A key encrusted in rubies.
Rubies, which I associate with one person and one person alone.
I hold it in front of me, catching the light off Alissa’s phone.“This must be a key to something Rouge owns!”
“What makes you say that?”Alissa asks.
“Who else do you know who would take the time to glue precious stones to her personal effects?”
“Good point.”
I pace outside the car, completely ignoring the rain as it pelts against me and soaks through the T-shirt and sweats I’m wearing.“This means that we can finally end this.That we can?—”
I shut my mouth.
The fireworks of joy that have been exploding in my brain from the unraveling of this decade-old clue from my father are snuffed out in an instant.
Because those little plans Alissa and I bandied about just now?The little trip to the UK to visit her father?
Those are going to have to be put on hold.
“Alissa,” I say, turning toward her slowly.“We have to go back to Aces.Tonight.”
32
ALISSA
Itake a step back from Maddox, my eyes wide.“No.No,no.If we set foot inside of that club, we’re history.We’ll end up in that back alley right next to Bill’s body, our throats slit.Or our heads removed.Or both.”
“Technically, you do slit the throat when you remove a head,” he says.
“This isn’t funny!”I stomp my foot on the ground.“I can’t allow the man I love to go into that dreadful place.Not now, not now that we know that we love each other.”I grab his arms.“We could go far away from here.You can fly anywhere from O’Hare direct.It doesn’t even have to be London.We could go somewhere far away, where Rouge will never find us.Live out our lives in peace.”
He darts his gaze around.“A fair point.”
“At the very least, we could go away for a short while.Come back when things have calmed a bit.When Rouge’s guard is down.”
He sighs.“Alissa, I don’t think Rouge’s guard iseverdown.If someone is on her shit list, they’re not long for this world.As far as we know, she still has no idea that we know about May.All she knows is that Imighthave an inkling that my father’s death was not entirely by natural causes.Half of Chicago thought his death was a conspiracy when it occurred.He was massively unpopular because of that legislation he ran through.”
I bite my lip.“And the longer we wait…”
“The more time we give her to strike.”He massages my shoulders.“Rouge is extremely well traveled.She goes to all corners of the globe to find servers for Aces.And not just servers.Bar staff, the dealers in the Diamonds section.It might take her some time, but she’ll find us.”
“And who knows how many more people she’ll have killed by then,” I whisper.
“Exactly.We know she’s had May and Bill offed just in the last week.Probably Svetlana, too.At that rate, we could be talking about dozens of lost lives.It seems like Rouge likes to pick off anyone who doesn’t follow her rules to the absolute letter.”
The thought of May brings tears to my eyes.“Those poor people…”
“You’re right.”He brushes a tear from my cheek.“And it’s up to us to stop her.”
“How can we?She has the cops and the politicians on her side.She even sits on the board of my bloody hospital.”
“True, but we have this.”He holds up the ruby-encrusted key.“If we find whatever this key goes to—probably a safe or something—I bet we’ll find some damning evidence.The kind that the cops and politicians won’t be able to ignore.The kind that will turn the court of public opinion against her.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure aboutanyof this, Alissa.But my father’s dying wish was that I get my hands on this key.I’m guessing he figured out what Rouge was up to, but she caught him.He knew his days were numbered, so he hid this key in the pocket of the car door.He was already planning on leaving me the car and the club membership—I figure he wanted to give me a taste of the high life, tempt me into going for that trust money—but he realized that he could use those bequests to his advantage.That’s why he stopped at my mom’s house, made sure that someone living knew how important it was that I get the car.And then he came up with that little riddle to get me to find the key.”He sighs.“Only took the better part of a decade.”
