The little brass clock on Emily's nightstand chimed seven p.m. The Teamster's Gala was just beginning down in the grand ballroom. It was a big night for the Whitman Continental Hotel, being the first major event hosted there. Emily had been thrilled when the organizers approached her about holding the event there, and the special event staff she hired had absolutely proven their worth. 

Danny Hanley, second in command on Emily's security staff, poked his head into the bedroom as Emily was placing the last diamond earring in her ear.

"It's about that time, Miss."

Nodding, Emily turned. The delicate, sparkling wisps of her white and silver evening gown swirled behind her. 

"Is Mr. O'Fallon ready yet?"

Danny smirked.

"Kicking and screaming, but he's ready and waiting in the lobby."

Moving past Danny from the bedroom into the living room, Emily lifted the jeweled handbag from the table in the hallway.

"You got the easy job tonight, Danny boy. You sure you don't want to put on a monkey suit and watch fat men grease each other's palms?"

Danny made a face and shook his head.

"Nooo, thank you, ma'am. I'll let Raine handle that one. He's got the looks."

Emily grinned and stepped into the waiting elevator where two other guards dressed in tuxedos waited for her. 

"Good evening, ma'am."

"Good evening, Alfred, Marcus."

The ballroom was a sight to behold. The chandeliers were polished to a high shine and cast beautiful sparkles around the dimly lit room. The band was already on stage, playing a jazzy, upbeat tune while servers weaved through the crowd with trays of champagne and elegant finger foods. Many guests had already arrived, and several more were arriving in cars at the front of the hotel. The entire bellman staff was on duty for the night- half on door duty and half parking vehicles. From the time the attendees stepped out of their cars, they were greeted and treated like absolute royalty. 

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. The two guards got out first, followed by the so-called Lady of Chicago herself, Emily Renfroe. 

Raine O'Fallon, her Sergeant at Arms, was a few paces away, tugging at the sleeve of his tuxedo jacket. Smiling, Emily appeared at his side.

"There, now, that looks absolutely stunning on you. I can't imagine what you were so fussed about."

“Heh.” He half heartedly chuckled, “I hope you’re enjoying this Ma’am.” Raine stated dryly. 

The truth of the matter was that he was nervous, much more nervous than he was ever going to show. He had spent the better part of two days working through the details for the event. It wasn’t the hardest or most confusing job he had taken but there were enough of Chicago’s higher ups in town that it made things more complicated. That of course didn’t change much, things seemed to be far more than what they seemed to be in this city more often than not and Raine was growing accustomed to the wrench that was invariably going to be thrown into even the best laid plans.

”How is everything going, Miss? If you don’t mind me asking. You thinking that this will all go off without a hitch tonight?”

"Of course it won't. This is the first event at the hotel. There's no way it goes perfectly. But, we're well prepared and maybe over-staffed, so hopefully we can handle whatever happens nice and smoothly."

Grinning, she reached out and fiddled with his bow tie a bit. 

​​​​​​"And just because we're in fancy clothes doesn't mean you have to pull out the Miss stuff. I'm still Emily to you."

“Yes, Ma’am.” He shot her a playful sideways grin. There were few people in this world that he was more comfortable with than his own boss. She was the person he trusted most, maybe the only one he trusted completely. He drew in a slow breath as they moved around the room slowly, arm in arm. 

“Have any of our...special guests arrived yet?” He made sure he emphasized his words.

Looking around the room quickly he asked one more thing, “And where is Hanley? Don’t tell me that he gets to skip the schmoozing.”

Brushing her hand lightly over her dress to make sure there were no stray bits of fluff or beads out of place, Emily glanced through the lobby briefly.

"Not skipping, but he is on phone duty in the office. Should the need arise for a quick exit- god forbid- he'll be twenty feet from the car."

Emily slipped her arm into Raine's, tugging him toward the marble staircase leading up to the ballroom.

"I haven't seen Mr. Pavanno or his associate yet, or Catalina. But the door staff has strict instructions to escort them to my table once they arrive."

At the top of the stairs, several well-dressed men and women turned and enthusiastically greeted Emily. Just as poised and silky smooth as a royal ambassador, Emily spoke to them all, addressing them by name. She introduced Raine to them, thanked them for coming, and then they  moved on into the ballroom. 

Raine shook all the hands and went through all the pleasantries but he was only half paying attention. He always kept his eyes darling across the room, dancing over each and every corner, each and every entrance and exit. It was in his nature to be on edge most of the time. The Fenians back home took care of that, it was engrained into his DNA by now. That was what made him take his job so seriously, why he went over every detail meticulously. If anything were to go wrong, he made damn sure well that it wouldn’t be on his end.

"¿Vas a parar? Sube ... estás en mi pie, idiota! ¡Fuera de mi camino!" 

Catalina elbowed her oaf of a bodyguard in the gut as he tried to precede her into the ballroom. The verbal assault had been delivered in a low Spanish whisper, but the intent had been loud and clear.

"I don't need your help tonight, Jacob. Take the night off, go spend time with your lady friend..." