Chapter 5 - THE BOY LIAM MERCER COULDN’T BUYTommy disappeared seventeen minutes before Liam’s men reached County General.
His hospital bed was empty.
The IV line had been cut.
A nurse had found an orderly unconscious in a supply closet.
Clara stood in Liam’s command room staring at the empty-bed photograph.
“This is my fault.”
“No.”
“If I hadn’t taken this job—”
“Adrian did this.”
“He took Tommy because of me.”
“He took Tommy because of me.”
Liam forced himself upright on his walker.
Clara looked over.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding him.”
“You can’t even—”
“Do not tell me what I can’t do tonight.”
The words came harshly.
Clara recoiled.
Liam regretted them instantly.
He closed his eyes.
“Sorry.”
Leo stared.
Liam Mercer apologized perhaps once every leap year.
Clara stepped closer.
“Then don’t shut me out.”
Liam nodded.
They worked together.
Clara knew Tommy.
His habits.
His medication schedule.
His panic triggers.
Liam knew Adrian.
His ego.
His obsession with symbolism.
His need to make every act personal.
At 2:11 a.m., Clara remembered something.
“Tommy’s medication.”
“What?”
“He needs oral prophylaxis tonight.”
Leo looked confused.
Clara continued.
“If Adrian wants him alive as leverage, someone will need his medication.”
Liam understood immediately.
“Hospital pharmacy?”
“No. Too traceable.”
“Retail.”
Leo began calling contacts.
Twenty minutes later, they found it.
A prescription matching Tommy’s medication had been purchased for cash at an all-night pharmacy near the river.
Security footage showed one of Adrian’s men.
Liam smiled coldly.
“Warehouse district.”
Tommy was found at 4:36 a.m.
Alive.
Terrified.
But alive.
Liam went inside despite everyone telling him not to.
He walked with a cane.
Each step was agony.
He did it anyway.
Adrian escaped through a service tunnel.
But Tommy remained behind.
When Clara saw her brother, she ran.
Tommy collapsed against her.
She held him so tightly he complained.
“Can’t breathe.”
“You’re complaining?”
“Little bit.”
She laughed through tears.
Then Tommy saw Liam.
“Who’s that?”
Clara wiped her face.
“My patient.”
Tommy looked at the enormous tattooed man leaning on a cane while armed guards surrounded him.
“That’s your patient?”
“Yes.”
“He looks like he eats nurses.”
Liam raised an eyebrow.
Clara laughed.
“Only the expensive ones.”
Tommy smiled.
And Liam felt the strangest thing.
Peace.
Boston changed everything.
Tommy began treatment.
Liam insisted on paying for nothing directly.
Instead, the newly created Mercer Patient Advocacy Foundation handled travel and accommodation for dozens of families, not just Clara’s.
When she discovered what he had done, she confronted him.
“You created an entire foundation?”
“It was tax efficient.”
“Liar.”
“Occasionally.”
“Because of Tommy?”
Liam looked through the hospital window.
Children walked past attached to IV poles.
“Because there are too many Tommys.”
Clara said nothing.
That answer changed something inside her.
Three weeks later, Liam took twelve steps.
Clara cried.
He pretended not to notice.
Five weeks later, he walked across his bedroom.
Six weeks later, he descended the staircase.
Every employee in the foyer stopped.
Leo stared.
Liam reached the bottom.
Clara stood waiting.
“You’re showing off.”
“Yes.”
“You’re supposed to use the cane.”
“No.”
“Liam.”
He smiled.
Then collapsed.
Clara caught him around the waist.
Their faces ended inches apart.
Neither laughed.
His hand settled instinctively against her back.
Clara’s breathing changed.
“Liam.”
“Yes?”
“This is inappropriate.”
“Extremely.”
Neither moved.
Then Leo’s voice came from upstairs.
“I can come back.”
Clara jumped away.
Liam looked murderous.
Leo smiled.
It was worth it.
That night Liam found Clara outside on the terrace.
Snow fell quietly.
“You’re leaving.”
She turned.
“How did you know?”
“Your contract ends Friday.”
“Tommy’s responding.”
“I heard.”
“I don’t need the money anymore.”
There it was.
The moment Liam had feared.
He could walk now.
She had saved him.
Her brother had a chance.
Their arrangement was over.
“Then you should go.”
Clara looked hurt.
“Is that what you want?”
No.
“No reason for you to stay.”
She studied him.
“You could ask.”
His heart struck hard.
“For what?”
“For me to stay.”
Liam looked away.
He had ordered men into gunfire.
Built an empire.
Survived assassination.
Three words defeated him.
“Stay with me.”
Clara’s eyes softened.
“As your nurse?”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“As what?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not good enough.”
He almost smiled.
She had learned his methods.
Liam touched her cheek.
“As the woman I think about when you leave the room.”
Clara’s eyes filled.
“As the only person who has seen me helpless and somehow made me feel less ashamed of it.”
He leaned closer.
“As Clara.”
She kissed him.
Softly.
Once.
Then again.
Liam wrapped an arm around her.
For several seconds, neither noticed the black SUV parked beyond the estate gates.
Inside sat Adrian Mercer.
May you like
Watching.
And smiling.
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