Chapter 1 - The Cold Rain of Departure
The rain hit Evelyn’s face like ice as she stepped beyond the heavy iron gates of the Vale estate. The dark asphalt of the suburban driveway gleamed beneath the streetlights, reflecting the gray sky that hung low over the northern coast.
She didn't run. Running attracted attention, and in Marcus Vale’s world, attention was a death sentence.
In her right hand, she gripped the handle of the canvas duffel bag. Inside were twelve thousand dollars in unmarked bills, a forged driver's license she had purchased three years ago as a desperate precaution, two changes of simple clothing, and the small, creased ultrasound printout.
Her mind was a cold, empty hall. Every time the image of Marcus’s hands on Chloe’s waist tried to surface, she shoved it back down beneath a wall of pure survival instinct.
At forty-two minutes past six, she reached a gas station two miles from the main gate. She paid cash for a ticket on a regional bus headed toward Boston, sitting in the back near the fogged window as the engine roared to life.
As the bus pulled away, Evelyn touched her abdomen through her wet coat. The sickness in her throat had settled into a quiet, dull ache.
She was twenty-eight years old, homeless, penniless in all the ways that mattered, and carrying the twin heirs of the most dangerous crime organization in New England.
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Back at the mansion, the study door would eventually open. Marcus would call her name. Chloe would smooth her skirt and fix her pendant. And when they realized the house was empty, the hunt would begin.
Evelyn closed her eyes and leaned her head against the vibrating glass. "We are gone," she whispered into the dark interior of the bus. "And we are never coming back."
