The Lies That Shatter by A.V. Asher

Chapter Forty-Six

Alec made sure he and Mercedes were seated twenty minutes before the meeting time. The vineyard’s large garden was sprinkled with tables, allowing visitors to enjoy their tastings in the shade of the oak and maple trees. Staff brought out trays of wine in stemless glasses and charcuterie plates to snack on.

They selected a table near a gate to the parking lot in case they needed to get the hell out of there fast. The wine and food were delivered by the personal host. Alec informed them they were expecting one more person to join and asked they be allowed privacy for their meeting.

Not for the first time, Alec wondered if he’d lost his damn mind. Meeting a man like Adam could be disastrous, especially with Mercedes with him. But his team was scattered, and he couldn’t leave her on her own. She was safer with him than without.

Mercedes was pale, her fingers tapping on her skirt. Alec took her hand into his lap. This man had ordered her death, and she had witnessed him slaughter others. Yet she was here, wanting to face him herself. Her strength never failed to amaze him.

Alec saw him coming well before Mercedes did and she dug her fingers into his hand when Adam came into view. He was a hulking man with a constant, brooding glare on his face. He pulled his chair out with a jerk and sat, veins bulging in his arms. Alec released the safety switch on the gun he had rested on his thigh. The fucker moved wrong, and Alec would put him down.

He turned his glare on Mercedes. “Nice to see you again.”

Mercedes shifted, her fingers tightening on Alec’s.

“Well, you wanted this meeting,” Adam said. “What the fuck do you want?”

“I want access to Mara Donovan,” Alec said.

The tic in Adam’s eye told him all he needed to know.

“If I had any idea where that bitch was, she’d be dead by now.”

“Oh, I don’t necessarily know if that’s true.” Alec picked up his phone, swiped a few times, then pushed it across the table.

Alec could see when Adam made the connection. The video was only a few seconds long, but the words he’d hissed to Mara were clear before he let her go.

“Funny thing,” Alec said, sliding the phone back. “When you pay a clerk to destroy a recording before police show up, you should make sure he actually destroys it.”

Adam’s jaw tensed. “I was in a bit of a hurry. I had a dipshit with me who wouldn’t shut the fuck up.”

“What do you think Marcus Cooper would do to you if he knew you were sleeping with his mistress?”

Adam’s glare shot up. “Motherfucker.” He didn’t even try to deny it. The truth of it was all over his face. “I knew you’d be the one to figure this shit out.”

Alec tilted his head. “Did you?”

“I used to tell Jason he was underestimating you. I was right.”

“How long were you and Mara together?” Mercedes asked, her voice quiet.

Adams’s scowl shifted to Mercedes. “For three years. It would be five, but I don’t count the last two.”

“Five years.” Mercedes whispered under her breath. “And all that time, she was his mistress too?”

“She was never his fucking mistress.” Adam ground out behind his clenched jaw. “She was his slave.”

This was an unexpected turn. “When was Mara brought into the trade?”

“When she was seventeen. Tell me, how many billionaires have executive assistants who are barely out of high school?” Adam’s expression shifted to one of loathing. “Cooper figures out ways to get what he wants. Things you can’t say no to. For me, it was a lifesaving treatment for Shannon. For others, it was real estate or a shitload of money.”

“And for Mara?

“A full-ride scholarship to any school she wanted to go to, including Stanford. Only when she got to California, the scholarship required frequent blow jobs for all the grantors. Just a little something of a thank you for all they’d done to make her ‘dreams come true’. When she refused, they would beat the fuck out of her. Didn’t take long before they were outright raping her at parties.”

Mercedes gasped.

“What Mercedes? Little too close to home for you?” Adam snarled. “I know about your mother and how fucked up she was. It’s good you had music to keep you out of the grasps of rich fuckers who wanted to gang bang you and film it. Do you have any idea how many videos there are of Mara? Most of them when she was underage. All of them without her consent.” Anger was radiating off Adam. “When I met her, Cooper had just made her his personal servant, as he called it. She was fucking grateful, because she’d only have to screw one nasty old man.”

Mercedes shook her head. “I find it hard to believe Whitley wouldn’t have gone after sex trafficking charges along with all the others.”

“You have to prove it, right? And they would never believe her word alone. Cooper no longer brings in his girls the same way. Now, he prefers well paid and very willing escorts in whatever city he happens to be in.”

“And he expected you to be his personal servant as well?” Alec asked.

“I had a part to play. Someone to keep his wife from knowing what he was doing and take Mara home after spending hours in his bed. Then there was the dirty work he likes me to do.” Adam’s jaw clenched tight, and he ground out his next words through clenched teeth. “He waits, you know. He waits until you’re good and hooked, unable to betray him before he lays out the real cost.”

