Chapter 6 - The Shadow of Marcus Vance
Unbeknownst to Ethan, his aggressive corporate search had inadvertently triggered alarms within a very different circle of Chicago’s underworld. In a high-end private office overlooking the financial district, a ruthless corporate fixer named Marcus Vance—unrelated to the pediatrician—stared at a digital surveillance report sent by an informant at St. Jude’s clinic. Marcus Vance was a man who specialized in burying corporate scandals, corporate extortion, and enforcing predatory high-interest loans against desperate individuals. Five years ago, Grace Bennett had borrowed a significant emergency sum from an unregulated lending shell company managed by Vance’s syndicate to pay for her mother’s initial medical treatments, signing a contract under extreme duress. When Grace had fled Chicago to protect her unborn child from Vance’s extortion ring, Vance had spent years searching for her, intending to repossess her late mother’s valuable downtown real estate deed that had been used as collateral. Seeing that billionaire Ethan Caldwell—Grace’s wealthy ex-boyfriend—was now scouring the city looking for her, Vance smiled a cold, razor-thin smile. “The billionaire is looking for his long-lost girlfriend,” Vance murmured to his enforcer across the desk. “Let him play the white knight. But make sure we reach Grace and the property deed before he does. If Caldwell gets his hands on her, our leverage vanishes.” Unaware of the lethal chess game closing in around them, Ethan and Thorne continued their relentless sweep through the bitter Chicago night, racing against time to find Grace before the shadows claimed her completely.
