“I came to offer you a way out before Marcus finishes this,” she said, taking a step forward.

Two men in dark, heavy overcoats stepped out of the sedan behind her, their hands resting near their jacket lapels.

I reached out and grabbed the damp fabric of Alexander’s sleeve.

“We have to go,” I whispered.

“Don’t be foolish, Alexander,” Victoria said, her gaze shifting to me for a brief, dismissive second. “You have nowhere left to run.”

I pulled Alexander backward, steering him toward the narrow gap between two brick buildings.

“The delivery entrance,” I muttered to him. “There is a basement chute twenty yards down.”

We turned and ran into the darkness of the alley before her men could close the distance.

The sound of heavy leather shoes splashed in the deep puddles behind us, accompanied by a sharp shout.

We scrambled through a rusted iron gate and I shoved a heavy wooden wedge under the frame to jam it behind us.

We slipped down a concrete ramp, sliding through a low opening into the musty basement of an old dry-cleaning business.