Chapter 4 - The Infiltration
The burner phone wasn't just sitting in a locker. It was being held as collateral by a mid-level loan shark named Tommy "The Ghost" Rossi, who operated out of a high-end underground casino in Manhattan. Hector had owed Tommy money.
"I can't go in there," Silas said, parking the town car two blocks from the casino entrance. "Tommy knows my face. If he sees me, I'm dead."
"Give me the earpiece," Elena demanded.
She had traded her hospital scrubs for a sleek, borrowed black cocktail dress that hid her bandages but accentuated her sharp, aristocratic features. She didn't look like a battered wife. She looked like a woman who owned the room.
Elena walked past the bouncers, her heart pounding against her cracked ribs. The casino was a sensory overload of flashing lights, cigar smoke, and clinking chips.
Guided by Silas through the earpiece, she found Tommy sitting at a VIP poker table in the back. She didn't hesitate. She walked right up to him and slammed a stack of Silas's cash on the felt.
"I'm buying Hector Diaz's debt," Elena said smoothly, staring the dangerous man dead in the eye.
Tommy laughed, a cruel, raspy sound. "And who the hell are you, sweetheart?"
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"I'm the woman Hector failed to kill," Elena replied, her voice ice-cold. "You have his phone. I want it. If you don't give it to me, I'll make sure the Feds know exactly which offshore accounts you're using to launder your skim."
Tommy’s smile vanished. He stared at the bruised, unbreakable woman standing before him. Slowly, he reached into his jacket and slid a cheap plastic cell phone across the table.