Alec sat forward. “So help take him down. We both know Hollis is a shit witness. He could change his testimony in a second if it served his purpose. We need to get Mara on board to make a difference.”

“We already tried that. It was a clusterfuck.”

Alec frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Who do you think convinced Mara to go to Mercedes in the first place? I thought we had a shot at bringing him down then. And we failed. Hard.”

Mercedes’s eyes went wide. “You were a part of that?”

“I knew all about the first whistleblower, so we thought we could add Mara’s knowledge to the deal. Then, out of the blue, Cooper ordered the kid’s death and for us to destroy everything. There was nothing I could do to stop it. Then Mara panicked and begged me to get her out of there.”

“So, you helped to hide her in England,” Alec said.

“I did. She was upset I wouldn’t go with her. But I couldn’t leave, or Cooper would go after Shannon and the kids.”

“Then you put yourself in charge of hunting Mara down. Brilliant.”

Adam’s lips twisted into a smile. “She could have stayed hidden forever if Jason hadn’t figured out she was a whistleblower too.” He looked at Mercedes. “He thinks he saved your life by taking you to London, but it saved Mara’s, too. If he’d found Mara, we’d have no use for you. So, he only half-assed looked for her until you ran off on him.”

“I have to admit, I’m a little surprised you’re so talkative,” Alec said, taking a sip of wine.

Adam looked down at the table, his brows clinched. “I don’t like the man I’ve become, and I know I can never fully redeem myself. Some things I’ve done are unforgivable. But when I can, I try to be the man I used to be.” His gaze shifted to Mercedes. “Mara said I should tell you the ways I helped you. But I honestly don’t think it would matter.”

Mercedes frowned. “How did you help me?”

“Well for one, I let Alec take you.”

What is he on about?

Mercedes gasped. “What do you mean, take me?”

“I fucked up. Back in London. I was the reason Jason knew you met with Alec in secret. I wanted to rub it in his smug face. I didn’t think he’d do what he did. How bad . . .” Adam cleared his throat. “So, when I spotted one of Alec’s men wheeling you out of your hospital room, I knew what was going down. And I let it happen.”

“You got on the elevator with us and stared at me for an entire floor.”

“I let you go, Mercedes. I never said I wasn’t an asshole. Besides, Jason was coming in, so I was on the move, anyway.”

“Why was he there that day? He never came to the hospital before that,” Mercedes said.

Adam scoffed. “Yes, he did. He tried to come see you all the time. We were babysitting you to make sure you didn’t run for it, but we also tried to keep Jason off you for a bit.”

“Am I supposed to thank you for that?” Mercedes’s trembling words were coated with anger. “You knew what he was, and you helped him cover it up over and over.”

“I did.” Real remorse shot across his face. “But I didn’t know how bad until London. That last time he beat you . . . Fucking hell. He didn’t know if he’d killed you or not, so I ran up to check. What I saw stuck with me. You were half naked, all sliced up, and lay in a fucking river of blood. I didn’t think there was a chance in hell you’d make it.”

Alec’s stomach turned. He was well aware of how brutalized Mercedes had been by Jason but hearing a firsthand account of it was revolting.

“So, when I saw what was happening at the hospital, I looked the other way. Call it absolution if you want, or don’t.” He shrugged.

Mercedes leaned forward. “You want absolution? Convince Mara to testify. Or better yet, testify yourself. Whitley might make a bargain with you. Trust me when I tell you he’ll do anything for a win.”

“Not going to happen. Shannon won’t survive without the treatment. Cooper and his fucknut son, Tyler, are already threatening to cut her off. My kids can’t live without her.”

“Your kids are probably going to live without her soon anyway, mate,” Alec said.

Adams’s stare became piercing. “The fuck you mean by that?”

“Have you seen her recently? She’s incredibly ill. Blue lips, thin as hell, and her skin and eyes were yellow. I think her liver might be in bad shape. She would’ve collapsed had I not caught her.” The color drained from Adam’s face. Alec tilted his head. “Are you quite certain Cooper is still treating her?”

Realization dawned in Adam’s eyes, and Alec gave him a moment to let the information settle. Then he slid a business card across the table. “This is the number to my office in London. If either you or Mara call, you’ll be given access to either myself or my cousin Declan. I can offer her protection. I would offer it to Shannon as well, but I don’t have the resources to help her.”

Alec pulled Mercedes to her feet; her hand clasped in his. “I told you, I would never hurt your wife or your children, and I meant it. But you know as well as I there are people in this world who wouldn’t have a problem with it. Think about it and call me.”

Alec guided Mercedes toward the gate that opened to the parking lot, leaving Adam rigid in his seat.