We had our contract, and Andrew Mercer never failed.
Suddenly, the radio on Viktor's dashboard crackled to life with a harsh, static-filled emergency broadcast that made everyone freeze.
“BOLO alert for Andrew Mercer. All units intercept immediately. Federal warrants issued by order of—”
Viktor slammed his fist against the console, cutting the feed, but the damage was done.
Andrew slowly stood up from the mud, helping his brother into the front seat of the lead SUV. He turned around, his eyes locking onto Viktor with a lethal intensity that made the hardened bodyguard gasp.
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"By whose order?" Andrew demanded.
Viktor paled, staring down at his tablet. "Boss... it's not the police. It's the Federal Prosecutor's Office. And the name on the warrant... it's your wife, Victoria Mercer. She's back in the country."
