Chapter 5: The Point of No Return

She found the way out on a Tuesday.

A loose panel in the garden utility room led to a forgotten service road. She had a contact — a woman from her bar days named Pia who owed her a favor and asked no questions. She had a plan, a time, a route. She had spent four days preparing and she was ready.

She was pulling on her coat at midnight when she heard Dante's voice from the study down the hall.

She shouldn't have stopped. She should have kept moving.

"—doesn't matter where she goes, she's already marked." A pause. His voice again, lower, the kind of low that was its own kind of loud. "I know. I know what that means."

Another pause.

"Handle it on your end. I'll handle mine."

She stood in the hallway with her coat half-on for a long moment. Then she walked to the study and opened the door.