Chapter 2 - The Invitation on Woodward AvenueThe card sat in Sienna’s pocket like a hot coal for the rest of the night.
By 2:00 AM, The Onyx Room was empty, the floors mopped, the linen tablecloths bundled for the laundry. Teo had barely spoken two words to her during checkout, his eyes avoiding hers out of a superstitious dread. Working for Julian Rourke’s orbit wasn't something people talked about openly in Detroit—you either disappeared into his world willingly, or you disappeared from it feet first.
When Sienna finally stepped out onto Woodward Avenue, the Detroit wind bit straight through her cheap wool coat. The streetlights flickered against the wet asphalt, reflecting the red and blue neon of passing cruisers.
She pulled the heavy card out. Embossed in matte black lettering against heavy cream cardstock were two words: The Rourke Foundation, 404 Grand River Ave. No phone number. No title. Just an address that sat dead in the center of the city’s most notorious industrial district.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. A text from Grace-General Hospital billing: Balance past due: $3,450. Immediate payment required to maintain scheduled dialysis treatments.
Sienna stared at the screen until the glowing numbers blurred behind hot, angry tears. She was twenty-four years old. Her father had died in a factory collapse when she was twelve, leaving behind a stack of medical bills and a mother who had slowly faded into a whisper of her former self. Sienna had spent her youth trading textbooks for night shifts, college dreams for minimum-wage tips, and dignity for the right to keep her mother alive three days a week.
She looked down at the black card again.
May you like
Let's see if you're smart enough to walk out of it.
"I'm not smart," she whispered to the empty street, her breath pluming white in the freezing air. "I'm desperate."
