The next part of the story is waiting. Continue reading into Chapter Two.

-4

The grandfather clock ticked off another heavy minute before Enzo broke the stillness.

“A score to settle,” he repeated, tasting the words on his tongue like a rare, bitter wine. He rested his hands on the examination table on either side of her thighs, trapping her in the small space between his arms. His cologne—heavy with cedar, amber, and smoke—filled her senses. “Tell me about the score, Adeline. Or whatever your real name is.”

Adeline didn't shrink back. She leaned into the space, her chin lifting defiantly. “My name is Adeline. Adeline Croft. That part of the resume wasn't a lie. The part about the Evanston schoolteacher was.”

“Go on,” Enzo prompted quietly, his eyes locked onto hers.

“Three years ago, my father was the chief union delegate for the South Side grain elevators,” Adeline began, her voice dropping into a register of cold, suppressed rage that mirrored his own. “He wasn't a criminal. He didn't smuggle drugs or run guns. He just wanted fair wages for men who broke their backs unloading freight ships in the dead of winter. Then one night, his brakes failed on the highway coming home from a meeting with the port authority.”

Enzo’s expression darkened instantly. He knew the port authority. He knew every corrupt bureaucrat who took envelopes beneath the table along the Chicago River.

“The official report called it a tragic accident,” Adeline continued, her hands curling into tight fists inside the sleeves of his coat. “A faulty master cylinder. But I found the mechanic’s ledger hidden in my father's desk. The master cylinder hadn't failed; it had been sawed through and re-sealed with industrial epoxy. And the man who paid for the repair, the man who signed off on the port authority inspection waiver, was Viktor Vance—acting through a front company managed by none other than Viktor’s chief financial fixer.”

She paused, taking a sharp breath to steady the tremor in her voice.

“And who was sitting right beside Viktor in the boardroom when they signed the contract to buy out my father’s union? A junior operative from the state treasurer's office. Thomas.”

The puzzle pieces snapped together in Enzo’s mind with the terrifying clarity of a guillotine blade dropping into place. This wasn't a random act of domestic heroism. This was a blood feud wrapped in a maid's uniform.

“You infiltrated my house,” Enzo said, his voice barely a whisper, “not to steal the silver, not to spy for a rival family... but because you knew Viktor’s executioner would eventually cross paths with my household.”

“I didn't know Thomas would be here tonight,” Adeline corrected. “I thought I’d have to wait months, digging through your private files or following your lieutenants down to the docks, to find a link back to Viktor. But when I saw Thomas slip that capsule into Camilla’s glass... I realized God had given me a shortcut.”

Enzo stared at her for a long time. In his world, vengeance was a religion. He understood blood debts better than anyone alive; he had built an empire on collecting them. But to see such calculated, ice-cold patience in a twenty-four-year-old girl—a girl who had endured beatings from a spoiled socialite without breaking cover just to position herself near her enemy—impressed him in a way few things ever had.

“You’re playing a very dangerous game, Adeline,” Enzo said softly, his thumb reaching out to lightly brush against a stray lock of dark hair falling across her forehead. The touch was startlingly gentle, completely at odds with the lethal promise in his eyes. “If Viktor finds out who you are, he won't use a riding crop. He’ll feed you to the eels in Lake Michigan.”

“Let him try,” Adeline whispered fiercely. “He already took everything else I had.”

Enzo dropped his hand, standing straight up. He turned toward the door, his mind already calculating a dozen different ways to weaponize this revelation.

“Stay in this room,” Enzo commanded over his shoulder as he reached for the brass doorknob. “Lock the door behind me. Don't speak to anyone, and don't try to leave.”

“Where are you going?” Adeline asked, slipping off the examination table.