Chapter 4 - THE SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH SIDE
By 4:00 a.m.,
the ice began to recede.
The 2:17 curse had broken for another night,
leaving me weak but alive.
The room felt larger,
emptier,
as if the cold had carried away parts of the furniture.
Elena was asleep in the chair,
her head tilted back,
the exhaustion finally winning.
Lily was curled at the foot of my bed,
the Cubs cap lying on the rug.
I watched her sleep,
the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest the only thing keeping me sane.
I thought back to that night on the South Side.
The neon lights of the diner.
The smell of rain on hot asphalt.
Elena had been so young,
so full of a fire that I hadn't seen in the city since.
We had talked for hours about things that had nothing to do with power or money.
We talked about dreams.
We talked about leaving the city behind.
But by morning,
the phone had rung.
A hit on the North Side.
A call to war.
I had left the bed while she was still sleeping,
leaving a stack of cash on the nightstand.
The ultimate insult.
I realized now that she hadn't disappeared.
She had fled.
She had recognized the monster I was becoming and chose to save our child.
And now,
the monster was the only thing that could save them.
I reached for the burner phone I kept hidden in the mattress.
My fingers were still stiff,
but I managed to dial a number I hadn't used in months.
"Lorenzo,"
I whispered when the call connected.
"It's Dante."
A pause on the other end.
"Boss?
We heard...
we heard you were at death's door."
"The door is closed,"
I said,
the iron returning to my voice.
"Vanessa is making a move."
"She's working with someone on the board."
"Find out who."
"And Lorenzo..."
"Send a team to the Gold Coast."
"Not the front gate."
"Use the service tunnel."
"I have a package that needs to be moved."
"A mother and a daughter."
"If a hair on their heads is touched,"
"I will burn this city to the ground before I die."
"Understood,
Boss."
"We'll be there in twenty."
I hung up,
the effort draining the last of my energy.
I looked at Elena.
She had woken up,
her eyes wide as she realized I was on the phone.
"Who was that?"
she asked.
"The people I should have called ten years ago,"
I said.
"Pack a bag,
Elena."
"You and Lily are leaving tonight."
"Where?"
"To a safe house."
"Away from Vanessa."
"Away from the doctors."
"But what about you?"
she asked,
reaching for my hand.
I looked at the machines blinking beside me.
"I have a wedding to cancel,"
May you like
I said.
"And a debt to pay."
