Chapter 3 - The Hastings Family Strikes Back
Dominic did not react immediately.
That frightened Clara more than shouting would have.
He stood beside the guest-room bed, arms folded, staring at her with an expression so controlled that she could not guess what was happening behind his eyes.
“Start at the beginning.”
Clara drew the blanket around herself.
“Tommy met Leo about eight months ago.”
“Where?”
“A club downtown.”
Dominic knew the place.
One of Leo Hastings’s businesses.
“Tommy was doing deliveries. Leo started buying him drinks. Giving him tips. Making him feel important.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“How old is Tommy?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Old enough to know better.”
“Yes.”
Clara did not defend her brother.
That surprised him.
She continued.
“Leo started asking questions about the Mercer estate.”
“What questions?”
“Deliveries. Shift changes. Who worked nights.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“And Tommy answered?”
“Not much. He didn’t know anything.”
“Then why the loan?”
“Leo told him about a dog race. Said it was fixed.”
Dominic understood immediately.
“A trap.”
Clara nodded.
“Tommy borrowed twenty thousand dollars from one of your men. He bet all of it. Lost.”
“Which lieutenant?”
“Eddie Marcone.”
Dominic knew Eddie well.
Too well.
Clara continued.
“The next morning Leo offered to pay the debt.”
“In exchange for what?”
“My job.”
Dominic stared at her.
“He wanted someone inside the estate.”
“Yes.”
“And you agreed?”
“No.”
Clara leaned forward.
“I took the job because Eddie told Tommy what would happen if he didn’t repay the money. I never knew Leo had arranged it until weeks later.”
“How?”
“Tommy confessed.”
“What did Leo want from you?”
“Information.”
“Did you give him any?”
“No.”
Dominic believed her immediately.
Not because he was trusting.
Because for six months he had watched Clara.
She worked near his office.
She had access to schedules, conversations, documents left carelessly on desks.
Yet nothing sensitive had leaked.
Until recently.
That thought stopped him.
“Someone has been leaking information.”
Clara’s face paled.
“I swear—”
“I know.”
She blinked.
Dominic turned toward the window.
“If it isn’t you, Leo found someone else.”
The following morning, Mercer operations began collapsing with suspicious precision.
At 6:15 a.m., two containers belonging to Dominic were seized at the East Side docks.
At 7:40, a trucking company canceled three contracts.
At 9:05, a city inspector arrived at one of Mercer’s warehouses with paperwork authorizing an emergency closure.
By noon, Dominic had lost nearly two million dollars.
Arthur Hastings had declared war.
But Dominic was more interested in the traitor inside his own organization.
He gathered six senior men in his study.
Clara remained upstairs.
Eddie Marcone stood near the bookshelf.
Dominic watched him carefully.
Eddie was fifty-one, heavyset, loyal-looking, and had worked for the Mercer family since Dominic was seventeen.
That made betrayal more dangerous, not less.
Dominic placed a false schedule on his desk.
It listed a shipment arriving at Pier Nine that evening.
There was no shipment.
Only Dominic, his security chief Marco Reyes, and the six men inside the room knew about it.
“Move additional guards there,” Dominic ordered.
Everyone nodded.
Then Dominic waited.
At 8:17 p.m., Hastings gunmen arrived at Pier Nine.
Dominic received the call while eating dinner alone.
He did not appear surprised.
“Which one?” Marco asked.
“We still don’t know.”
“Six suspects.”
“Five.”
Marco frowned.
Dominic slid a second document across the table.
Each man had received a slightly different delivery time.
The Hastings men had arrived at exactly the time shown on Eddie Marcone’s copy.
Marco stared.
“You were testing them.”
“Yes.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
Toward Clara’s room.
“Bring Eddie to the basement.”
Eddie denied everything for eleven minutes.
On the twelfth, Dominic placed bank statements on the table.
Payments from a shell company.
Controlled by Leo Hastings.
Eddie stopped talking.
