Chapter 4

Sofie’s head started spinning. A sharp headache slammed into her skull, forcing her to grip the armrest tighter. Two years in Chicago and her life had turned into a full-blown nightmare.

From the hands of one mafia boss to another. From one abduction to the next.

She felt like a pawn being passed across a chessboard controlled by men who ruled the underworld.

This wasn’t the life she pictured when she left Brooklyn.

She had come to Chicago for a fresh start. A simple job. A simple life. She never planned to get tangled up with made men, blood oaths, and Family wars. She definitely never agreed to become collateral in some long-standing vendetta between powerful crime syndicates. But that’s exactly what happened.

First, she unknowingly signed up to work under Ronan, a capo, with fire in his blood and enemies in every corner. Now she was sitting in another capo’s mansion, guarded like an asset.

Her entire life was orbiting around the Outfit now. And it didn’t look like it was ending anytime soon.

Her breathing grew uneven. How did it all spiral so badly?

Her thoughts drifted back, pulling her into the moment everything began.

A YEAR A NINE MONTHS AGO.

Sofie Lancelot stood frozen as the casket was slowly lowered into the earth.

Her eyes were swollen, red, and burning, yet somehow, they refused to stop crying. It was as if the tears had taken over her body, spilling out no matter how much it hurt.

Inside that casket lay her grandmother. The woman who had taken her in when she was just seven years old. The woman who became her mother after her real one walked away without looking back, choosing another man and another life.

Her grandmother had been everything, her home, her safety, her backbone.

She wasn’t supposed to die like this. She wasn’t even old. Just fifty. Strong, lively, always moving, always doing something. Until that heartless illness trapped her in its grip for four long years, slowly draining the life out of her.

A surgery could have saved her. But it never happened, because the money wasn’t complete.

“Go on, place your flowers,” Betty Winterland, her best friend, whispered softly, tugging her back to the moment.

Sofie tightened her grip on the bunch of white lilies in her hand and stumbled forward, moving like someone whose bones had been taken out of her body.

With trembling hands, she placed the flowers gently on the casket and bowed her head, her eyes glued to the box disappearing into the ground.

She stayed there, crying, staring, breaking, until Betty finally stepped closer, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and gently led her away.

Through blurred vision, Sofie watched other mourners step forward one after another, laying flowers, murmuring prayers, paying their last respects.

Soon, soil covered the casket, sealing the truth she wasn’t ready to accept. Slowly, people began to leave.

“Miss Sofie!” A male voice called out.

She stopped and turned, her swollen eyes lifting toward the sound. The moment she recognized him, another sob ripped through her chest.

It was Doctor Thomas. Her grandmother’s longtime doctor. A staff of the same hospital where she took her last breath.

He rushed to her and pulled her into a hug. “Hey, take it easy,” he murmured gently.

She shoved him hard, like he was an enemy she’d been fighting for years. “Don’t touch me!” she snapped. “This is your fault!”

Doctor Thomas stiffened, pain flashing across his face. “I did everything I could, Sofie. I’m so sorry.”

“You did nothing!” Sofie screamed, her voice cracking. “All of you did nothing! It was just twenty thousand dollars left, and you people still refused to do the surgery!”

His brows pulled together, irritation slipping through his grief. “Calm down,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. “I know you’re hurting. Let me take you home.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” she yelled, hitting his chest again, this time harder, fueled by pain and rage. “You doctors are useless!” Her face was soaked with tears, her breathing wild and uneven.

“Hey, Sofie, please,” Betty whispered, pulling her closer.

Sofie shoved her away violently. “That woman in that box shouldn’t be dead!” she cried, pointing back at the grave. “But him and every single person in a white coat, put her there!”

The pain in her voice was unbearable. This wasn’t just grief. This was a heart ripped apart, crushed beyond repair.

Doctor Thomas lowered his voice, struggling to stay calm. “Doctors aren’t heartless,” he said firmly. “I made sure treatment started even when the money wasn’t paid.”

He had used his influence to begin the first procedure, risking his own position.

“Lies!” Sofie snapped, turning sharply to Betty. “You know the truth. The bill was eighty thousand. I raised sixty thousand. And still, they refused to continue unless I paid everything!”

Doctor Thomas frowned deeply. “No payment was made,” he said quietly. “You need to go home. You don’t look okay.”

