Chapter 4 - The Ghost in the Alley
Nora stopped breathing.
Her older brother Leo had died in a car accident twelve years ago.
She had attended the funeral.
She had watched the dirt fall onto his casket.
Yet here he was, wearing a tactical vest and holding an assault rifle.
He looked older, scarred, and completely devoid of the warmth she remembered.
"Leo?" she whispered, her mind violently rejecting reality.
"There is no time, get in the damn car," Leo shouted.
Roman shoved her forcefully toward the open door of the SUV.
She scrambled inside, falling onto the heavy ballistic floor mats.
Roman jumped in right behind her.
Tommy emerged from the alley a second later, sprinting toward the vehicle.
He threw himself into the passenger seat just as bullets began pinging off the armored exterior.
"Drive!" Leo yelled to the driver.
The heavy SUV surged forward, slamming through a row of parked cars to escape the ambush.
Nora pushed herself up onto the leather seat, staring at her brother.
"You are dead," she stammered, her voice shaking uncontrollably.
"You died when I was sixteen."
Leo did not look at her.
He was busy slamming a fresh magazine into his rifle.
"I had to disappear, Nora," Leo replied coldly.
"Dad got into bed with the Chicago outfit."
"They wanted collateral to ensure his loyalty."
"I faked the crash so they could not use me as leverage."
Nora felt violently ill.
Her entire life, her grief, her struggles, all of it had been built on a foundation of lies.
"So you just left me?" she asked, her voice cracking.
"You left me alone with him?"
"I left you safe," Leo snapped back.
"Until this idiot dragged you into his war," Leo added, glaring fiercely at Roman.
Roman casually adjusted his cuffs, entirely unbothered by the heavy rifle in Leo's hands.
"I kept her alive for three years while you were hiding in Europe, Leo," Roman stated smoothly.
"Do not pretend you suddenly care about family."
"You only came back because Chicago found the ledger."
Nora looked frantically between the two men.
"What ledger?" she demanded.
"What is everyone talking about?"
Leo finally looked at her, his expression grim.
"Dad did not just do accounting, Nora."
"He stole twenty million dollars from the Chicago syndicate before they killed him."
"He hid the money in a ghost account, and the account number is encrypted."
Roman leaned forward, his dark eyes locking onto Nora.
"The encryption key was mailed to you three years ago," Roman said.
Nora shook her head rapidly.
"I never received anything."
"I ran away before the mail even arrived."
"We know," Leo said softly.
"Because I intercepted the package before Roman could get his hands on it."
Leo reached into his tactical vest.
He pulled out a small, ornate silver locket.
It was the exact locket Nora’s mother had given her, the one she thought she lost years ago.
"The key is micro-engraved on the inside of the clasp," Leo explained.
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Before Nora could process this, a massive jolt rocked the SUV.
A heavily armored truck had just slammed directly into the passenger side of their vehicle.
