Chapter 4 - The Shadow on the Balcony
Claire pushed through the brass revolving doors of the grand hotel, stepping out into the chilly night air. The city street was crowded with idling black town cars, drivers leaning against fenders in the damp drizzle, waiting for high-profile patrons who were now trapped inside an unfolding federal crime scene. She stopped under the glowing entrance canopy, the biting wind instantly cooling the burning slap mark on her cheek.
Slowly, without making her movement obvious to the private security guards standing near the curbside, Claire raised her eyes across the avenue. Directly opposite the hotel stood the historic marble facade of the Sinclair Library, its towering colonnades bathed in dim architectural spotlights. On the second-floor stone balcony, partially obscured behind a massive Corinthian pillar, stood a figure dressed in a long, dark wool overcoat.
A silver cigarette lighter flared in the darkness across the street. The tiny flame illuminated the chiseled jawline, the familiar scar tracing from the lower lip down to the throat, and dark, piercing eyes staring directly at her.
Christian.
Her heart hit her ribs like a sledgehammer. It was impossible. She had attended his private memorial service five years ago in Geneva after his charter plane had disintegrated over the Alps. She had watched the sealed casket sink into the frozen earth. She had signed the estate dispersals herself, convinced that the board’s hostile takeover had pushed him into a fatal, reckless flight path.
May you like
The figure closed the lighter with a sharp, audible snap that seemed to carry through the quiet city mist. He did not wave or nod. He simply turned his back to the balustrade, melting into the shadows of the library terrace just as a black sedan with tinted windows pulled up against the hotel curb, blocking Claire’s line of sight.
The rear window of the idling sedan rolled down three inches. An unfamiliar voice murmured from within: ""Get in, Claire. Before Julian's associates realize the raid didn't come from the government.""
