Chapter 2 - THE GIRL WHO REFUSED TO STAY INVISIBLE
“Last chance.”
The bound man’s voice carried across the clearing with an eerie calm.
Delaney Mercer pressed herself deeper into the wet weeds.
The man holding the shovel laughed.
“Still giving orders, Luca?”
So that was his name.
Luca Raldi.
Delaney had seen it before.
Not on the redevelopment notices. Those simply said RALDI URBAN PARTNERS in polished silver lettering.
His full name had appeared in a newspaper someone left on a bus bench.
LUCA RALDI TAKES CONTROL OF FAMILY EMPIRE AFTER BROTHER’S DEATH.
The photograph showed a cold-looking man in a dark suit leaving a courthouse surrounded by bodyguards.
That man was now on his knees beside an open grave.
The one directing the execution grabbed Luca by the hair.
“Your last chance was three months ago.”
Luca looked up.
“No, Adrian.”
Delaney remembered the name.
Adrian Voss.
She had heard men talking about him beneath the bridge near Larkin Row.
He worked for Raldi.
Or had.
Luca continued.
“You bury me, you don’t become me.”
Adrian smiled.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
He nodded toward the grave.
The two men seized Luca.
Delaney’s heart hammered.
Run.
Every instinct screamed it.
She had survived eight months because she understood one truth better than most adults:
Heroes got noticed.
Noticed people got hurt.
Then Luca looked toward the bushes again.
Not directly.
Just enough.
And shook his head.
Go.
Delaney almost obeyed.
Then one of the men kicked him behind the knee.
Luca fell.
His shoulder struck the edge of the grave.
Delaney saw blood streak his temple.
Something inside her snapped.
Maybe because she knew graves.
Her mother, Melissa Mercer, had been buried eleven months earlier in a cemetery Delaney could not afford to visit by bus anymore.
Maybe because she remembered standing outside their Larkin Row apartment while movers hired by the new owner carried their belongings onto the sidewalk.
Maybe because the richest man she had ever seen was warning a homeless girl to save herself while nobody had ever done the same for him.
Delaney slowly reached into her backpack.
Broken flashlight.
Half a granola bar.
Pocketknife.
A cheap prepaid phone with nine percent battery.
And one emergency flare she had stolen from the abandoned cabin cruiser because the nights by the lake frightened her.
She stared at it.
A stupid idea formed.
It was dangerous.
Probably insane.
Which meant she had already decided.
Delaney crawled backward through the weeds.
Twenty yards.
Thirty.
She reached the tree line, circled toward the dirt road, and found the black Raldi sedan.
One rear door remained open.
Adrian had left the keys inside.
Rich criminals, Delaney thought.
Apparently being dangerous did not make people smart.
She slipped into the driver’s seat.
Her feet barely reached the pedals comfortably.
She had driven once.
Her mother’s old Honda.
Three circles around an empty grocery-store parking lot before Melissa laughed and said, “Okay, Dale Earnhardt, that’s enough felony for one afternoon.”
Delaney swallowed the memory.
“Sorry, Mom.”
She turned the key.
The engine roared.
In the clearing, heads snapped toward the sound.
“What the—”
Delaney slammed the accelerator.
The sedan lurched forward.
She nearly hit a tree, corrected too hard, bounced over a rut, and aimed the headlights straight toward the grave.
Men scattered.
One dropped the shovel.
Adrian drew a pistol.
Delaney ducked instinctively.
A shot shattered the passenger-side window.
She screamed but kept driving.
The car plowed into a stack of dirt.
The airbag exploded.
For two seconds she could not hear anything.
Then someone yanked open her door.
Delaney slashed blindly with the pocketknife.
A man shouted.
She kicked.
Scrambled out the opposite side.
“Grab her!”
Delaney ran toward the grave.
Luca had rolled partly into it.
His wrists remained bound.
Delaney jumped down.
“Can you move?”
He stared at her as if she were insane.
“I told you to run.”
“Yeah, well, I’m bad with instructions.”
Despite everything, something almost like disbelief crossed his face.
“Knife.”
She sawed at the zip ties around his wrists.
Footsteps approached.
Faster.
“Girl!”
Luca twisted.
“Down!”
He shoved Delaney flat as a gunshot cracked overhead.
Then his hands came free.
Everything changed.
Until that moment, Luca Raldi had looked like a victim.
The second his wrists separated, he became something else entirely.
He surged upward, caught the approaching gunman’s wrist, slammed it against the dirt wall, and turned the weapon away.
Two shots fired into the earth.
Luca drove his shoulder into the man.
They fell.
Delaney scrambled backward.
Luca emerged with the gun.
Adrian stopped.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Luca pointed the weapon at him.
“You should have dug faster.”
Adrian smiled strangely.
“You still won’t shoot me.”
“Why?”
“Because you need to know who gave the order.”
Something passed across Luca’s face.
Delaney caught it.
This had not been random betrayal.
Adrian knew something.
Luca lowered the gun slightly.
That was enough.
The third man charged from behind.
Delaney saw him first.
“Luca!”
Luca turned.
Too late.
A shovel struck his shoulder.
He staggered.
Delaney grabbed the emergency flare from her jacket, pulled the cap and struck it.
