THE MAFIA BOSS OWED MY FATHER A DEBT — AND MY BROTHER WAS THE SECRET HE'D BEEN HIDING

I slapped Roman before I could stop myself.

The sound echoed across the parking garage.

His men went still.

Roman didn't retaliate. He didn't even raise his voice.

"Don't you ever say my brother is responsible for someone's death again," I said.

"I didn't say he was responsible. I said someone believes he is."

"Then find someone who can explain the difference."

Roman nodded once.

"Fair."

He handed me his phone, displaying the photograph of Eli.

"We have a location. A warehouse near the old freight yards. My men are checking the surrounding streets."

"I'm coming."

"No."

I stepped closer.

"He's my brother."

"And he's my nephew, if what we suspect is true. I won't put you in danger."

"You don't get to decide what I can survive."

His jaw flexed.

For a moment, I thought he would order me to stay.

Instead, he turned to Adrian.

"Get her a vehicle with a driver. No weapons in the passenger compartment. She stays behind the perimeter unless I tell her otherwise."

I glared at him.

"That isn't permission."

"It's the only compromise I'm offering."

I hated that it was reasonable.

The drive to the freight yards took twenty minutes. Chicago's skyline receded behind us, replaced by empty industrial buildings and rusted railway tracks.

My phone buzzed.

An unknown number.

I answered.

"Tessa Vaughn?"

A woman's voice.

"Who is this?"

"Someone who wants Eli alive."

"Then tell me where he is."

"You need to understand what your father did. He took a child from a powerful family and hid him under a false identity."

"You're talking about a baby."

"I'm talking about a Mercer heir."

"Who are you?"

"Someone who has spent twenty years cleaning up Daniel Vaughn's mistake."

The line went dead.

I stared at the phone.

Roman called me immediately.

"Who contacted you?"

I told him everything.

His expression darkened.

"That voice might belong to Vanessa Reed."

"Why would she take Eli?"

"Because she knows something we don't."

We reached the warehouse shortly after sunset.

Roman's men had already established a perimeter. He insisted I remain in the SUV while he went inside.

I refused to let him leave without telling me what he planned to do.

"Bring Eli out alive," I said.

"I will."

"And if you find the person responsible?"

He looked at me.

"Then I'll decide what justice looks like after your brother is safe."

It wasn't a comforting answer.

But it was honest.

I watched him disappear through a side entrance.

Ten minutes passed.

Then fifteen.

My phone rang.

Roman.

"We found him."

I nearly collapsed with relief.

"Is he hurt?"

"He's frightened and exhausted. His heart is racing, but he's conscious."

"Let me talk to him."

A pause.

"Tessa, there's something else."

My relief vanished.

"What?"

"Eli wants to speak to you alone."

I waited until they brought him out.

He looked pale and shaken, with a small cut above his eyebrow. I ran toward him and wrapped my arms around him.

He held on to me like he was afraid I'd disappear.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Don't apologize. Just breathe."

A medic checked his pulse while I held his hand.

When the immediate danger passed, Eli looked toward Roman.

"I know who I am."

Roman went completely still.

"What did you say?"

Eli swallowed.

"The woman who took me showed me a video. It was recorded when I was a baby."

His voice trembled.

"It showed Dad talking to someone. He said he was protecting me from my biological family."

Roman crouched in front of him.

"Did he say why?"

"He said someone wanted me dead because of what my mother knew."

The warehouse seemed to grow colder.

"Your mother?" I asked.

Eli looked at me with tears in his eyes.

"Not our mom. My birth mother."

Roman's face had lost all color.

"What was her name?"

Eli closed his eyes.

"Isabella."

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Then Roman sat back on his heels.

Isabella Mercer had been his younger sister. The woman whose death he'd never been able to understand.

The baby everyone believed had died with her was sitting in front of him.

Alive.

Terrified.

And wearing the same expression Roman had seen in the mirror for most of his life.

"You're my sister's son," Roman whispered.

Eli shook his head.

"I don't know if I want to be anyone's heir."

Roman's expression softened.

"You don't have to decide that tonight."

I turned toward the warehouse entrance.

"Where's Vanessa?"

Roman's men had searched the building, but the woman was gone. She'd left a phone behind and a small flash drive taped beneath a chair.

Roman handed it to his security chief.

"Find out what's on it."

We returned to the Mercer estate under heavy security.

I stayed beside Eli in the guest room while a doctor checked his heart. Roman waited outside the door until I finally stepped into the hallway.

"Is he really your nephew?"

"Everything we've found points to yes."

"And someone has been trying to hurt him for twenty years."

Roman looked away.

"I should have investigated Isabella's death properly. I accepted the official explanation because I was recovering from my injuries and trusted the people around my mother."

"Who?"

He hesitated.

"Grant Holloway."

The same man who'd reached inside his jacket when I'd threatened Roman at dinner.

"He's been with you that long?"

"Since we were teenagers."

"Then why would he betray you?"

"That's what I'm going to find out."

His security chief approached with a laptop.

"We recovered a video file. It's encrypted, but we've opened the first segment."

Roman watched the screen.

A grainy hospital corridor appeared.