Chapter 8
“What kind are they?”
Sophie poured. “The kind that make you grateful they’re on your side.”
Elena wrapped her hands around the mug and looked at the card. Dominic Sarrento. The name meant nothing to her. But the way he’d moved, the way he’d known exactly what Marcus would do before Marcus had done it —
Her phone would be exploding right now, if she had it. Marcus mobilizing his army, controlling the narrative, setting the trap. She’d seen him do it to other people. She’d sat at dinners while he did it, and smiled, and passed the salt.
What if this is a mistake? she thought. What if I’m being dramatic, like he always says?
Then she remembered the coat room. His hand on her waist. His mouth at her ear.
You’re a placeholder, a beautiful, expensive placeholder. But don’t worry — I’ll keep you around until I find an upgrade.
She had stood there frozen while he straightened his tie. Twelve years. She had given him twelve years.
Elena folded the business card once and tucked it into the only safe place she had. Then she drank her tea, and let the warmth come back into her hands, and started, quietly, to think.
CHAPTER 4
Sophie walked her three blocks to a small worn building and paid cash at the desk. The clerk barely glanced up and asked nothing. The room was tiny and clean — a bed, a chair, a lamp, a window with a fire escape outside it.
Elena locked the door, wedged the chair under the handle, and lay down on top of the covers in the borrowed jacket.
She didn’t cry. She was too empty for tears. There was just the crushing weight of it — I did it, I actually left — and underneath that, already gathering like weather, the knowledge that tomorrow the war would begin.
She fell asleep with Dominic’s card pressed against her heart.
The pounding on the door came with the sunrise.
Elena jerked awake, disoriented, the room gray and strange. The knocking didn’t stop. It was aggressive, official, three knuckles in a rhythm that meant we’re not going away.
“Elena Martinez, Chicago PD. We need to verify your well-being.”
Her heart stopped, then restarted at double speed.
Dominic had called it.
She sat on the edge of the bed with her hands shaking and listened to herself breathe. The card. She grabbed it and dialed the hotel phone, and he answered on the first ring.