Chapter 21 — Echoes from the Gutter #2
She dressed quickly. Designer jeans (which she hated, but they fit perfectly), a white silk blouse, and oversized sunglasses. She put the necklace in her purse, wrapped in a scarf. The old phone went in too, turned off.
When she came down to the lobby, the security team was waiting. They were professionals. They didn't look like mall cops; they looked like Secret Service agents. Earpieces, dark suits, eyes constantly sweeping the perimeter.
“Where would you like to go, ma'am?” the team leader asked.
“Fashion Show Mall,” Maya said. It was big. Busy. Lots of exits.
The ride was silent. Maya clutched her purse to her chest, feeling the weight of the stolen stones.
At the mall, the escort was suffocating. One man in front, one behind. They cleared people out of the way with sheer physical presence.
Maya walked into Neiman Marcus. She pretended to browse the dresses.
“I need to use the restroom,” she told the guard.
“There's a private restroom in the store's VIP area, ma'am. I'll escort you to the door.”
Damn the rich and their privileges.
She went into the restroom. It was empty. She checked the windows. Sealed.
She came out, frustrated.
She needed to lose them.
She ducked into a lingerie store. Victoria's Secret. It was busy, full of racks and mirrors.
“Wait out here,” she told the guards. “I don't want men watching me pick out panties.”
The head of security hesitated.
“Ma'am, our orders are constant visual contact.”
“Are you going to follow me into the fitting room?” she challenged, raising an eyebrow. “Mr. Vance will love hearing about that.”
Ethan's name worked like magic. The guard backed off.
“We'll stay at the door. There's only one exit.”
“Perfect.”
Maya walked into the store. She grabbed some random items and headed toward the back.
She knew big stores had emergency or service exits in the back. She looked for the door with the green EXIT sign.
It was there, near the fitting rooms.
She glanced toward the store entrance. The guards had their backs to her, blocking the entrance, facing outward.
Maya pushed through the emergency door.
The alarm went off.
Bree-bree-bree!
A shrill blare that made customers scream.
Maya didn't stop. She ran.
She emerged into a gray concrete service corridor. She ran toward the daylight.
She burst out onto a loading dock behind the mall. The desert heat slammed into her.
She checked her watch. 1:45 PM. She had fifteen minutes to get to the alley behind the Lucky Dragon.
She ran to the street and flagged down a taxi.
“Lucky Dragon Casino. Fast.”
The driver, an elderly man chewing on a toothpick, looked at her through the rearview mirror.
“You look like you’re running from a wedding, miss.”
“Just drive,” she said, tossing a hundred-dollar bill—emergency cash she’d found in one of the purses in the closet—onto the front seat.
The taxi took off.
Maya looked back. No one was following her. Not yet.
She arrived at the Lucky Dragon at 2:05 PM. It was an Asian-themed casino, a bit run-down—a far cry from the glamour of the Obsidian.
She circled the building to the back alley. It smelled like garbage and old frying oil.
Kyle was there.
He was leaning against a dumpster, smoking a cigarette with trembling hands. He looked terrible. His clothes were wrinkled, his face unshaven, his eyes bloodshot from fear and lack of sleep.
When he saw Maya, he tossed the cigarette and pushed off from the wall.
“You came,” he said, relieved. “I thought Vance had locked you in the tower.”
“He did,” Maya said coldly, stopping six feet from him. “I escaped.”
“Did you bring the money?”
“No.”
Kyle’s face fell. The fear returned, transforming into anger.
“What? Are you kidding me? They’re going to kill me, Maya!”
“I don’t have any cash, Kyle!” she shouted. “I have expensive clothes and fancy food, but no actual money!”
“The card! You have his card!”
“It’s tracked! If I withdraw fifty thousand, he’ll know where I am in two seconds!”
“Then why did you come? To watch me die?”
Maya reached into her purse.
“I brought this.”
She pulled out the handkerchief and unwrapped it, revealing the choker.
