Chapter 10 - The Realization
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Rumors in the criminal underworld spread faster than a wildfire. Within three days, everyone knew that Dante Caruso had publicly claimed a woman, and that she was wearing a diamond the size of a glacier on her left hand.
Unfortunately, rumors also reach the gutter.
Marcus sat in a dingy, smoke-filled dive bar on the South Side, nursing a cheap beer. He was in deep trouble. He had borrowed twenty thousand dollars from a loan shark connected to the Volkov syndicate to cover his poker debts, and the deadline had passed yesterday.
The bartender placed a phone on the sticky counter in front of Marcus.
“It’s for you,” the bartender grunted, walking away.
Marcus picked it up with a shaking hand. “Hello?”
“Marcus,” a heavy Russian voice growled through the receiver. “You are late. My boss, Mr. Volkov, is running out of patience.”
“I have the money! I just need two more days!” Marcus pleaded, sweating profusely.
“You do not have the money,” the Russian laughed cruelly. “But you have something else of value. We hear your ex-wife has suddenly moved up in the world. We hear she is sleeping in the bed of Dante Caruso.”
Marcus felt all the blood drain from his face. The man in the ballroom. The giant who had nearly crushed his skull against the brick wall. That was Dante Caruso?
“She hates me,” Marcus stammered, terror seizing his chest. “We divorced! I have nothing to do with her!”
“But you know her routines,” the Russian pressed, his voice dropping into a deadly whisper. “You know her weaknesses. You know her family. You are going to help us track her movements, Marcus. Or we will start cutting off your fingers until your debt is paid in blood.”
Marcus swallowed hard, staring at his trembling hands. He was a coward, and cowards always choose the path of least resistance.
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“Okay,” Marcus whispered into the phone. “What do you need me to do?”
Across the city, entirely unaware of the bounty placed on my head, I was sitting in the library of the Caruso estate, reading a book by the fireplace. The diamond ring flashed in the firelight, a heavy, beautiful promise of safety that was about to be violently tested.
