Chapter 3 - THE WRONG EXIT
Police sirens swarmed toward the river.
Lorenzo did not wait for them.
A black SUV came racing down the service lane and stopped hard beside the loading dock.
One of his men opened the rear door.
“Boss.”
Lorenzo gestured toward Evelyn.
“She comes with us.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“No.”
Celeste snapped her head around.
“What?”
Evelyn backed away.
“I warned you.”
“And that is exactly why you’re coming.”
“I have nothing to do with this.”
Lorenzo stepped closer.
Smoke drifted through the alley behind him.
“You knew there was a trap before my security did.”
“I saw a text.”
“What text?”
“On her phone.”
Evelyn pointed at Celeste.
Celeste’s face went rigid.
Lorenzo’s eyes moved to his fiancée.
“What did it say?”
Evelyn repeated the message.
“North exit secured.”
She swallowed.
“Cleaners in position.”
Lorenzo did not blink.
“Time?”
“8:55.”
Celeste laughed once.
It sounded brittle.
“This is absurd.”
Lorenzo held out his hand.
“Phone.”
Celeste stared at him.
“You cannot be serious.”
“Phone.”
“You’re going to believe a waitress over me?”
Evelyn saw Lorenzo’s jaw tighten.
“Right now, the waitress has a better survival record.”
Celeste stepped backward.
“I lost it inside.”
Lorenzo’s eyes hardened.
“No.”
“I dropped it when the shooting started.”
“No.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Because you touched your clutch after we climbed out of the tunnel.”
Celeste froze.
Evelyn had missed that.
Lorenzo had not.
He reached for the bag.
Celeste slapped his hand away.
The alley went silent.
Even Lorenzo’s men looked surprised.
Celeste breathed hard.
“You don’t get to humiliate me in front of them.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
Then he took the clutch.
She did not stop him a second time.
He opened it.
No phone.
Only lipstick, keys, a compact, and a small silver case.
Lorenzo looked at Evelyn.
“Could she have dumped it?”
“Maybe.”
Celeste folded her arms.
“This is insane.”
Lorenzo opened the silver case.
Inside were two tiny glass vials.
Evelyn watched his expression change.
Barely.
But enough.
“What are those?” Evelyn asked.
Celeste immediately answered.
“Perfume samples.”
Lorenzo lifted one vial.
“No.”
Celeste’s confidence slipped.
Lorenzo held the vial toward one of his guards.
“Bag it.”
Celeste stepped forward.
“You have no right.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“Someone coordinated simultaneous attacks on four of my locations.”
His voice stayed low.
“Someone knew my dinner schedule.”
His gaze dropped to the silver case.
“And someone came tonight carrying two unlabeled compounds.”
Celeste’s lips parted.
Lorenzo opened the SUV door.
“Get in.”
Celeste didn’t move.
“Lorenzo.”
“Get in.”
“What are you going to do?”
“That depends on whether you keep lying.”
Celeste climbed inside.
Evelyn remained in the alley.
Lorenzo looked at her.
“You too.”
“I’m going home.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You don’t own me.”
“No.”
His eyes flicked toward the burning restaurant.
“But whoever planned tonight knows you interfered.”
Evelyn stopped.
Gilbert knew she had written the note.
Celeste knew she had delivered it.
If either escaped.
Lorenzo read the thought on her face.
“Now you understand.”
Evelyn hated that he was right.
She climbed into the SUV.
Lorenzo entered after her.
The vehicle pulled away just as the first police cruisers flooded the street.
Nobody spoke for several blocks.
Evelyn looked through the tinted glass at Chicago racing past.
She had left her coat inside.
Her phone was in her apron pocket.
Her entire life was still hanging from a peg in The Obsidian employee room.
She had exactly twenty-three dollars in her checking account.
And she was sitting between a suspected traitor and the most feared man in the city.
This was not how she had expected her Tuesday to end.
Celeste sat opposite them.
Her green gown was torn at the hem.
A streak of soot marked one cheek.
She looked less like Chicago royalty now.
More human.
But the hate in her eyes remained.
“You made a terrible mistake,” Celeste told Evelyn.
Evelyn looked back at her.
“I hear that a lot.”
“You have no idea who you embarrassed tonight.”
“I wasn’t trying to embarrass you.”
“No?”
“I was trying to stop people from dying.”
Celeste leaned forward.
“People like you always convince yourselves that makes you noble.”
Evelyn laughed quietly.
“People like me?”
“Disposable people.”
The SUV became silent.
Evelyn felt something inside her go still.
Celeste continued.
“You survive by carrying plates for people who decide what your neighborhood becomes.”
Lorenzo watched her.
Celeste ignored him.
“You think passing one little note suddenly puts you at this table?”
Evelyn met her eyes.
“No.”
She paused.
“But apparently it kept this table alive.”
Celeste’s face tightened.
Lorenzo looked toward the window.
Evelyn could have sworn he was hiding the beginning of a smile.
The SUV suddenly turned sharply.
One of the guards touched his earpiece.
“Boss.”
Lorenzo looked up.
“What?”
“The primary safehouse is compromised.”
“How?”
“We don’t know.”
“Secondary?”
“Power is down.”
Lorenzo’s expression hardened.
“Third?”
The guard hesitated.
“Two vehicles waiting outside.”
Evelyn felt cold.
Every safe location was known.
Lorenzo looked at Celeste.
She shook her head.
“I didn’t.”
He did not answer.
The driver glanced into the mirror.
“Where do we go?”
For the first time all night, Lorenzo Moretti had no immediate answer.
Evelyn looked out the window.
They were approaching Roosevelt Road.
Cicero was west.
Her apartment was small.
Ugly.
Poorly heated.
And absolutely unknown to people like Celeste Vane.
She turned to Lorenzo.
“I know a place.”
He looked at her.
“Safe?”
“No.”
“Then why would we go there?”
May you like
Evelyn thought of the broken radiator, the peeling paint, and the door that only locked when you pulled upward.
“Because nobody in your world would ever think to look for you there.”
