1
CARTER
There’s beauty in chaos.
Every kind of chaos if you pay enough attention.
I believed it not long ago. I was fucking certain, but seven long days of anarchy reigning supreme in my mind proved me wrong.
There’s no beauty in this chaos... only pain.
Raw, indescribable agony drags after me like a ball and chain.
The cigarette in my hand feels more like a lifeline than a distraction, its sharp taste stoking the guilt chewing at my brain cells. Hailey’syou stinkhits me every time I light one, but even a shitty distraction from my obsessive thoughts is better than none, so I don’t stop, wrinkling my nose every evening when I hit the shower.
I really do fucking stink.
“Carter, you can’t smoke in—” The bouncer outsideDeltacuts himself off when I flick my burning cigarette onto the pavement, narrowly missing his ear.
Slamming my hands against the double door, I send both wings banging against the walls of the narrow entryway, startling the hostess, who shuffles away as I enter the illuminated glass corridor.
Thumping bass shakes the club, seeping into my bones and jangling my nerves. Emerging in thePOProom, I shove through the crowd, marching with purpose, my back muscles denser than stone, heart pounding an uneasy rhythm.
I’ve made my decision, but that doesn’t mean I’m looking forward to the shitshow about to happen in Dante’s office.
Broadway appears in my path like he grew out of the floor, his wide eyes brimming with unrestrained horror.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he snaps, his voice raised so I’ll hear him over the blaring music. He braces his open palm against my chest to stop me. “Get out of here before it’s too late.”
“I’mnotleaving.” I swat his hand away, rounding the bulk of his tall frame.
“Fuck! Carter, this isn’t the way to go.” He glues his back to the door I’m heading for, eyes wide. “Calm down andthink. If he has anything solid, you’ll end up doing time!”
“Why do you think he’s coming? How did he figure out who I am? He has her, Broadway.” I jab my finger into his chest. “He knows where she is.”
“You think he’ll tell you that?” he scoffs, shaking his head. “Jeremy said he has a fucking warrant!”
Dante told me that ten minutes ago, his tone crossing the line between suggestion and order when herecommendedI head for the safe house.
I asked him why.
“Jeremy called,”he replied. The slight shake to his words didn’t bode well. Dante’s normally the epitome of control, always one step ahead of the game.“Hold on, I’ll get him on the line. You should hear it from him.”
The sweet sound of “Take This Lonely Heart”by Nothing but Thieves blasting from the speakers in my Corvette was hijacked by a bleak dial tone.
I was on my way forthe weekly meeting—a last-minute decision to make an appearance inDeltaafter ghosting both my crew and my boss all week, fruitlessly chasing even the most tentative of leads. I’ve searched all over Ohio for Hailey, leaving no stone unturned. Her home state seemed the best place to look, but I keep coming up empty.
At this pace I won’t find her for years.
Vaughn learned from his mistake. He hid Hailey much better this time around.
The phone clicked and Jeremy’s curt, biting voice filtered through my Corvette’s speakers, making me smirk.“Carrow.”
The façade was there, as always.
Despite everything the biggest mafia boss in the States has done for him, Jeremy still pretends he’s doing Dante a favor. He pretends their cooperation is an inconvenience rather than a godsend.
Thanks to Dante, he’s put four daughters through college without one cent of debt, and there’s enough left to put his grandkids through as well. Even with the six trust funds, he has more cash than one man can spend in a lifetime. He’s the Chief of Police in Chicago and has been helping Dante for years. Evidence goes missing, crime scenes are miraculously swept clean of prints or polluted when there’s no time, and get-out-of-jail free cards are handed out whenever required.