Sunlight hit the diamonds and the central emerald. The brilliance was almost obscene in that filthy place.
Kyle’s eyes widened. He took a step forward, mesmerized.
“My God… is that real?”
“It’s Ethan’s. He gave it to me yesterday. It’s worth way more than fifty thousand.”
She held out the jewelry.
“Take it. Sell it. Pay your debt. And get out of my life, Kyle. Get out of Vegas. If I see you again, I swear I’ll tell Ethan everything. And he won’t be as gentle as those loan sharks.”
Kyle took the necklace. His hands trembled with greed. He looked at the stone, then at Maya.
“This… this solves everything. There’ll be money left over. I can go to California.”
“Go to hell if you want. Just go.”
Kyle tucked the necklace into his dirty jacket pocket. He looked at Maya one last time. There was something in his eyes… regret? No. Just relief.
“Thanks, Maya. You were always the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“I was the only good thing that happened to you, and you threw me away. Goodbye, Kyle.”
She turned to leave.
That’s when she saw him.
At the entrance to the alley, blocking the sunlight, stood a figure.
It wasn’t one of Kyle’s loan sharks.
He was tall. Wearing an impeccable gray suit. And radiating a terrifying calm.
Ethan.
He stood there, hands in his pockets, watching the scene with the passivity of someone watching a nature documentary.
Behind him were the two security guards she’d ditched at the mall, looking embarrassed and furious.
Maya’s blood ran cold.
“Ethan…” she whispered.
Ethan didn’t look at her. He looked at Kyle.
“Mr. Brooks,” Ethan said. His voice echoed off the brick walls of the alley. “I see you’ve found new financing.”
Kyle backed up, his back hitting the dumpster. He looked like he was about to pass out.
“Mr. Vance… I… she gave it to me… I didn’t ask…”
Ethan began walking down the alley. His Italian leather shoes tread through the filth without seeming to touch it.
“You know what’s fascinating about diamonds, Kyle?” Ethan asked conversationally. “They’re traceable. Especially stones that size. They have laser-engraved serial numbers. If you try to sell that piece anywhere in the northern hemisphere, the police will be on you in ten minutes.”
He stopped in front of Kyle.
“Or I will.”
Kyle reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace, throwing it on the ground as if it were on fire.
“I don't want it! Take it back! I didn't do anything!”
Ethan looked at the necklace in the dust. Then he looked at Maya.
The look he gave her wasn't anger. It was disappointment. Deep, cold, cutting disappointment.
“I gave you everything, Maya,” he said softly. “Security. Luxury. Protection. And at the first opportunity, you steal from me to save the man who sold you.”
“He was being threatened,” Maya tried to explain, tears streaming down her face. “They were going to hurt him. I just wanted him to go away. I wanted to protect you from the scandal!”
“Protect me?” Ethan laughed, a dry sound. “You think I need your protection from a worm like this?”
He turned to the security guards.
“Take her to the car.”
“Ethan, wait!”
“Take her!” he roared. The mask fell. The fury was there now, naked and terrible.
The security guards grabbed Maya by the arms.
“What about Kyle?” she screamed as she was dragged out of the alley. “What are you going to do to him?”
Ethan looked at Kyle, who was huddled on the ground, crying.
“Me? Nothing.” Ethan pulled his phone from his pocket. “But his friends… the ones who want the fifty thousand… I think they'd like to know where he is.”
He began typing on the phone.
“No! Ethan, don't do that!” Maya screamed, fighting against the security guards.
She was shoved into the back seat of a black SUV. The door slammed.
Through the tinted window, she saw Ethan standing in the alley. He picked up the necklace from the ground, wiped the dust off with his handkerchief, and put it in his pocket.
He didn't even look back as Kyle began running toward the other end of the alley, too late, too desperate.
Ethan walked toward the car, his face a mask of stone.
The betrayal was complete. But this time, Maya knew, with a deadly weight in her stomach, that she was the traitor. And the monster's punishment would be far worse than indifference.