CHAPTER TWO
DENVER
Dante
Of all the cities Lorenzo could have sent me, it had to be Denver.
I downshift as I take the curve onto I-70, the Ducati responding like an extension of my body. The night air cuts through my leather jacket, cold enough to sting. I don't mind. The cold keeps me sharp.
The Rocky Mountains rise in the distance, snow-capped and indifferent. Beautiful, I suppose. If you're the type to notice that sort of thing.
I'm not. Not today.
Today I'm here for business. A debt that's three months overdue. Some tech entrepreneur who thought he could borrow from the Sartori family and disappear into the mountains. Thought distance would protect him.
It won't.
Lorenzo didn't even have to ask. I volunteered.
Denver, I said, when the name came up in the meeting.I'll handle it.
Nico looked at me. That knowing look he gets sometimes, the one that makes me want to put my fist through his face. He didn't say anything. He never does. But he knows.
They all know.
She lives here.
Marina Reeves. Sophia's best friend. The woman I carried out of that apartment two years ago, her blood soaking through my shirt. The woman who told me to leave her hospital room and never come back.
I left.
I've been leaving ever since.
But I know her address. Her work schedule. The route she takes to the bus stop every morning. The coffee shop she goes to on Saturdays.
I know everything.
Monitoring, I tell myself.Making sure she's safe.
I take the exit toward downtown, weaving through traffic.
The GPS on my phone directs me toward the address Nico provided. Some office building in LoDo. Our debtor has been hiding in plain sight. Working a consulting job. Living in a nice apartment. Acting like he doesn't owe us two hundred thousand dollars.
He's about to learn that distance doesn't erase debt.
I stop at a red light. A woman crosses in front of me, brown hair, average height. My chest tightens for a half-second before I see her face.
Not her.
Never her.
I've done this a thousand times. Seen her in every crowd, every street corner, every flash of brown hair and blue-green eyes. It's pathetic.
The light changes. I accelerate harder than necessary.
The thing about Marina is?—
No. I'm not doing this. Not today.
