Chapter 14 · The Door Lisa Left

Charlotte shoved through the service door and the kitchen noise hit her like a wall—fryers hissing, someone yelling in Cantonese, steam everywhere. Ivy's underground market ran beneath a dumpling joint in Chinatown and the entrance was always chaos. She kept her hand on the Glock under her jacket and scanned the line cooks. None of them looked up. That meant Ivy already knew she was here.

She ducked past a rack of bok choy and hit the freezer door. The cold bit her face. The back wall had a seam you wouldn't catch unless you were looking. She pressed her thumb into the gap and the panel slid back with a soft hiss. The stairwell dropped straight down, no railing, just concrete and a string of LEDs that barely lit the steps. Her boots made too much noise. She went faster anyway.

The chip's message kept looping in her head. Lisa wasn't taken. That flipped the whole board. If her daughter hadn't been kidnapped nine years ago, if she'd left on her own or if someone she trusted had walked her out—Charlotte's chest tightened. She needed the key Ivy was holding. Needed it five minutes ago.