Chapter 2
Chapter 2
She grabbed a second towel and wrapped it around Lorenzo’s shoulder. “But he will know soon.” Lorenzo studied her face, searching for fear, but found only calculation. The same quiet waitress who had served his whiskey was gone.
A distant siren passed the end of the alley. Chloe waited until the sound faded before pointing toward a narrow service corridor between two buildings. “We go on foot.” Lorenzo frowned. “I’m bleeding.” “Then stop wasting time.”
They moved through the rain, Lorenzo leaning against the brick walls whenever his injured shoulder weakened. Chloe stayed several steps ahead, checking every intersection before crossing it. She never once looked behind her, yet Lorenzo could tell she knew exactly where he was.
“You learned this somewhere,” he said. Chloe kept walking. “Everyone learns something somewhere.” “Not this.” She finally glanced back. “Some lessons are better left buried.”
They reached a small apartment building four blocks away. Chloe unlocked a side entrance with a key hidden beneath a loose brick. Lorenzo noticed there was no name on the mailbox beside her door. No photographs. No personal details. Nothing that suggested someone had lived there for years.
Inside, Chloe locked three separate bolts before helping him into a chair. She cleaned the wound with steady hands. Lorenzo watched her closely. “Who taught you to stop bleeding?” he asked.
Her hands paused for half a second. “A man who is dead.” Lorenzo said nothing. Chloe looked toward the window. Across the street, a black sedan had stopped beneath the rain. Neither of them moved.
Then the car door opened.
Chloe immediately killed the lights. Lorenzo reached for his gun, but she caught his hand. “Wait.” A figure stepped onto the sidewalk and looked directly toward her building.
Lorenzo whispered, “Victor?” Chloe shook her head. Her face had gone completely pale. “No.” She stared through the darkness. “That man is here for me.”
She reached beneath the kitchen sink and pulled out a small locked case Lorenzo had never noticed. Inside was a passport, a photograph, and a black identification card bearing a name he had never heard before.
Lorenzo looked at the photograph.
It was Chloe.
But underneath it was another name.
**Evelyn Cross.**
And beneath that name were three words that made Lorenzo’s blood run cold:
**FEDERAL WITNESS PROTECTION.**
PART 3: Lorenzo stared at the identification card while the rain tapped against the darkened window. “Federal Witness Protection?” he whispered. Chloe closed the case immediately. “You weren’t supposed to see that.” Lorenzo looked at her. “Neither was Victor supposed to know where I would be tonight.” For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
The footsteps outside stopped beneath the window. Chloe moved silently toward the curtains and lifted one corner just enough to see the street. The man in the black coat was no longer standing beside the sedan. “We have less than a minute,” she said. Lorenzo tried to stand, but his wounded shoulder nearly dropped him back into the chair. Chloe caught him before he fell.
“You need to tell me who you were,” Lorenzo said. Chloe shook her head. “I needed to disappear.” She crossed the room and pulled a hidden panel from behind a bookshelf. Inside was a narrow passage leading toward the building next door. Lorenzo stared at it in disbelief. “You built an escape route?” “I prepared for the day someone found me.”
They entered the passage just as the apartment door downstairs slammed open. Voices echoed through the building. Chloe moved faster, guiding Lorenzo through the darkness with complete confidence. “Who are they?” he whispered. “People who believe I know where evidence disappeared eight years ago.” Lorenzo glanced at her. “Evidence against whom?” Chloe stopped for a moment.
“Against the people who controlled Chicago before you inherited your family.” Lorenzo’s expression hardened. He knew exactly what she meant. Years earlier, several Capello rivals had vanished after a federal investigation collapsed without explanation. The case had always been surrounded by rumors, but Lorenzo had never known why.
A gunshot cracked somewhere behind them. Chloe immediately pushed Lorenzo against the wall. “Stay here.” She stepped around the corner and watched two shadows enter the passage. Her breathing became slow and controlled again. Lorenzo recognized that look from the restaurant. She was no longer hiding.
The first man appeared around the corner. Chloe moved before he could raise his weapon. She knocked his arm aside, drove him against the wall, and disarmed him in one fluid motion. The second man rushed forward, but Lorenzo fired once from behind her, forcing him back. Chloe looked over her shoulder.
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“You said you were injured,” she whispered. Lorenzo lowered the gun. “I never said helpless.” For the first time that night, Chloe almost smiled. Then the captured man laughed from the floor. “You really don't know who she is, do you, Capello?”
—END OF Chapter 2
