Chapter 6 - The Shadow on the HorizonWhile the restaurant celebrated, blocks away in a high-rise office overlooking the Chicago river, a different kind of storm was brewing.
A man named Julian Vance stood by floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the live-streamed footage of Sterling’s Bistro being dismantled on social media. Vance was not a restaurateur. He was a shadow financier—the silent partner who funded half of Sterling’s illicit gambling debts and real-estate scams.
And David Sterling owed him two million dollars.
"Stupid, arrogant fool," Vance murmured, swirling amber whiskey in a heavy crystal tumbler. He turned to his chief enforcer, a scarred brute named Viktor. "Sterling was supposed to launder our downtown portfolio through that bistro. Now Vincent Kane has walked in, wiped the books clean, and taken the property."
Viktor cracked his knuckles, a cold grin spreading across his face. "Want me to send a message to Kane? Remind him he's stepping on our turf?"
Vance raised a hand, stopping him. "No. Vincent didn't take that bistro because of real estate. Look at the reports. Look at who walked in there first."
Viktor leaned over the tablet. His eyes narrowed on a blurry photo taken by a bystander through the restaurant window.
A little girl in a red hoodie, holding a black metal card.
May you like
"A kid?" Viktor scoffed.
"Not just any kid," Vance whispered, his eyes narrowing into cold slits. "Vincent Kane has spent ten years building an empire without a single visible weakness. He has no wife, no children, no known heirs. And today, he let a four-year-old girl rewrite his business agenda." Vance smiled, a slow, venomous expression. "If Vincent cares about her... then she is the key to breaking him."
