Chapter 2 - The Cold Reality Behind The Broken Glass
The heavy silence inside the high-end Chicago steakhouse private dining room felt like ice freezing over a lake.
The Aggressive Man, whose name was Julian Vance, remained on his knees on the cold marble floor, his tailored midnight-black suit rumpled and his dark burgundy tie twisted.
His face burned red with a mixture of absolute embarrassment and fury as he glared up at the Waitress, Maya Vance.
Maya did not flinch, standing with her hands clasped loosely in front of her emerald-green skirt, her low bun still immaculately pinned.
Across the room, sitting in his dark leather wingback chair, the Boss—Marcus "The Brick" Callahan—exhaled a slow plume of thick blue cigar smoke.
His two massive bodyguards stood like stone statues behind him, their dark charcoal-blue suits emphasizing their broad shoulders.
“Get up, Julian,” Marcus said, his voice a low, gravelly baritone that carried over the faint hum of the room's ventilation.
Julian scrambled to his feet, adjusting his expensive watch and brushing off his knees with shaking hands.
“Marcus, this girl assaulted me!” Julian snapped, his voice tight with wounded pride. “You saw what she did!”
“I saw you put your hands on a woman carrying seventy-two-year-old scotch on a silver tray,” Marcus replied coldly.
He tapped the ash of his thick cigar into a crystal tray beside the small American flag sitting on the mahogany side table.
“And more importantly, I saw a woman who handles leverage better than my entire security team.”
Maya met Marcus’s dark eyes across the polished floor, her calm expression hiding the rapid beating of her heart.
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She was not just a waitress working double shifts in downtown Chicago to pay off medical bills; she was a former federal agent living under a scrubbed identity.
And Julian Vance, the arrogant real estate heir standing before her, had just walked right into the middle of her long-term sting operation.
