Chapter 1 - The Phantom Package
The damp air of the Beacon Hill basement usually brought Madeline a sense of peace.
Today, it felt entirely like a buried coffin.
She sat at her small desk, cataloging a stack of eighteenth-century letters for Professor Elias.
Her hands moved with practiced precision, but her mind remained trapped in a Chicago skyscraper.
It had been eleven weeks since she vanished into the frozen night.
Eleven weeks since she heard Dominic Valente condemn her to a quiet disposal.
Her hand instinctively dropped to her slightly rounded belly.
The baby was growing safely, completely oblivious to the mafia war raging a thousand miles away.
She took a deep breath and forced her eyes back to the yellowed parchment.
Suddenly, a heavy knock rattled the thin wood of her basement door.
Madeline instantly froze in her chair.
No one knew she lived here except her elderly landlord.
She crept toward the door, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.
She peered through the dirty peephole but saw only the empty, snowy alley.
Opening the door a fraction of an inch, she let the freezing wind bite into her cheeks.
A small black velvet box sat perfectly centered on her welcome mat.
She pulled it inside, her trembling fingers breaking the intricate wax seal.
Inside rested the exact same half-burned ultrasound picture she had washed down her kitchen sink in Chicago.
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Beneath the charred paper was a handwritten note in perfectly elegant script.
The note read, "Did you really think water could wash away what belongs to me?"
