Chapter 13 - THE LAST PERSON ON AARON'S LIST
Sarah Mitchell had never considered herself brave.
She was twenty-seven, worked long shifts at the Velvet Lounge, and cried during commercials featuring abandoned puppies.
She hated confrontation.
She apologized when strangers bumped into her.
And she had spent most of her adult life avoiding trouble.
But trouble had found her anyway.
At 11:43 p.m., Sarah stood in the kitchen of her apartment, staring at a photograph Special Agent Carter had shown her earlier that evening.
The man in the photograph was named Daniel Price.
He had worked as a private contractor for North Star.
Investigators suspected he had been involved in Margaret Bennett's death.
Sarah recognized him.
Not from the news.
Not from the Velvet Lounge.
From five years earlier.
She had seen him outside Margaret Bennett's house on the morning Margaret died.
At the time, Sarah was visiting Chloe.
She remembered a gray sedan parked across the street.
A man standing beside it.
A cigarette burning between his fingers.
She remembered because the man had stared at her for an unusually long time.
Now she understood why.
He had been checking whether anyone had seen him.
Sarah placed the photograph on her kitchen counter.
Her phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
She ignored it.
It rang again.
Then a text appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
Sarah's breath caught.
She reached for the phone to call Carter.
Before she could dial, the lights went out.
The refrigerator stopped humming.
The apartment fell silent.
Sarah stood motionless.
Then she heard footsteps outside her door.
Three slow steps.
A pause.
A soft knock.
“Sarah?”
Her blood turned cold.
Aaron Miller.
She backed away.
“Sarah, open the door.”
She said nothing.
“I know you're inside.”
Sarah reached for her phone.
Aaron's voice became colder.
“You don't want Chloe to get hurt again, do you?”
Sarah's hands shook.
She called emergency services.
The dispatcher answered.
Sarah whispered her address.
Then she heard metal scraping against the lock.
“Someone's trying to get inside.”
The dispatcher instructed her to move somewhere secure and stay on the line.
Sarah ran into the bedroom and locked the door.
A loud crash came from the entrance.
Then footsteps.
“Sarah!”
She covered her mouth.
Aaron was inside.
He walked through the apartment slowly.
“You think those federal agents care about you?”
Sarah pressed herself against the wall.
“They'll forget your name the second this investigation ends.”
He tried the bedroom door.
It held.
“Open it.”
Sarah didn't move.
Aaron struck the door.
Once.
Twice.
The wood splintered.
Sarah began crying.
But she kept the phone connected.
Then she heard sirens.
Aaron stopped.
For several seconds, the apartment was silent.
Then he cursed.
Footsteps retreated.
A door slammed.
Sarah sank to the floor.
By the time officers arrived, Aaron was gone.
But Sarah was alive.
And the emergency call had recorded his threats.
At the federal command center, Chloe listened as Carter explained what had happened.
Sarah was being moved to a secure location.
She had not been physically injured.
But Aaron had escaped.
Again.
Chloe stared at the floor.
“He won't stop.”
Carter looked at her.
“We're expanding the search.”
“He knows everyone. He knows how police investigations work.”
“Yes.”
Chloe's voice trembled.
“He knows how to make people disappear.”
Lorenzo stood beside her.
Carter leaned forward.
“Chloe, I need you to hear something. Aaron has lost much of the protection he used to rely on. His colleagues know he's wanted. His financial accounts are being monitored. He cannot move as freely as he once did.”
Chloe wanted to believe her.
But fear didn't disappear simply because someone explained the facts.
She looked toward Lorenzo.
He took her hand.
“We're going to get through this.”
She squeezed his fingers.
Then Carter's phone rang.
The agent answered.
Her expression changed.
“What do you mean he's not in custody?”
Lorenzo straightened.
Carter listened.
Then she lowered the phone.
“Gabriel's transport was intercepted.”
The room fell silent.
Matteo stepped forward.
“By whom?”
“We don't know yet.”
