Chapter 11 - EVERYTHING COSTS SOMETHING
Dr. Mercer survived.
Barely.
She was found in her clinic with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
The security drive was missing.
Stellan blamed himself.
I knew because he became colder.
That was how he bled.
Not with tears.
With silence.
For two days, he barely left the security room.
Fern noticed.
She crawled around looking for him.
“Da.”
I froze.
“What did you say?”
“Da.”
My heart cracked.
Her first almost-word.
Not mama.
Of course.
“Unbelievable.”
Stellan entered.
Fern lit up.
“Da!”
He stopped dead.
I watched the moment hit him.
His whole face changed.
“What did she say?”
“Nothing.”
“Selene.”
“She said duck.”
“There are no ducks.”
“Maybe she’s creative.”
Fern reached for him.
“Da!”
Stellan looked at me like he had just been shot.
“Is she—”
“Yes.”
He picked her up.
“Say it again.”
Fern grabbed his nose.
“Da.”
His eyes filled.
This time, there were tears.
One.
He turned his face before it fell.
I pretended not to see.
That night, I found him alone on the balcony.
“You’ll freeze.”
“I’ve been colder.”
I stood beside him.
Chicago spread beneath us.
Beautiful from a distance.
Most dangerous things were.
“Stellan.”
“Yes?”
“Do you kill people?”
He didn’t insult me with a lie.
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“Have you killed innocent people?”
“No.”
“Have innocent people been hurt because of you?”
His silence answered.
I looked away.
“I don’t know what to do with that.”
“Neither do I.”
“You’re Fern’s father.”
“Yes.”
“And I can’t erase that.”
“No.”
“But I don’t want her growing up thinking violence is normal.”
His jaw tightened.
“She won’t.”
“How?”
“I change things.”
I looked at him.
“Can you?”
“I don’t know.”
That was the first answer I trusted completely.
He leaned on the railing.
“My father taught me family is weakness.”
“He was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe that now?”
He looked through the glass at Fern sleeping inside.
“I believe family is the only thing that ever made power matter.”
My chest hurt.
He faced me.
“I loved you.”
I forgot how to breathe.
“At the hotel?”
“Yes.”
“You knew me for one night.”
“I know.”
“That’s insane.”
“Yes.”
“You disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“You really need new responses.”
A small smile.
Then he said, “I never stopped.”
My anger weakened.
That scared me.
“I don’t know if I love you.”
“I know.”
“But I remember Adrian.”
“I’m still him.”
“Sometimes.”
He stepped closer.
I could smell cold air and coffee.
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“That may be the first decent thing a Cross man has ever said to a Vale woman.”
He almost touched my face.
Almost.
Then the glass door shattered.
I dropped.
Stellan covered me.
A sniper round buried itself in the wall.
Guards shouted.
Fern screamed inside.
Stellan dragged me behind cover.
Another shot.
Then another.
His face went white.
“Fern.”
We ran inside.
The nursery door was open.
The guard outside was unconscious.
The crib was empty.
On the mattress lay a black card.
May you like
One sentence.
COME ALONE, STELLAN, OR YOUR DAUGHTER DIES.
