by Zoe Chant
“How about we go up to my suite?” Roy said. “I can read through them in peace there and ask you any questions I might have. Or we could have dinner first – have you eaten?”
Mercy hesitated. She hadn’t, but she recalled Roy’s invitation of earlier, and decided it would be better not to give him the wrong idea. This was strictly business. “I think you should look at the proposals first,” she said. “Maybe we could go to a conference room or something like that?”
“I’ve been doing all my business from my suite,” Roy said, sounding faintly amused. “It’s several rooms – we can just stay in the office. I promise you it’s nothing untoward. People have been coming up there to see me all day.”
Mercy wanted to tell him she’d prefer not to, but then, everything he said sounded reasonable. Why would he have booked a suite, if it wasn’t perfectly normal for people like him to do business from it? It was a world so far removed from her own that she didn’t feel like she could question it – and she really wanted to show Roy what Jessa and Jimmy had given her. Especially since she’d told him to get out of her restaurant earlier. She could have blown everything for everyone by being so impulsive.
“Okay, sure,” she said. “Let’s go up.”
Roy’s suite, once they arrived in it, was even more sumptuous than she’d been expecting: the carpet was thick and cream-colored, and shimmering gold curtains hung over the arched windows that looked out over Bondsville. Beautiful ornate furniture dotted the room, and crystal chandeliers, miniature versions of the massive ones in the foyer, hung from the ceiling.
Mercy swallowed, consciously willing herself not to feel out of place.
“Can I fix you a drink?” Roy asked as he closed the door behind them.
Mercy shook her head. “No thanks. I don’t drink.”
“Sensible choice.” Roy smiled. “But let me know if I can get you something else – juice, soda, whatever you like.”
“I’m really fine, Roy, but I appreciate the offer.”
Roy laughed lightly. “You haven’t changed, Mercy – I should have known. You always had focus like a laser. Well, let’s see those proposals, then.”
Gratefully, Mercy reached into her purse, pulling out the papers and unfolding them. “If you have any questions, I’ll be able to answer them,” Mercy said as she handed them to Roy. “I’ve worked with Jessa and Jimmy for years. I can set up a meeting as soon as you like, if you’re impressed by what they say here – and I know you will be.”
Roy nodded, his eyes flickering down the first page of Jessa’s proposal. “I’m impressed, Mercy,” he said. “You clearly know what you’re doing.”
“I don’t want you thinking we’re some kind of two-bit operation who don’t know how to handle our funds,” Mercy said. “If you decide to go ahead with this, every cent will be accounted for – you’ll know exactly where your money is going, and it’ll all be toward helping the community. I can guarantee that.”
“I trust you, Mercy. I know you’re a person of integrity.” Roy was skimming over the page, nodding to himself, until his cell phone went off in his pocket. He grimaced, taking it out to look at it. “Damn. I have to take this,” he said. “I’m sorry. Like I said, business runs to its own timetable. Make yourself at home in the meantime.”
Roy turned away, hurrying into another part of the suite as he answered the call, leaving Mercy standing in the middle of the luxurious lounge area.
Swallowing, she looked around. Make yourself at home, Roy had said – as if the furniture in this room didn’t look so pristine and expensive that Mercy was almost afraid to sit down on it!
In the end, Mercy went over to the windows, looking out over the lights of the town. The view really was beautiful – she could see the main shopping and dining strip from up here, bathed in the amber streetlights, and alongside that the expansive parklands that stretched out by the river that separated Bondsville and Hainesville. Just a small body of water, and yet, it may as well have been another world.
It’s my world, though, Mercy thought, suddenly feeling fiercely protective of it. It may not be beautiful or fancy, but it’s filled with good people, kind people, people who deserve more than what they have.
Mercy bit her lip, a sudden feeling of loss sweeping through her. Was Dante still there, somewhere on the streets of her hometown? Would she be able to find him if she went looking for him again tomorrow?
Absurdly, she had the sudden, uncanny feeling that she needed to be outside right now – that somehow, without the barrier of the glass between them she’d somehow be able to know where Dante was. It was a stupid thought, of course – that was impossible. Her psychic powers were leaving it a little late to manifest.
But the thought wouldn’t leave her. Glancing down, Mercy realized the vast floor-to-ceiling window was actually a door, the handle concealed behind the flowing curtains. She raised her hand to it, then hesitated.
Well, why the hell not? Roy had told her to make herself at home – the night was a little cool, but she could always say she just wanted to get some fresh air on the balcony. She opened the door.
What she’d thought was a balcony was actually more along the lines of a terrace, she now realized – outdoor furniture that was somehow just as ornate as the indoor stuff surrounded a low table, and pots overflowing with lush greenery lined the railing.
Mercy took a deep breath. She’d been able to focus when she’d been talking to Roy, but now that she was alone again, the roiling feeling of unease inside her was back. Frustrated, she shook her head, stepping out into the cool night air. She needed to keep a clear mind.
She walked across the stone terrace, frowning at herself. Dante was a grown man, and he could clearly handle himself. While she didn’t like how they had left things, it was absurd for her to be this worried about him... or was it?
