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“ARE YOU SATISFIED?” Carlo said as the faint sound of police cruisers called through the city streets and moved in their direction.
“By not allowing us to kill the Wenns, Rowe cheated us out of millions tonight,” Gia said as she hurried to her feet and stepped away from the open window. “Money that we were promised. Money that we risked our lives for. I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Alexander Wenn have the pleasure of killing him, and so I did it. I shot him. You should be proud of me. I did it for us.”
“Whatever the reason, the cops are coming—and we need to get the hell out of this building.”
“Straighten your jacket,” she said as she smoothed her hands down the dress she was wearing. She lifted her long, black hair and allowed it to fall down behind her before she reached for her bag, removed a tube of lipstick, and gave her lips two fresh swipes. Quickly, she put on a full-length black coat and stood back so he could assess her.
“How do I look?”
“Fine. Me?”
“Like you’re about to take your girlfriend back home after having a pleasant meal and cocktails out. Now, let’s go. We leave all of this here.”
When they left their office, they walked quickly but calmly down the hallway with their heads lowered until they came upon the bank of elevators that was just around the corner. Gia pressed a button, they waited for what seemed like an eternity, and then finally one of the elevators opened so that they could step inside.
Within a minute, they were upon the lobby.
“Give me your hand,” she said to him. “Security will be out there—we know that. We also know that he or she will be unarmed. But still—whoever it is needs to believe that we’re a couple. That we’re innocent in all this.”
He took her hand.
The elevator doors slid open.
When they stepped out, they saw the male security guard standing far off to the right of them, watching the chaos unfolding across the street as he said over and over, “Holy mother of God. Holy Mother of God...”
He was an older man, somewhere in his late fifties, with graying hair and a waist fattened from sloth and too many indulgences. Just to be certain, Gia looked for a gun at his side, and saw with relief that there wasn’t one.
She looked directly across from them at the set of doors that led to their freedom, but Gia knew that if she didn’t remark on what was happening, it would look suspicious.
And so she took a breath and then placed a hand on her chest.
“My God,” she said. “What’s happening outside?”
Startled, the security guard whirled around, likely so absorbed in the moment that he hadn’t heard them approach.
“People have been shot,” he said as he walked quickly toward them.
“Shot?” Carlo said. “Who’s been shot? Where?”
“At the Stone Foundation. Just across Fifty-Fourth. It looks like two people are down. Maybe more—I can’t be sure.”
“Is it safe to go outside? It looks like the police have arrived.”
“Hell no,” the man said. “I’m not letting you go out on that street. Too dangerous. Use these doors—the ones that lead onto Park. Come with me.”
He removed a set of keys... The doors were locked, Gia thought. Glad I spoke up... and they followed him as he opened the doors for them.
“Now, be careful,” he said. “Don’t walk. Get a cab as fast as you can, and get away from here. Do it while you can. Go!”
