Chapter 25 Different Devil

Twenty minutes later, Maria clicked her way into Ramirez's study, trading her "tactical black gear" for a slinky red dress that hugged her curves like a Ferrari on Lake Shore Drive. The mansion rose like an old-world castle transplanted to Chicago's Gold Coast - all limestone and arrogance. The foyer's marble floor, imported straight from Carrara, Italy, spread beneath her feet like frozen music. Crystal chandeliers dripped light onto oil paintings worth more than most people made in a lifetime. Renaissance masters stared down from gilded frames - silent witnesses to decades of deals and deaths.