Page 28 of Judge’s Redemption

I step closer. “King used innocent people because he was too weak to win without them.”

Mercer's mouth tightens. “Careful.”

“King's dead. His agreement is dead. And this conversation is over.” The second man reaches beneath his jacket. Cash puts him face-first over the nearest styling chair and strips the weapon from his hand before he clears the leather. Tank smiles faintly. Mercer takes one step back. “You kill me, people will come looking.”

“Kane already spoke to the men who matter.” For the first time, Mercer looks uncertain. Cash's digging was right. Reddick's debt was meant to fill a hole Mercer created by skimming from the Cape crew that financed him. Kane confirmed it and made one call. Mercer no longer has protection. He has owners who want an explanation. I nod toward Cash. “Bring them.”

Tank hauls the man with the broken fingers upright. Cash takes the other. Mercer stays where he is until I grip the back of his neck and push him toward the rear door.

“What are you doing?”

“Returning you to the business you chose.” He digs his heels into the floor. “Judge.” I stop him in the doorway. Rain falls steadily in the alley. A black van waits beside the club truck, engine running. Two men stand near the open rear doors. They know Mercer. The recognition on his face is immediate.

“No.”

“You wanted leverage. Now you get to explain yourself to men who don't have Kane's rules.” Mercer tries to twist out of my grip. I slam him against the brick.

“No one connected to you comes near Shay, Evie, Reddick's sister, or this town again. If one person does, I'll assume you sent them.”

“I won't be sending anybody after tonight, I promise. Just let me go. We can work this out.”

“No, you lost that right. But I’m glad you understand fear now Mercer.”

The men beside the van take him. His remaining crew follow. The doors close, and the vehicle rolls into the rain.

Tank watches the taillights disappear. “Think they'll make it out of Missouri?”

“Don’t care.” It's finished either way. Kane steps from the darkness near the mouth of the alley. He must've arrived while we were inside. His gaze moves over the broken salon window and the men beside me. “Is it done?”

“Yeah, they are right where they belong now.” I tell him.

He nods once, then looks toward the salon where Shay is waiting.

“You did what I sent you to do,” he says. “Mercer made it personal.”

“I should've seen him turning toward her sooner.”

“You saw it in time, don’t beat yourself up over this.”

That's Kane. No empty absolution, no doubt about where responsibility ends. He trusted me to carry his decision into Mercer's warehouse, then trusted me again when the consequences came home.

“I won't miss the next one,” I say.

The certainty between us doesn't need a handshake. Kane turns toward Tank and starts issuing the last cleanup orders. Kingdom Come refused to take an innocent woman, protected the one Mercer targeted, and handed the criminal who mistook restraint for weakness back to his own world. Kane's way isn't softer. It just points the violence where it belongs.

I turn toward the salon and Shay is already coming to find me.

The cut on her lip is small. I check it anyway. We sit on the low bench beneath the salon's front window while Cash and Gray finish securing the room. Tank stays in the alley while another brother checks the rear entrance. Shay catches my wrist when I touch her mouth a second time. “I said I'm okay, don’t you believe me?”

“I believe you put one man into a mirror and bought enough time for us to reach the door.”

Her expression changes. “You saw?”

“Gray stayed on the front and watched the decoy. A second vehicle boxed Cash into the service lane, and the men were through the rear door when the lights died.”

“So the plan failed.”

“For a whole forty seconds.” I brush my thumb beneath the cut without touching it. “You made those seconds count, I’m proud of you.”