THE SILENT EMPIRE: She stepped onto his dance floor to survive the night. She stayed to take his throne

The leather inside the armored sedan smelled of cedar, costly leather, and faint ozone.

As the heavy door closed with a muted, vault-like thud, the ambient roar of the Chicago riverfront died instantly. The sedan pulled smoothly into the midnight traffic, flanked front and rear by two unmarked black SUVs.

Jessica sat pressed against the plush passenger door, her hands folded tightly in her lap. The heater blew warm, quiet air over her bare ankles, but a cold tremor still ran through her chest.

Giovanni sat beside her in the dark interior. He had already unbuttoned his collar and loosened his bow tie with one fluid motion, revealing the strong, corded muscles of his throat. He looked utterly relaxed, yet his eyes stayed fixed on a glowing tablet mounted between the front seats.

"Where are we going?" Jessica asked, her voice quiet but clear.

"My estate in Gold Coast," Giovanni said without looking up from the screen. "You need a safe place to sleep. By now, Tyler has already called your mother, your sister, and every reporter on his payroll trying to figure out why the head of Fierro Enterprise Holdings walked out of a ballroom with his disgraced ex-wife."

"I have a daughter," Jessica said firmly, her maternal instinct cutting through her disorientation. "Lily is five. She’s with my neighbor, Mrs. Gable, on 42nd Street. I am not going anywhere without her."

Giovanni finally turned his head. In the dim amber ambient light of the car, his dark eyes held a strange, unexpected flicker of respect.

He reached into his jacket, pulled out an encrypted satellite phone, and tapped a speed-dial key.

"Marco," Giovanni spoke into the receiver. "Send Team Two to 42nd Street. Pick up Lily Hale and her caregiver, Mrs. Gable. Bring them to the lake house under passive escort. No lights, no siren. Treat them like glass."

He paused, listening to a brief response, then added, "Tell the child her mother ordered a late-night adventure."

He ended the call and slipped the phone away. "Satisfied?"