Chapter 2 - The Back Alley ExitThe service exit of The Glass Monarch opened onto a rain-slicked Chicago alleyway where three black Mercedes vans idled with their headlights off. The damp autumn air hit Evelyn like a physical blow, chilling the sweat on the back of her neck.
Richard Vale was bundled into the middle van with two guards holding his arms to keep him from hyperventilating. Miles Grant, his shoulder crudely bandaged and bleeding through the white linen napkin, was shoved into the third van.
Kenji gestured toward the second van, holding the door open himself.
"Get in," he said.
"I have a bicycle locked to the pole on Wabash," Evelyn said flatly, refusing to move her feet. "And my shift ends at midnight. If I don't punch out, payroll docks my tips."
Kenji stared at her for three seconds, then let out a dry, humorless bark of laughter. It was the first time his expression had truly shifted.
"Your tips, Evelyn-san, are about to become completely irrelevant," he said, catching her by the elbow—not roughly, but with an immovable, ironclad grip that left no room for debate. "In my world, you just intercepted a multi-million-dollar betrayal. You think you can walk back to a studio apartment above a laundromat and pretend nothing happened?"
"They know where I work!" Evelyn hissed, planting her boots against the pavement. "If I vanish with a Japanese crime syndicate, the Chicago police department will have my face on every news station by morning."
"The Chicago police department," Kenji leaned in close, his breath warm against her ear, "are currently wondering why their chief of detectives just received a very large wire transfer from Miles Grant's offshore account. Trust me, nobody is looking for a waitress tonight."
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The reality of the situation crashed down upon her like the silver tray she had dropped. There was no going back. The invisible life she had built—the quiet misery, the safety of being ignored—was shattered forever.
She climbed into the back of the leather-trimmed van. Kenji slid in beside her, pulling the heavy door shut with a muffled thud that locked out the rest of the world.