Dominic sat across from him.
“You trapped Tommy Hayes.”
Eddie looked down.
“Leo paid me.”
“How much?”
“Fifty grand.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“You sold me for fifty thousand dollars?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“It’s exactly like that.”
Eddie swallowed.
“Arthur promised me a territory when the families merged.”
“And when they didn’t?”
“He said I had to keep helping.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Did Clara ever give you information?”
“No.”
“Did she know?”
“No.”
“Why did Leo want her inside?”
Eddie hesitated.
Dominic noticed.
“Answer.”
“Because he thought you’d notice her.”
Silence.
Marco looked at Dominic.
Dominic remained motionless.
“What?”
Eddie’s face glistened with sweat.
“Leo had seen her before. At one of the clubs. Said she was your type.”
Dominic stared at him.
“He wanted a maid inside my house because she was my type?”
“Not exactly.”
Eddie swallowed.
“Caroline knew.”
That changed everything.
“Explain.”
“Caroline wanted to know whether you’d cheat after the engagement.”
Dominic’s expression became unreadable.
“So Clara was bait.”
“At first.”
“And later?”
“Later Leo realized Clara wasn’t interested.”
Eddie laughed nervously.
“She barely looked at you.”
Marco almost smiled.
Dominic did not.
“What changed?”
“They decided she could still be useful. Pressure her brother. Get information.”
Dominic stood.
Eddie immediately panicked.
“Boss, wait.”
Dominic walked toward the door.
“I can help.”
Dominic stopped.
“With what?”
Eddie breathed heavily.
“Arthur has something planned tonight.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“I don’t know exactly. Leo called me this morning.”
“Where?”
“He asked about Clara.”
Every muscle in Dominic’s body tightened.
“What did you tell him?”
“That she was still here.”
Dominic was already moving.
He took the stairs two at a time.
The guest room door stood open.
Empty.
The bandages Clara had removed lay on the bed.
The window was closed.
No signs of struggle.
Dominic looked toward the hallway.
A young housekeeper stood frozen near the linen closet.
“Where is Clara?”
“She left, sir.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“With whom?”
“Her brother.”
Dominic went still.
“Tommy came here?”
“Yes.”
“He said their mother was sick.”
Dominic pulled out his phone.
Marco appeared behind him.
“Find Tommy’s phone.”
Thirty seconds later, they had a location.
An abandoned repair yard beside the river.
Dominic’s face changed.
Marco saw it.
“So much for subtle.”
“Get the cars.”
At the repair yard, Clara sat inside an old warehouse with her wrists tied behind a chair.
Tommy was beside her.
His lip was split.
“Clara, I’m sorry.”
She looked at him.
“You always say that.”
“I thought Mom was really sick.”
“So did I.”
A metal door opened.
Leo Hastings walked inside.
He wore an expensive coat and the same cruel smile Clara remembered from the ballroom.
“Family reunion.”
Clara stared at him.
“What do you want?”
Leo pulled up a chair.
“Dominic embarrassed my sister.”
“That has nothing to do with me.”
“It has everything to do with you.”
Leo leaned closer.
“My sister lost a marriage, my father lost a deal, and now Mercer is hunting our people.”
He smiled.
“So we’re going to remind Dominic what happens when he chooses servants over family.”
Outside, headlights appeared along the river road.
Dominic stepped out of the first black car.
Marco followed.
Then six armed Mercer men.
Dominic looked at the warehouse.
“Alive,” Marco said quietly.
Dominic turned toward him.
“Who?”
Marco almost regretted asking.
Inside, Leo lifted his phone.
“Time to call your employer.”
Before he could dial, the warehouse lights suddenly went dark.
Leo froze.
Then came the sound of the front doors being forced open.
Clara heard footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
And from somewhere in the darkness came Dominic Mercer’s voice.
“Leo.”
A pause.
“You wanted my attention.”
Another step.
May you like
“Now you have it.”
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