Chapter 1 - THE DISAPPEARANCE FROM LAKE FOREST DRIVEThe rain did not let up. It hammered against the bulletproof windows of the Maybach as Harold Bennett slipped into the driver’s seat, his hands steady on the leather steering wheel despite the tremor in his jaw.
In the back seat, Evelyn Russo sat upright, her spine rigid, her breathing controlled. The three lives inside her were remarkably still, as if they sensed the violent tectonic shift of their world and decided to hold their collective breath.
"Where to, Mrs. Russo?" Harold asked again, his voice cracking slightly on the title. It was a title Dante had given her, a title that now felt like a heavy, blood-stained iron collar.
Evelyn looked out the tinted window. Dante was still standing under the portico, watching the car with a frown of annoyance etched into his handsome face. He thought she was throwing a tantrum. He thought she would drive around the block, cool her heels in some hotel suite, and crawl back by morning because women like her—women wrapped in old-money security—did not simply walk away from a Russo.
He didn't know her at all.
"Not to a hotel, Harold," Evelyn said, her voice chillingly calm. "And not to my family in Boston. They would only hand me back to him with a polite apology and a check."
Harold’s eyes flickered to the rear-view mirror. "Then where, ma'am? The safe house on the coast? Or..."
"No," Evelyn interrupted, resting her hand gently over her massive belly. "We are going somewhere Dante has never set foot. Somewhere the name Russo carries no weight, and no one will ever look for a pregnant woman carrying three heirs to a criminal empire."
"Name it, Mrs. Russo. I’ll drive until the engine dies."
"The old cottage at Blackwood Cove," Evelyn whispered. "The one my grandmother left me before she died—the one Dante made me sign a non-disclosure agreement to forget about because it wasn't 'grand enough' for his portfolio."
May you like
Harold gave a grim, approving nod. He dropped the Maybach into gear, spun the tires on the wet gravel, and rocketed down the drive. As they passed the iron gates, Evelyn didn't look back once.
Inside the house, Dante tossed his cigarette into the rain and walked back inside, completely unaware that his empire had just begun to hemorrhage its very soul.
