Chapter 1
I told Chicago’s most feared man, “My mother has the same tattoo as you,” and his glass slipped from his hand. Then an old photograph made him ask the question that could get me killed.
I was twenty, working the evening shift at the Golden Crown restaurant.
Joseph Salvini was sitting in his usual private section when his cuff moved.
A small constellation tattoo showed around his wrist.
I smiled without thinking.
“My mother has one exactly like yours.”
His scotch glass hit the marble floor.
The entire room went silent.
Three men behind him reached beneath their jackets.
Joseph lifted one finger.
They stopped.
“Say that again.”
“My mother has the same tattoo.”
He stared at me.
“What’s her name?”
“Rose Bennett.”
The color drained from his face.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty.”
“Where is Rose?”
“At home.”
“Where?”
I stepped back.
“I’m not giving my mother’s address to a stranger.”
My manager rushed over apologizing.
Joseph told him one word.
“Leave.”
Then Joseph slowly removed an old Polaroid from his wallet.
“Look at this.”
The woman in the photograph was my mother.
She looked about my age.
Beside her stood a much younger Joseph Salvini.
Their wrists touched.
They had matching tattoos.
I stared at him.
“How do you know my mother?”
“We were together twenty-one years ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“She told me she was pregnant,” Joseph said.
Then his voice dropped.
“She told me the baby died.”
I could barely breathe.
He asked when I was born.
“October seventeenth.”
Joseph sat down.
His lieutenant looked stunned.
“That was eight months after Rose disappeared,” Joseph whispered.
I shook my head.
“Don’t decide you’re my father because of a tattoo.”
“I’m not deciding anything.”
Then his lieutenant’s phone buzzed.
“Boss, we have a problem.”
A man near the bar had photographed me and was already heading for the exit.
Joseph’s men moved after him.
“What is happening?” I asked.
Joseph looked at me differently now.
“Someone just realized you might matter to me.”
“So?”
His expression hardened.
“In my world, Audrey, that makes you valuable.”
Then his lieutenant returned holding the stranger’s phone.
He showed Joseph the message that had already been sent.
May you like
Joseph read it once and went completely still.
The message said: “We found Salvini’s daughter.”
