Chapter 2
Detective Sarah Miller of the Chicago Police Department rushed down the hallway, her badge glinting under the lights as her hand rested on her holster.
"Put the weapon down right now, Ethan!" Sarah ordered, her voice echoing through the hospital wing.
Ethan slowly lowered the firearm, sliding the magazine out and clearing the live chamber with a single smooth motion before tossing the weapon onto the couch.
Marcus gasped for air, clutching his chest as his remaining men scrambled to protect him.
"Officer, arrest this lunatic immediately!" Marcus demanded, his voice trembling with rage. "He just assaulted my security team and threatened my life!"
Detective Miller looked at the broken wall, the bodyguard groaning on the floor, and then at Ethan’s unsettlingly calm face.
She knew Ethan Vance—or rather, Ethan Cross, as he had called himself for the last five years since marrying Clara.
To the world, Ethan was a quiet freelance archivist who restored historic books in a quiet suburban workshop.
But Sarah had served three tours in Ramadi with Special Forces before joining the CPD, and she recognized that posture anywhere.
Ethan was not a civilian; he was a ghost from a top-secret black-ops unit that officially did not exist.
"Everyone calm down," Sarah said sternly, stepping between Ethan and the billionaire family. "Mr. Vance, your men were seen fleeing the scene of Mrs. Cross’s hit-and-run accident on Lake Shore Drive."
"That is a baseless slander!" Marcus snapped, adjusting his lapels. "My family was attending a charitable fundraiser at the Drake Hotel when the accident occurred."
"It wasn't an accident," Ethan said coldly, staring directly into Marcus’s eyes. "It was an ambush."
"Ethan, come with me right now," Sarah whispered, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from the crowd.
They stepped into an empty stairwell, the heavy fire door shutting out the noise of the hospital.
"What are you doing, Ethan?" Sarah demanded, her eyes wide with concern. "You can't go around snapping wrists in front of hospital security!"
"They took my child, Sarah," Ethan said, his voice dropping an octave into a tone that chilled her spine.
"I know, and I am so sorry," Sarah replied softly. "But Marcus Vance controls half the judges in Cook County and the District Attorney's office."
"If you move against him openly, they will lock you away for life or put a bullet in the back of your head."
Ethan looked out the frosted stairwell window at the snow falling over the Chicago skyline.
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"They think they are safe behind their money and legal teams," Ethan said quietly.
"They forgot why I left the military, Sarah."
