Chapter 2 - The Husband She Never Wanted
Leo's escape route ended at a private underground garage beneath the hotel.
A black SUV waited with two armed men.
Norah stopped.
“No.”
Leo looked at her.
“What?”
“I’m not getting into a car with two men carrying guns.”
“They're security.”
“They look like they bury people.”
“They have.”
Norah stared.
Leo looked almost offended.
“I didn't mean themselves.”
“That's not helping.”
One of the men lowered his eyes, trying not to smile.
Leo opened the passenger door himself.
“Get in.”
Norah folded her arms.
“You just met me.”
“You saved my life.”
“That does not make me trust you.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“It makes me responsible for keeping you alive.”
That sentence stayed with her.
She got in.
The drive through Chicago was silent.
Norah watched the city slide past the window.
She hadn't ridden through downtown at night in years.
Not since she lost everything.
Once, her life had been clean.
She had been a junior medical technician at a trauma center.
She had loved helping people.
Then Rayburn had entered her life.
He had been charming at first.
He told her he admired her work.
He brought coffee.
He remembered her birthday.
Then he needed favors.
Then he needed silence.
Then he needed her name on documents she had never seen.
When she refused, he beat her.
When she tried to report him, he framed her.
A controlled medical inventory had disappeared.
Her signature was forged onto the paperwork.
She was accused of theft.
Her license was suspended.
Rayburn disappeared for six months.
By the time she discovered his connection to a private smuggling network, her career was already dead.
She disappeared too.
And now he had found her.
The SUV stopped outside a massive house overlooking Lake Michigan.
Norah looked up.
“This is where you live?”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
Leo frowned.
“What?”
“Every mafia boss apparently lives in a mansion.”
“I don't live in the mansion.”
He pointed toward a smaller building behind it.
“That is my house.”
Norah stared.
It was still enormous.
But it was less theatrical than the main estate.
Inside, Leo's staff moved quickly.
A doctor arrived.
The bandage was removed.
The doctor looked at Norah.
“You stitched this?”
“Yes.”
“Where did you train?”
“Nowhere.”
The doctor looked at Leo.
Leo looked at Norah.
She shrugged.
“It's a long story.”
The doctor finished treating Leo and left.
An hour later, Norah stood in an enormous bedroom staring at a closet full of designer clothes.
“I’m not wearing any of these.”
Leo, sitting in a chair, looked up from his phone.
“Why?”
“They aren't mine.”
“You're my wife.”
“Fake wife.”
He corrected her.
“Legally married wife.”
“You're enjoying that.”
“No.”
“You're smiling.”
“I don't smile.”
“You just did.”
He looked away.
Norah almost smiled.
The next morning, news outlets exploded.
LEO CASTIGLIONE MARRIES MYSTERY WOMAN IN PRIVATE CEREMONY.
NORTHERN CHICAGO STUNNED BY SECRET CASTIGLIONE WEDDING.
WHO IS NORAH VALE?
Norah stared at the television.
“That's fast.”
Leo was drinking coffee.
“My family owns three news stations.”
She turned.
“I'm sorry?”
“Only two are still mine.”
She stared.
“That's horrifying.”
“It is.”
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
“Yes.”
Silence.
“Bring me the file.”
He hung up.
Norah watched him.
“What file?”
“Yours.”
Her stomach tightened.
Minutes later, one of Leo's men arrived with a thin folder.
Leo opened it.
His eyes changed.
Norah saw it.
“What?”
He handed her the papers.
It was her old case.
Rayburn's investigation.
Her supposed confession.
The forged signatures.
She stared.
“My record.”
Leo nodded.
“Someone altered it.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He pointed at a line.
“This wasn't altered later.”
Norah frowned.
“What?”
“It was created before the charges.”
She looked up.
Leo's voice was quiet.
“You were targeted before the crime happened.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Then find out.”
“I already am.”
She stared at him.
“You investigated me.”
“Yes.”
“Before last night?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Two weeks.”
She went still.
“You knew who I was?”
“Yes.”
“And still chose me?”
Leo closed the folder.
“I chose you because I needed someone Rayburn would recognize but underestimate.”
The words hurt.
“So I was useful.”
“At first.”
“At first?”
He looked at her.
Then he said something that confused her.
“I didn't expect you to save my life.”
He walked toward the window.
“But I suspected you were not who you pretended to be.”
Norah crossed her arms.
“What am I pretending to be?”
“Weak.”
She stared at him.
“You think I'm weak?”
“I think you survived something that would have destroyed most people.”
Before she could answer, a gunshot cracked outside.
Security shouted.
Leo immediately moved in front of her.
Glass shattered.
A bullet hit the wall behind them.
Leo pulled Norah down.
His men rushed into the room.
“Get her downstairs.”
“No!”
Norah pushed herself up.
“I’m not hiding.”
Leo turned.
“This is not a discussion.”
“It becomes one when bullets are flying.”
His eyes locked with hers.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“Rayburn.”
Norah's body went cold.
“What?”
Leo listened.
Then he said, “You should have stayed away from my wife.”
He hung up.
Norah whispered, “He knows.”
“Yes.”
“Does he know about the marriage?”
“He knows everything.”
That night, Leo made a decision.
“We leave Chicago.”
Norah shook her head.
“No.”
He frowned.
“No?”
“If I run, Rayburn wins.”
“He won't stop.”
“Neither will I.”
Leo stared.
For the first time, he didn't command her.
He asked.
“What do you want?”
Norah looked at him.
“Justice.”
Leo nodded.
“Then we get it.”
Their fake marriage had begun as an alibi.
May you like
Now it was becoming an alliance.
And neither of them yet understood that the closer they got to the truth, the more dangerous the lie between them would become.
