Chapter 16 - THE LAST WAR
Mercer did not attack.
Days passed.
Then weeks.
Nothing.
That was more frightening.
Damian increased security.
Grace refused to let Noah live inside fear.
They went to parks.
Libraries.
Children’s museums.
Always protected.
But normal.
Then Elias’s ledger disappeared from federal evidence storage.
Mercer had it.
With the ledger, he could rebuild.
Or destroy everyone.
Rachel feared Mercer would flee the country.
Grace disagreed.
“He won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because leaving means admitting Damian won.”
Mercer’s ego was stronger than survival.
He needed one final victory.
The clue arrived through Evelyn.
She received an invitation.
Hawthorne Founders Dinner.
No venue.
Only coordinates.
The old Hawthorne family cemetery.
Damian wanted Evelyn kept away.
Evelyn laughed.
“I survived your grandfather.”
“I can survive a judge.”
They went together.
Mercer stood beside Elias Hawthorne’s grave.
Older.
Thinner.
Still arrogant.
“You brought the nanny.”
Grace almost rolled her eyes.
“You really need new material.”
Mercer smiled.
Then held up the ledger.
“I can burn everyone.”
Damian said,
“Do it.”
Mercer’s smile faded.
“What?”
“Burn it.”
“You spent months trying to recover it.”
“Because I thought the past controlled us.”
Damian looked toward Noah waiting safely miles away.
“It doesn’t.”
Mercer stared.
“You’re bluffing.”
“No.”
“Your family built everything in that book.”
“My family also buried people because of it.”
Damian stepped closer.
“I’m done.”
That was the one move Mercer never anticipated.
A man walking away from power.
Mercer raised his weapon.
“You don’t get to leave.”
Grace heard Rachel’s team moving in the woods.
Mercer heard them too.
He grabbed Grace.
Damian stopped instantly.
Mercer pressed the weapon against her.
“There.”
He smiled.
“That still controls you.”
Damian’s face changed.
Grace met his eyes.
Don’t.
She could see the old Damian returning.
The violent man.
The feared man.
The man Mercer understood.
Then Grace whispered,
“Damian.”
He looked at her.
“Choose who you are.”
Silence.
Damian lowered his hands.
“I already did.”
Mercer frowned.
That hesitation cost him.
Grace drove her heel backward into his shin and dropped.
Federal agents moved.
Cole tackled Mercer.
The weapon slid away.
Damian could have reached it.
He didn’t.
He simply stood over Mercer.
Mercer laughed from the ground.
“You became weak.”
Damian looked at Grace.
Then back at him.
“No.”
“I finally found something stronger than fear.”
Mercer was taken away.
This time under direct federal supervision.
No transfers.
May you like
No favors.
No escape.