What if Garrick wasn’t as cowed as he seemed? she thought, a chill passing along her spine. What if... what if...
She clenched her fists.
She couldn’t think about this now, she told herself. And yet, now that the thought had entered her head, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Mercy closed her eyes, feeling the breeze play through her hair.
Dante, where are you?
Where had he gone? And was he okay? Mercy bit her lip. It wasn’t like Dante couldn’t take care of himself, but...
The sound of Roy’s voice jerked her out of her thoughts. Opening her eyes, she glanced around, expecting to see him standing in the doorway, but it was empty. She quickly realized that she was hearing him through the open window of another room of his suite, where he had gone to take his phone call.
Curiosity sprung up beside her unease. She realized eavesdropping was extremely rude, but she suddenly wanted to know very much how the kind of people Roy rubbed elbows with now talked. The Roy of now was so different from the one she’d known in high school that she couldn’t help wondering.
She crept slightly closer to the open window, standing against the wall beside it, cocking her head to hear better.
“... Yeah, she’s here. She doesn’t seem to think anything’s wrong, so I don’t think he told her anything. She’d know by now if they’d sealed their bond.”
Mercy frowned. Roy was speaking rapidly and quietly. She’d thought for a moment that he’d been talking about her – she was here, after all – but the rest of what he’d said didn’t seem to have anything to do with her. Still, there was something about his tone that set off warning bells in her head. She wasn’t sure why – she’d known Roy a long time, after all, and had no reason to be suspicious of him – but it didn’t change the fact that suddenly, her heart was thumping in her chest, the sick feeling of unease that had been inside her all day mounting.
“I told you what you needed to do. If you didn’t follow my instructions to the letter, there’ll be trouble.”
There was a pause, while Roy evidently listened to what the person on the other end of the line had to
say.
“If he shifts, we’re all fucked. Give him more dragonsbane if you have to. I don’t care.”
Mercy frowned. She couldn’t make head nor tail of that – though something about his words made her gut begin to churn. She couldn’t understand what it was. Dragonsbane? That sounded like something out of a fairy story. But nonetheless, Mercy felt a pain in her heart at the words, as if something were trying to warn her of some very great danger.
But what?
Before she could examine the feeling more closely, Roy started talking again.
“I’m so close to getting the silly cow on my side – I’ve dosed up the drinks with the serum, and after that she’ll be susceptible to anything I tell her to do. If I can get her to sign on the dotted line then the land’ll be mine. She’s the only one who’s not gagging to sell after everything Garrick’s been doing over the past year or so. I don’t know what I’m paying him for sometimes.”
Mercy stood stock-still, feeling as if her heart had stopped beating within her. Her blood had turned to ice. She could barely believe she had heard correctly.
Roy... Roy wants to buy the land my restaurant is on?
It was more than that, though – he’d said Garrick’s name, said that everyone was gagging to sell after what he’d been doing. After what Roy had been paying him to do.
Because that was what he’d said. Mercy felt as if someone had slapped her across the face. The part of her brain that was still functioning was quickly putting two and two together – and realizing that everything that had happened had been Roy all along.
He’s been paying Garrick to terrorize the storeowners so we’ll have no choice but to sell up cheap or go under. He’s probably been bribing the cops to turn a blind eye, and that’s why Garrick has been able to run riot. He just wants the land for himself...
Her knees felt weak, and it was only with effort that she stopped herself from sagging against the wall.
Land in Hainesville had to be a lot cheaper than buying in the city, or here in Bondsville. God only knew what Roy was planning to build, but she supposed it’d be something that would start spreading the wealth of Bondsville across the river – and eventually start pricing the people who’d been born and raised in Hainesville right out of the area.
I won’t let it happen, Mercy thought, suddenly feeling determination surge through her. He’ll get away with this over my dead body. I will never fucking sell Mercy’s Kitchen – not to him, not to anyone.
But it was a second punch in the gut to realize that Roy had probably never intended to help her out by making a donation to her community work. That had all been a front to get her here, to do whatever he had to in order to get her to sell. He’d talked on the phone about dosing the drinks and a serum. Mercy didn’t want to know what that was about, but she could guess.
Rage flared through her. She wanted to punch Roy in the face, and keep on punching him until her rage died down – which wouldn’t be for a good long while. But she forced herself to push the thought from her mind. She couldn’t do anything if she was in a jail cell after hotel security called the cops.
No, she had to be smart about this. Or smarter than she’d been so far.
Dante. I wish you were here. I don’t think you ever trusted Roy from the start.
She felt sick.
And she knew she had to get out of this hotel room.
How much longer would Roy be on the phone? Swallowing, Mercy silently made her way back to the door, closing it behind her as softly as she could. Roy was still in the other room. She knew she ought to go straight to the exit, and run to the elevators before Roy knew she was gone.
But at the same time, she wondered if she ought to try to find some proof of what Roy was up to. Everything sounded too… fantastical to be real. It was the kind of thing she saw in movies when she was a kid: unscrupulous property developer tries to take on small town with dirty tactics, tries every underhand trick in the book to get his way…
…And then the small-town folk take him down with nothing but pluck and determination on their side, Mercy thought grimly. Well, she could only hope that just this once, a Hollywood ending would come to life.
