Chapter 2 - The Debt That Wasn’t Connor’s
The man on the phone stopped breathing loudly enough for Tessa to hear it from three feet away.
Leo Rossi did not repeat himself.
That was apparently unnecessary.
Finally the collector whispered, “Mr. Rossi, we can fix this.”
“You have twelve minutes.”
The line disconnected.
Tessa stared at him.
“Twelve minutes for what?”
“For your brother to walk out of that building.”
“They broke his fingers.”
“I noticed.”
“You can’t just—”
Leo handed her phone back.
“I can.”
There was no arrogance in the answer.
That frightened her more.
Leo reached for another phone and made three calls. Each lasted less than twenty seconds. No raised voice. No threats. No explanations.
Names.
Addresses.
Instructions.
Then he looked at Tessa.
“Get your coat.”
“Why?”
“You’re coming.”
She should have refused.
Instead, twelve minutes later, she sat inside the rear of a black SUV moving through Chicago after midnight.
Leo sat opposite her.
Two men occupied the front.
One was Marco Bellini, Leo’s security chief. Tessa recognized him from the estate. The other was a driver she had never seen.
Nobody spoke.
Tessa kept imagining Connor’s broken hand.
Leo watched her twisting the hem of her coat.
“He’s alive.”
“You don’t know that.”
“If he were dead, Ricky would have stopped answering.”
The logic was brutal.
It also helped.
At Fourth and Elm, the abandoned facility looked exactly like the photograph.
Leo entered first.
Tessa followed despite Marco ordering her to remain outside.
Connor was lying on the floor.
Alive.
Tessa ran to him.
His face was swollen, his hand mangled, but when she dropped beside him, his good arm wrapped around her waist.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Tessa cried into his hair.
Behind them, three men stood against a wall.
Ricky the Hat was among them.
He was smaller than Tessa expected.
Fear had reduced him further.
Leo walked toward him.
“You broke his hand.”
Ricky swallowed.
“He owed us.”
“Fifty thousand?”
“Yes.”
Leo glanced at Connor.
“Tell me.”
Connor’s face changed.
Ricky spoke quickly.
“He borrowed it. Sports books, cards, online tables—”
“Connor.”
Leo’s voice cut through the room.
Connor looked away.
“I borrowed money.”
“How much?”
Silence.
Tessa frowned.
“Connor?”
“Eight thousand.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“I borrowed eight.”
Leo turned toward Ricky.
“And the remaining forty-two?”
Ricky’s eyes moved toward the floor.
That was when Leo understood.
This had never been about gambling.
“Who paid you?”
Nobody answered.
Leo stepped closer.
Ricky cracked.
“A man contacted us. Cash. He said the kid already owed money, so nobody would question the number. We were supposed to scare the sister.”
Tessa felt suddenly cold.
“Me?”
Ricky looked at her.
“We were told you’d find a way to get the money.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Leo’s gaze sharpened.
“What exactly were you told?”
Ricky hesitated.
Marco moved half a step.
Ricky immediately answered.
“That she works inside your house.”
Silence.
Tessa looked at Leo.
The kidnapping had not accidentally crossed into Leo Rossi’s world.
It had been designed to.
Someone knew where she worked.
Someone knew her brother gambled.
Someone knew she would panic.
And someone expected her to bring the crisis directly into Leo’s home.
“Who hired you?” Leo asked.
“Never gave a name.”
“How did he contact you?”
“Burner phone.”
“Voice?”
“Changed electronically.”
“Payment?”
“Cash in a gym bag.”
Leo’s jaw tightened.
Too clean.
Connor suddenly whispered, “There was something else.”
Tessa looked down.
“What?”
“One of them kept asking about Dad.”
Tessa froze.
Their father had been dead for eighteen years.
“What did they ask?”
Connor struggled upright.
“Whether he ever left you anything.”
Leo watched Tessa carefully.
She looked genuinely confused.
“Our father died when I was eight.”
“How?” Leo asked.
“Car accident.”
“Name?”
“Daniel Mercer.”
For the first time that night, Leo Rossi lost control of his expression.
It lasted perhaps one second.
But Tessa saw it.
“You knew him.”
Leo looked away.
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“I recognized the name.”
“From where?”
Leo did not answer.
Tessa stood.
“From where?”
Marco quietly closed the warehouse door.
Leo finally looked at her.
“Your father wasn’t Daniel Mercer.”
Tessa laughed once because the alternative was screaming.
“I watched his coffin go into the ground.”
“I’m not saying the man didn’t exist.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“Daniel Mercer was the name he used after he left Chicago.”
Connor stared at Leo.
“Left what?”
Leo’s eyes settled on Tessa.
“My father.”
Nobody moved.
Tessa felt as if the room had tipped beneath her feet.
Leo continued.
“Before Daniel Mercer became your father, his name was Daniel Moretti. He handled financial records for my family.”
Tessa stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“I was sixteen when he disappeared.”
“You’re lying.”
“I don’t need to lie to you.”
“Men like you always need to lie.”
Something flickered across Leo’s face.
He let the insult stand.
Then Marco’s phone rang.
He answered, listened, and immediately looked toward Leo.
“What?”
Marco hesitated.
“We have a problem at the estate.”
Leo’s expression hardened.
“What kind?”
“Your office was breached.”
Tessa felt another chill.
Leo’s office had biometric locks and armed security.
“What was taken?” he asked.
Marco looked directly at Tessa.
“Nothing of yours.”
A pause.
“Someone opened the personnel archive.”
Tessa already knew what came next.
“They pulled one employee file.”
Leo’s voice went very quiet.
“Whose?”
May you like
Marco answered.
“Tessa Mercer’s.”
