Chapter 10 - The Unbroken Thread
The afternoon sun finally broke through the heavy Chicago clouds, casting long, golden bars of light across the cutting table of Whitcomb & Daughter.
Mara stood by the front window, watching the black Mercedes pull away from the curb and dissolve into the midday traffic. On the table behind her, the fifty-thousand-dollar check still sat beside the ledger.
She hadn't torn it up. She hadn't deposited it either.
Instead, she picked up her father’s brass paperweight, placed it neatly over the check, and opened her ledger to a fresh, clean page. Beneath it, she laid out the dark wool fabric for Adrian’s new suit—three jackets, six pairs of trousers, and a waistcoat with hand-stitched silk lining.
She knew what he was. She knew the city he lived in, the blood on his cuffs, and the ruthless empire he was building across the freight yards and lakefront docks. She knew that by keeping his money and taking his protection, she had tied her fate to the most dangerous man in Chicago.
Yet, as she picked up her chalk and marked the first cutting line into the black wool, a fierce, defiant smile touched her lips.
May you like
Let the district change. Let the syndicates fight over the warehouses and the docks.
Men like Adrian Vale might own the buildings, the streets, and the concrete foundations beneath them, but the clothes on his back were going to be tailored by a Whitcomb. And in a city built on power, she had just proved she was the one holding the needle.
