Chapter 2 - The Man Everyone Buried
Clare never forgot the sound of that gunfire.
It wasn't like movies.
There was no dramatic rhythm to it, no clean separation between hero and villain, no time for anyone to make a clever speech.
There was only noise.
Three shots.
A pause.
Two more.
Someone shouted.
Glass shattered.
Daniel grabbed Clare around the shoulders and shoved her toward the emergency stairwell.
"Move!"
She stumbled down the first flight.
Behind them, Nicholas fired once.
"Go!" he barked.
She turned.
He stood at the end of the corridor like a wall made of darkness.
For one wild second, she thought he was going to die again.
Then he looked at her.
"Clare."
She stopped.
"Do not come back upstairs."
"What about you?"
Something almost resembling a smile crossed his face.
"Apparently I'm harder to kill than people remember."
Daniel pulled her downward.
They ran.
Twenty minutes later, Clare sat in the employee cafeteria wrapped in a silver emergency blanket while police cruisers filled the hotel's entrance.
Only three people knew she was connected to Nicholas Duca.
Clare.
Daniel.
And Nicholas himself.
She prayed it stayed that way.
Mrs. Chen arrived looking furious and frightened.
"Why were you anywhere near the executive floors?"
Clare opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Daniel stepped in.
"It wasn't her fault."
Mrs. Chen stared at him.
"Then whose fault was it?"
Before anyone answered, a hotel manager approached them.
"Mr. Ross, the police want witnesses."
Daniel nodded.
Clare's heart stopped.
"What about me?"
The manager looked at her.
"You're off the floor for the rest of the night."
She should have been relieved.
Instead, she felt watched.
The sensation followed her through the employee hallway.
It followed her into the locker room.
It followed her outside.
And when she reached the sidewalk, she saw a black sedan parked across the street.
The windows were tinted.
Her instincts screamed.
She turned and went back inside.
The doorman looked confused.
"You forgot something?"
"No."
She stared through the glass.
The sedan remained.
Then her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Don't go home.
Clare stared at the message.
A second message arrived.
Trust me.
She looked through the glass again.
The sedan was gone.
"What the hell?" she whispered.
"Clare."
She spun around.
Daniel stood behind her.
"Come with me."
She followed him into the security office.
He locked the door.
"Your apartment is compromised."
Her mouth went dry.
"How do you know?"
"Because somebody pulled your employee file."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Then how do you know my apartment is compromised?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Clare's fear changed into suspicion.
"You knew."
"Not everything."
"But something."
Daniel sighed.
"Nicholas contacted me six months ago."
Clare stared.
"Before tonight?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because the hotel is neutral ground."
"What does that mean?"
"It means people who hate each other can stay under one roof without opening fire in the lobby."
She thought of Nicholas.
"Why would a mafia boss need a hotel?"
"Because he's not operating like the man you saw on television."
Daniel lowered his voice.
"The Chicago organization Nicholas once controlled was split apart after his disappearance. Three families took territory. His uncle Vincent Duca disappeared. His lieutenant was assassinated. And Nicholas was presumed dead."
"What changed?"
"He came back."
"Why?"
Daniel looked toward the cameras.
"Because someone is trying to start a war."
Clare's chest tightened.
"What does that have to do with me?"
"That's what Nicholas is trying to figure out."
She leaned against the desk.
"I don't understand."
"You walked into the one room you were never supposed to enter."
"And?"
"And whoever arranged that wants you connected to him."
A chill went through her.
"You mean they wanted me to see him."
"Exactly."
The door opened.
Nicholas stepped inside.
Clare jumped.
He locked it behind him.
"You need to leave Chicago."
"I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"No."
He stared at her.
"I have a job."
"I'll pay you."
"I don't want your money."
"Then what do you want?"
"The truth."
Silence.
Daniel looked away.
Nicholas studied Clare for a long moment.
Then he said, "You're the first person in three years who has looked at me and asked for the truth instead of asking whether I am dangerous."
"You are dangerous."
His eyebrow lifted.
"But you're not the only dangerous person here."
Something changed in his expression.
Respect.
Just a little.
"Your family?"
Clare stiffened.
"What about them?"
"Anyone you can disappear for a few weeks with?"
"No."
"Friends?"
"No."
"Anyone?"
She shook her head.
Nicholas's jaw tightened.
"Then you're coming with me."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"You misunderstand."
He stepped closer.
"You were used as bait. The people who put you in that room know where you work, where you live, and probably how long you have been in Chicago."
His voice became quieter.
"If they think you helped me, they will kill you."
Clare swallowed.
"And if I go with you?"
"They'll still try."
"That isn't comforting."
"It wasn't supposed to be."
She looked at Daniel.
"Do you trust him?"
Daniel's answer came immediately.
"With my life."
Clare looked back at Nicholas.
"Why?"
"Because three years ago he saved mine."
Nicholas said nothing.
Daniel continued.
"Everyone thinks Nicholas Duca built his reputation through brutality. That's only half the story."
"What was the other half?"
"He refused to sell children through his territory."
Clare blinked.
"What?"
Nicholas closed his eyes.
"Daniel."
But Daniel kept going.
"The warehouse explosion wasn't a gang dispute. Nicholas found out someone inside his organization was running human trafficking routes. He tried to shut it down. Someone betrayed him."
Clare stared at Nicholas.
"The explosion."
Nicholas nodded once.
"They wanted me dead before I could expose them."
"Who?"
He looked at her.
"That's the secret."
Then the building alarms started.
Nicholas immediately reached for his weapon.
Daniel checked the monitor.
"There are unauthorized vehicles entering the garage."
Nicholas looked at Clare.
"You have ten seconds to decide."
"Decide what?"
"Whether you trust me enough to survive."
Clare thought of the gunfire.
The strange text.
The way her room assignment had been altered.
Then she grabbed her coat.
"Where are we going?"
His expression hardened.
"Somewhere nobody will think to look."
He took her hand.
And this time, she didn't pull away.
Their first stop was an abandoned church on the South Side.
Their second was a hidden apartment above an old bakery.
Their third was a private hospital.
The fourth was a secret Clare never expected to learn.
Nicholas wasn't hiding alone.
He had a little girl.
She was six years old.
She had dark hair.
Dark eyes.
And a photograph in her hands.
When Clare walked into the room, the little girl looked up.
"You're her."
Clare stopped.
"Who?"
The girl held up the photograph.
"My daddy said the woman who saw him would come."
Nicholas went completely still.
Clare turned.
"You have a daughter?"
His face went pale.
"I don't."
The little girl looked confused.
"But you told me—"
Nicholas crossed the room.
"Kara, who gave you that photograph?"
The child pointed toward the window.
"That man."
Nicholas moved instantly.
He checked the curtains.
The street was empty.
Then he saw the photograph.
Clare stepped closer.
It showed Nicholas three years earlier.
And a woman Clare had never seen.
On the back were five words.
SHE KNOWS WHO YOUR MOTHER IS.
Nicholas looked at Clare.
May you like
For the first time since she'd met him, the mafia boss looked genuinely shaken.
"My God," he whispered.
