Chapter 7 - The Final Refuge
By evening, the news had swept through the Chicago underground like wildfire.
The invincible Vincent Carter, the terror of the South Side, had been stripped of his empire, his money, and his freedom in less than forty-eight hours. He was thrown out onto the rainy streets of downtown Chicago with nothing in his pockets except the half-wilted yellow roses he had brought me.
Desperate, broken, and freezing, he dragged himself to the luxury condo on the Chicago River—the very place where he had spent his wife's labor talking to Vanessa.
He hammered on the door with bloody knuckles.
"Vanessa! Open the door! Open up, it's me!"
The lock clicked, and the door swung open. But Vanessa wasn't wearing her silk robe or smiling her sweet, helpless smile. She stood there in a heavy trench coat, holding a packed Louis Vuitton suitcase. Two burly men in expensive Italian suits stood behind her in the hallway.
"Vanessa? Thank God," Vincent breathed, stepping forward to hug her. "Listen to me, we need to leave the city. Madison took everything, but I have a stash in—"
Vanessa stepped back, her expression completely blank, eyes cold as ice. "Who are you?"
Vincent blinked, stunned. "What are you talking about? It's me, Vincent! I took you in! I bought you this condo!"
"Mr. Carter," a smooth, unfamiliar voice echoed from inside the apartment.
A tall, elegant man stepped into the light—Arthur Sterling, the rival syndicate boss from the North Side, a man Vincent had fought turf wars against for a decade.
Arthur smiled, slipping a diamond ring onto Vanessa’s finger. "Thank you for taking care of my fiancée while she was overseas, Vincent. She played her part wonderfully, getting close to you, tracking your security codes, and feeding us your ledger passwords."
Vincent stumbled backward, the blood draining completely from his face. "Fiancée...? What... what is this?"
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"Business, darling," Vanessa said, her voice dripping with venom. "You really thought I came back for you? Six years ago, you chose your family’s arranged marriage and your mob career over me. Arthur and I just needed a way to break your empire from the inside. And your brilliant, neglected wife? She handed us the hammer."
The door slammed shut in his face.
