I recognized my ex-husband Marcus the second he stepped out of room 1402 at the Grand Monarch Hotel, holding hands with his new fiancé.
The news of Alderman Williams’s execution spread like wildfire across the city. Sirens wailed in the distance, converging on the industrial zone. Every available patrol car, every responding officer, was diverted to the Calumet River. It was the chaos I had been waiting for.
“He’s pulled everyone,” Devonne said, his voice tight over the comms earpiece as I approached the Velvet Lounge. “All enforcers, all security. He’s furious. And exposed.”
The front doors of the Velvet Lounge, usually attended by uniformed guards, stood empty. The neon sign above flickered, a garish beacon in the encroaching dusk. I walked straight up to them, my worn maid uniform replaced by a simple dark trench coat, my hand clutching the micro-SD card deep in my pocket.
My heart hammered against my ribs, but my steps were steady. This was it. The moment I had been planning for, hiding for. The moment for Malik.
I pushed open the heavy glass doors, stepping into the familiar, hushed elegance of the lounge. The main bar was empty, the tables deserted. A faint scent of stale liquor and expensive cigars hung in the air.
“I’m in,” I whispered into the small microphone clipped to my collar. “He’s upstairs, in his office. Alone.”
From a parked van several blocks away, Devonne worked furiously at his laptop, his fingers flying across the keyboard. He had tapped into the Lounge’s digital security interface hours ago.
“Locking primary access points,” Devonne’s voice crackled in my ear. “Main doors, service entrances. Elevator is offline.”
The heavy steel doors behind me hissed shut with a definitive thud. The sound reverberated through the empty lounge. I tried the handle; it was locked tight.
Then, the lights flickered once, twice, and died.
Emergency lighting, powered by a backup generator, hummed to life, casting long, eerie shadows. The expensive artwork on the walls seemed to leer.
“Power cut,” Devonne announced. “Main grid. He’s isolated. You’re alone, Lisa. Good luck.”
I moved through the dim lounge, my footsteps muffled by the thick carpet. Each step brought me closer to the stairs, closer to Duke. He thought he was untouchable. He thought he had won. But I was here. And I was coming for him.
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