Chapter 4 - The Ghost in the City
While the master suite of the Blackwood mansion remained locked down like a maximum-security prison, the cold winds of Chicago swept through the downtown streets, carrying with them a threat that neither Lily nor Victor anticipated.
In a dimly lit diner three blocks from the Magnificent Mile, a man sat in a corner booth nursing a lukewarm cup of black coffee.
Derek Vance looked older than his thirty-two years. The charm that had once won him promotions and social circles had curdled into a bitter, obsessive hardness. His tailored suit was slightly rumpled, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, and his fingers drummed a frantic, impatient tattoo against the Formica tabletop.
For two years, he had searched for her.
At first, he had told himself she would come back—that a helpless little mouse like Lily couldn't survive in the real world without his money, his protection, his guidance. But as months turned into years, his obsession had hardened into a furious, vindictive crusade. She was his wife. She belonged to him. No woman walked out on Derek Vance and got away with it.
A private investigator he had hired three weeks ago had finally hit paydirt.
Derek pulled a folded piece of paper from his coat pocket and smoothed it out on the table.
Lily Parker. Current alias: Lily Vance (unprocessed divorce). Last known employment: Private nanny for the Blackwood household, Barrington Hills.
Derek let out a low, humorless laugh.
The Blackwoods. One of the most notoriously dangerous families in the Midwest.
Most men would have backed off upon realizing the woman they were hunting was working for a ruthless mafia boss. But Derek wasn't thinking rationally. His pride had been wounded, his ego shattered, and his possessive rage blinded him to any sense of self-preservation.
He slid a twenty-dollar bill across the table, stood up from the booth, adjusted his trench coat, and stepped out into the biting Chicago chill.
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He didn't care about the Blackwoods. He didn't care about guns, syndicates, or underworld bosses.
All he cared about was dragging his runaway wife back home where she belonged.