Brilliant red fire exploded into the gray dawn.
The attacker froze.
Delaney threw it straight into the pile of dry brush beside him.
Flames flared.
He stumbled backward.
Luca recovered and hit him once.
The man dropped.
Sirens sounded.
Everyone froze.
Adrian looked toward the road.
Delaney’s cheap phone lay in the dirt beside the grave, screen glowing.
Luca stared.
“You called police?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“I called 911 before I started the car and left the phone connected.”
Adrian’s confidence disappeared.
Police sirens grew louder.
He ran.
Luca could have fired.
He didn’t.
Adrian vanished through the trees.
The remaining gunman tried to follow but collapsed from Luca’s blow.
Delaney stood shaking.
Then Luca sank to one knee.
Blood had soaked through his shirt.
She rushed toward him.
“You’re hurt.”
He looked at her.
“You drove a sedan into three armed men.”
“It seemed smarter five minutes ago.”
A laugh escaped him.
An actual laugh.
Then he nearly fell.
Delaney caught his arm.
He was too heavy.
“Hey. Don’t die.”
“That your medical advice?”
“Yes.”
“Very convincing.”
Police vehicles burst into the clearing.
Weapons raised.
“Hands where we can see them!”
Delaney immediately lifted both hands.
Luca did not.
He stared at the uniforms.
Something in his face hardened.
One officer recognized him.
“Jesus Christ. That’s Raldi.”
Another officer moved toward the injured gunman.
Then Delaney noticed something.
The first officer.
Tall.
Brown mustache.
Gold wedding ring.
He looked at the grave.
Then at Luca.
And instead of shock, his expression showed irritation.
As if something had gone wrong.
Delaney had learned to survive by reading faces.
She leaned close to Luca.
“Don’t trust the cop with the mustache.”
His eyes shifted toward her.
“Why?”
“He’s not surprised.”
The officer approached.
“Mr. Raldi. We’ll take it from here.”
Luca studied him.
“What precinct?”
The officer paused.
“Excuse me?”
“What precinct?”
“Twenty-third.”
Luca gave a tired smile.
“There is no Twenty-third precinct in this county.”
The officer reached for his holster.
Luca moved first.
But Delaney heard another sound behind her.
A car.
Black SUV.
Then another.
Then three more.
They stormed into the clearing.
Men in dark suits poured out.
A broad-shouldered man with a scar across his jaw saw Luca and nearly stumbled.
“Boss!”
The fake officer went pale.
The newcomer drew a weapon.
“Everybody down.”
Within seconds the clearing became chaos.
Real deputies arrived from the opposite road.
The fake officers surrendered.
Luca’s men surrounded him.
The scarred man stared at the grave.
Then at Delaney.
“Who the hell is she?”
Luca swayed.
Before collapsing, he pointed toward Delaney.
“The reason I’m breathing.”
Then everything went black for him.
Delaney tried leaving while nobody watched.
She made it as far as the tree line.
“Miss Mercer.”
She stopped.
A man in a black overcoat stood behind her.
The scarred one.
He had introduced himself to paramedics as Marco Bellini.
Luca’s security chief.
“I never told you my name.”
“No.”
“That’s creepy.”
“I’m aware.”
He looked toward the ambulance carrying Luca away.
“You need to come with us.”
Delaney’s hand tightened around her backpack.
“No.”
“People saw you.”
“So?”
“People who just tried to murder Luca Raldi saw you.”
She said nothing.
Marco softened his voice.
“They won’t forget your face.”
“I can handle myself.”
“You sleep on an abandoned boat.”
Ice traveled down Delaney’s spine.
“How do you know that?”
“Because Mr. Raldi woke up for thirty seconds and ordered us to find out who you were before the ambulance reached the highway.”
“That is deeply unsettling.”
Marco almost smiled.
“He has that effect.”
Delaney stepped backward.
“I don’t need charity.”
“This isn’t charity.”
“What is it?”
“Security.”
“I don’t want Raldi security.”
Marco studied her.
“Because of Larkin Row?”
Delaney’s expression hardened.
“My mother died there.”
Something in his face changed.
“She died after you people pushed us out.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Exactly.”
She turned.
Marco did not stop her.
Instead he said, “The redevelopment wasn’t Luca’s project.”
Delaney stopped.
“It had his name on it.”
“Yes.”
“But not his signature.”
She looked back.
Marco continued.
“It was controlled by his uncle.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
That surprised her.
“Trust is expensive,” Marco said. “People who tell you to give it away for free usually plan to steal something.”
Delaney stared at him.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere with locks.”
“I hate locks.”
“Locks can keep people out too.”
After a long silence, she climbed into the SUV.
She sat nearest the door.
Ready to run.
Marco noticed and said nothing.
Twenty minutes later, Delaney’s prepaid phone—recovered from beside the grave—buzzed.
Unknown number.
She opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
Her mother.
Alive.
Standing outside Larkin Row approximately a year before her death.
Beside her stood Adrian Voss.
Beneath the photo were six words:
ASK RALDI WHY YOUR MOTHER DIED.
Delaney stared at the screen.
May you like
Then slowly looked toward the hospital rising in the distance.
For the first time since saving Luca Raldi, she wondered whether she had just rescued the man responsible for destroying her life.