Licking her lips, she cast her eyes over the room. There was a massive wooden desk by a window on the far side, with an expensive-looking laptop on it, along with some neatly stacked papers. Without stopping to think too much about what she was doing, Mercy crossed the room.
She glanced over her shoulder before she started rifling through the papers – not that she believed for a moment that Roy would be so careless as to leave anything where she might see it. No, everything would be password protected on his computer… or, she thought, her eyes drifting down the side of the desk, in a drawer, under lock and key.
Pulling in a deep breath, Mercy wondered how much she was really willing to risk… before deciding that she was willing to put everything on the line if it meant that maybe the people of Hainesville would start fighting to keep what was theirs.
Growing up in a shady area had its benefits, Mercy thought as she slid a bobby pin from her hair. She’d decided to try to tame her wild curls in the name of looking professional, but that had always been a losing battle. The pin wasn’t serving any purpose where it was.
She could put it to far better use.
Straightening it out, she slid the end into the keyhole on the desk drawer, shifting it this way and that until she felt the lock give way. Then, silently, she opened the drawer.
Mercy could hardly believe her luck – if she wanted to call it that. There, sitting on top of a neatly stacked pile of papers, was the very thing she was looking for: Application for Planning Permit: 210 – 1067 North Way, HAINESVILLE –
Mercy stopped reading. It was one thing to suspect it, but it was quite another to actually see the proof of Roy’s betrayal, even if she’d just overheard his plans from his very own lips. Her hands shaking, she pulled her cell phone from the pocket of her blazer, taking a quick snap of the planning permit – asking for permission to build right over the lots where Mercy’s Kitchen and the other small businesses she shared the strip mall with were located.
She was about to put the phone away, when some kind of sixth sense made her reach into the drawer, checking the stack of papers beneath.
Her blood froze in her veins. Beneath the sheaf of papers applying to build over her restaurant and the other businesses in the strip mall, was yet another planning permit application... but this time, the address Roy was asking permission to build over was –
Hainesville Elementary and Middle School, Mercy thought, her head swimming. That was definitely the address she was looking down at. And not only that, but for the adjoining lot, too – in other words, the library that Jessa had worked so hard to make an integral part of the students’ lives, and which she was using to foster an interest in reading and learning that she hoped would set them up for a better life.
Without the school and library, Mercy didn’t know what would happen. The kids would have to go somewhere else – which meant a longer bus ride, a new, unfamiliar place to get used to after all the hard work Jessa had put in getting them to the library, and naturally no time for the after-school activities Jimmy had spent so much time organizing. It meant there’d be no time for the kids to come by her restaurant to pick up their lunches. It was taking away a place that Mercy knew a lot of the kids felt safe and happy at, and which she and others had spent a lot of time getting them to show up to in the first place.
Fury made her hand shake as she raised her cell phone once more. Wanting to knock down a strip mall was one thing, no matter how attached she was to the place.
But wanting to knock down a school… well, that was just plain evil.
Mercy didn’t know what kind of permits Roy would have to secure in order to get permission to buy the land the school was on, but she was certain that he’d have no trouble bribing whoever needed to be bribed to do it. Maybe it was wrong of her, but she didn’t have
a lot of faith in the authorities around here.
I have to get out of here before Roy comes back. I have to – I have to find Dante –
She didn’t know why, but somehow, she knew that no matter how hopeless she felt, with Dante by her side she could get through it. She’d fight this – she’d fight Roy – tooth and nail. She’d do whatever she had to do to stop him.
Closing the drawer, Mercy shoved her phone back into her pocket and hurried back toward the door of the suite, her heart hammering in her chest. Suddenly, everything Roy had done had taken on a more sinister aspect.
Did he come and tell me about Dante’s criminal record to try to separate us? Did he know that Dante suspected him? Oh, God, Dante – I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry –
“Going somewhere, Mercy?”
Roy’s voice from the other side of the room stopped her cold in her tracks. Her heart in her throat, Mercy turned to face him, forcing herself to smile.
“I – well, I just wasn’t sure how long you’d be, and –”
She watched his face as she stuttered out an explanation.
Does he know? How long was he standing there?
Nothing about his expression told her anything.
“I’m sorry I had to take that call – but I’m back now. Let me fix you a drink.”
Mercy’s heart started pounding.
I’ve dosed up the drinks with the serum, and after that she’ll be susceptible to anything I tell her to do. Those had been Roy’s words only moments earlier. No matter what she did, she couldn’t drink or eat a single thing Roy offered her.
“No thanks,” she said quickly. “In fact, it’s getting pretty late. I could just leave the proposals here with you and come back another time. I know you’re busy.”
“Not too busy for you, as I said,” Roy replied, crossing the room. He glanced at her, and Mercy saw something cold in his eyes. “You’re not planning on leaving so soon, are you?”
“It’s late. I have an early shift tomorrow,” she said, watching him carefully. She was still closer to the door than he was to her. If she had to, she could bolt for it.