Carter turned toward her colleagues.
“Get me the transport supervisor.”
Chloe felt sick.
Gabriel was supposed to be cooperating.
He was supposed to identify the people involved in North Star.
Now he had disappeared.
And Aaron was still free.
Lorenzo looked at Carter.
“Could Gabriel have arranged it?”
“Possibly.”
“Or Aaron?”
“Possibly.”
Chloe looked between them.
Then she remembered something.
A detail from Aaron's apartment.
Something he had once said while drinking whiskey with Gabriel.
If everything goes wrong, we meet where the city forgets its dead.
At the time, Chloe thought it was a joke.
Now she wasn't sure.
She looked at Lorenzo.
“Your family has an old cemetery, doesn't it?”
He frowned.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Outside Chicago. Near the abandoned steelworks.”
Chloe's heart accelerated.
“Does Gabriel know it?”
Lorenzo stared at her.
“Of course.”
She swallowed.
“I think I know where they're going.”
The old Marchesi cemetery stood beyond a rusted iron gate.
Snow covered the headstones.
Bare trees stretched across the frozen ground.
At the center stood a stone mausoleum bearing the family name.
Police established a perimeter around the property.
Chloe remained at the command location.
Lorenzo stayed with her.
Neither would approach the cemetery.
The operation belonged to trained officers.
At 3:18 a.m., surveillance confirmed movement near the mausoleum.
Two men.
One matched Gabriel's description.
The other was Aaron Miller.
Carter watched the live feed.
“They're together.”
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
Chloe stared at the screen.
Aaron wore a dark jacket.
Gabriel carried a small metal case.
They entered the mausoleum.
Minutes later, investigators received an unexpected call.
Gabriel.
His voice sounded frightened.
“He's going to kill me.”
Carter signaled for the call to be recorded.
“Gabriel, where are you?”
“The cemetery.”
“We know. Tell us what's happening.”
“He wants the drive.”
“What drive?”
“The original North Star archive.”
Carter leaned forward.
“Do you have it?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Then put down any weapons and come outside.”
“He won't let me.”
In the background, Aaron shouted something.
Gabriel gasped.
Then a gunshot cracked through the phone.
Chloe screamed.
Lorenzo reached for her.
The line went dead.
For several terrible seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Carter's radio crackled.
“Shots fired. Suspect moving toward the east gate.”
Officers moved to intercept.
Aaron emerged from the cemetery carrying a handgun.
He ignored repeated commands to drop it.
Then he turned toward an officer.
Another shot rang out.
Aaron fell.
The officers approached cautiously.
His weapon was secured.
Emergency medical personnel were called.
He was alive.
Wounded.
And finally in custody.
Inside the mausoleum, Gabriel lay bleeding from his abdomen.
Paramedics rushed to stabilize him.
As they lifted him onto a stretcher, he grabbed an agent's sleeve.
“Tell Lorenzo something.”
The agent leaned closer.
Gabriel struggled to speak.
“Tell him I was wrong.”
His eyes filled.
“About Sofia. About everything.”
Then he lost consciousness.
At sunrise, Lorenzo stood outside the hospital where Gabriel was undergoing emergency surgery.
Chloe approached.
“Any news?”
He shook his head.
“Not yet.”
She took his hand.
“I'm sorry.”
Lorenzo stared at the floor.
“I spent years trying to make him love me.”
Chloe looked at him.
“He's your brother.”
“He hated me.”
“Maybe.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
“And I still don't want him to die.”
Chloe stepped closer.
“That doesn't make you weak.”
He looked at her.
She continued.
“You can love someone and still hold them responsible for what they've done.”
Lorenzo swallowed.
Then he pulled her into his arms.
For the first time since Chloe met him, the man everyone called Chicago's most dangerous mafia boss began to cry.
And Chloe held him.
Not because he was powerful.
Not because he had saved her.
May you like
But because he was human.
And sometimes even the strongest people needed someone to stay.
