Chapter 4 - The Confrontation at the PlazaAt 2:00 PM the following afternoon, the sunlit marble plaza outside the Cook County Federal Courthouse was packed with hundreds of news reporters, camera crews, and prominent business leaders.
I walked down the grand stone steps wearing a tailored midnight-blue silk suit, my dark chestnut hair pulled back in an elegant knot, my hazel eyes shining with absolute, sovereign power.
Flanking me were Gabriel Sterling, my attorney Bridget Colton, and my private security detail.
A fleet of three black armored Escalades pulled up to the curb.
Stepping out of the lead vehicle, looking hollowed out, gaunt, disheveled, his eyes bloodshot, his three-piece suit rumpled, was Vincent.
He didn't bring his bodyguards. He didn't bring his lawyers. He walked up the stone steps alone, looking like a defeated shadow of the fearsome Don who had once ruled Chicago.
My security detail moved to block him, but I raised one hand, stopping them.
Vincent stopped three feet from me on the sunlit marble steps.
He looked into my face, his hands trembling violently as he reached into his coat pocket, pulling out my platinum wedding ring.
"Claire..." Vincent wept softly, his voice cracking into raspy, pathetic threads that were captured by dozens of news microphones. "Please... I know I am a monster. I know I killed our baby. But please... don't do this. Don't walk away from me. I will burn Chicago to the ground before I let you leave my life!"
I looked at the man groveling before me under the bright afternoon sun.
"You won't burn anything, Vincent," I spoke softly. My clear, velvet voice carried cleanly across the quiet plaza. "Because you have nothing left to burn."
"Claire! Please!" Vincent whimpered, falling flat onto his knees right on the marble steps before my shoes, clutching my trouser hem. "I love you! I've always loved you! Sophia meant nothing to me! I was an arrogant fool!"
I leaned down slightly, looking straight into his bloodshot eyes.
"You didn't love me, Vincent," I whispered, every word dropped like a slab of cold iron. "You loved having a quiet, obedient wife who waited for you while you played king. But the woman who loved you died forty-eight hours ago in an ambulance while her baby bled away."
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I pulled my hem gently from his grip, turning my back on him forever, stepping into the rear cabin of Gabriel Sterling's armored sedan.
The heavy door clicked shut, sealing out his weeping, desperate cries as our convoy glided away into the sunlit city.
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