Chapter 2 - The Man at the Door
Nolan ran.
He didn’t threaten me.
He didn’t argue.
He simply turned and headed toward the nearest exit.
That frightened me more than anything he had said.
Because Nolan never walked away from control.
Two of Dante’s men stepped in front of the doors.
Nolan stopped.
“Move.”
Neither man moved.
Dante stayed beside me.
“Why are you running?”
“I’m leaving.”
“Without the woman you claimed you came here to protect?”
Nolan’s jaw tightened.
Then his eyes shifted toward a man near the bar.
The stranger wore a charcoal suit and a silver tie.
He had been watching us the entire time.
The moment Nolan looked at him, the stranger put down his drink.
Then he disappeared through a service corridor.
Dante noticed.
His entire posture changed.
“Marco.”
A broad-shouldered man near the wall immediately moved.
“Get him.”
Marco vanished into the crowd.
I stared at Dante.
“Who was that?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.”
Nolan tried moving again.
One of Dante’s men blocked him.
“This is kidnapping.”
Dante almost smiled.
“No.”
He nodded toward me.
“She can leave whenever she wants.”
Then he looked directly at me.
“Do you want to leave with him?”
Every instinct trained into me over the last two years screamed at me to say yes.
Keep the peace.
Protect Nolan’s pride.
Make excuses.
Survive until morning.
I looked at the bruises forming around my wrist.
Then I looked at Nolan.
“No.”
The word nearly broke me.
Nolan stared.
I repeated it.
“No.”
His face went blank.
For a second, I saw the real man beneath the polished suit.
Then he whispered something only I could hear.
“You have no idea what you just did.”
Dante heard him anyway.
“What did she do?”
Nolan smiled.
“She made herself part of something she doesn’t understand.”
My stomach tightened.
Dante stepped closer.
“What something?”
Nolan said nothing.
Marco returned several minutes later.
Alone.
“The man got out through the loading entrance.”
Dante’s eyes hardened.
“Identification?”
“Nothing confirmed.”
Marco handed him a cocktail napkin.
Something had been written across it.
Dante read the message.
Every trace of amusement vanished from his face.
I saw three words before he folded it.
SHE KNOWS NOTHING.
My blood went cold.
“Dante.”
He turned toward me.
“What does that mean?”
Nolan laughed.
Not loudly.
Not happily.
Like a man who had just realized he still possessed one weapon.
“You thought tonight was about you.”
He looked at Dante.
“It isn’t.”
Then he looked at me.
May you like
“And now she’s standing exactly where they wanted her.”
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