She laughed bitterly, the kind of laugh that carried no humor at all. “I sent the money to Franklin,” she spat. “I was away. He paid it.”

Thomas sighed, helpless. “Franklin didn’t make any payment.”

Her eyes flickered. Slowly, she turned to Betty, confusion clouding her face. “He didn’t?” she whispered. “He did… wait…” She scanned the cemetery wildly. “Where’s Franklin?”

Betty sighed and glanced at Thomas, worry written all over her face. Something was wrong. Sofie wasn’t thinking straight.

“Franklin didn’t come,” Betty said gently. “Let’s go home.”

Sofie slapped her hand away. “Don’t touch me! I saw Franklin!”

“Sofie!” Betty snapped, panic creeping into her voice. “Franklin wasn’t here! Who did you see? Now let’s go please!”

Sofie’s eyes darted around the cemetery again, her breathing shallow. “He didn’t come?” she whispered, disbelief shaking her voice.

“He didn’t,” Betty said firmly.

That was when reality hit her. Franklin, her fiancé of five years, had not shown up for her grandmother’s funeral.

Her eyes widened in horror. “Franklin…” she cried, fear flooding her face. “Something must have happened to him!”

Panic swallowed her whole. Before anyone could stop her, Sofie turned and ran out of the cemetery, sobbing, moving like a woman who had just lost everything and was about to lose even more.

Doctor Thomas and Betty immediately ran after her

“Sofie, wait!” Betty shouted, panic tearing through her voice.

What if she ran into the road? What if a car hit her? The thought alone made Betty’s chest contract in fear.

They caught up with Sofie just before she reached the street. Without hesitation, Doctor Thomas scooped her up in his arms and rushed toward his car.

“Put me down!” Sofie screamed, kicking, hitting, slapping his chest and shoulders like a wild thing. “Let me go!”

Thomas said nothing. He gritted his teeth, took the blows, and kept moving. He refused to let grief push her over the edge. He refused to let her lose herself completely.

People nearby stopped and watched, shaking their heads sadly. Anyone could see this wasn’t madness. It was heartbreak.

“My car key, in my pocket,” Thomas said through strained breaths, nodding toward his trousers as Betty struggled to keep up beside him.

Betty shoved her hand into his pocket and pulled out the keys, wincing as Sofie’s heels struck her legs again and again.

“You’re all heartless!” Sofie cried. “Betty, you’re the worst of them!”

Betty ignored the words. She unlocked the car, and Thomas carefully but quickly placed Sofie inside before slamming the door shut.

He rushed to the driver’s seat while Betty climbed in, immediately holding Sofie back when she tried to get out again.

Thomas started the engine, locked the doors, and drove off.

“Franklin might be in danger,” Sofie sobbed, her voice breaking into helpless fragments. “Please, let me check on him.”

Franklin had adored her grandmother. There was no way he would miss her funeral unless something was terribly wrong. Her instincts screamed at her, loud and violent, that something bad had happened.

And he had called her that morning. Told her he was on his way. How had she not noticed he never showed up? Grief had blinded her completely.

“If you don’t pull yourself together,” Thomas said quietly, eyes fixed on the road, “I won’t drive you to his house.”

The words snapped her back. She wiped her face roughly, sniffed hard a few times, then nodded. “Okay… okay.”

With shaking hands, she pulled out her phone from the bag slung across her shoulder and dialed Franklin’s number.

“He’s not answering,” she whispered, fear dripping from every word.

“Give me directions,” Thomas said.

Almost an hour later, they arrived at Franklin’s house.

Before the car fully stopped, Sofie unlocked the door and jumped out, nearly tripping as she sprinted toward the entrance.

“God, please,” Betty muttered as she hurried after her. “She’s going to hurt herself.”

Sofie twisted the doorknob without thinking and the door opened. Her heart skipped violently. Franklin never left his door unlocked.

Fear crawled up her spine. She rushed into the living room, scanning wildly. No one was there.

She ran to the bedroom, pushed the door open and froze.

Franklin was on the bed naked. A woman was on top of him, just as bare, moving against him like nothing else in the world mattered.

“Franklin!” Sofie screamed.

The movement stopped instantly. Both of them turned toward the door, eyes wide, faces drained of color.

Sofie’s heart shattered completely. The woman wasn’t a stranger. She was Anna, Franklin's cousin. Or so, he told her.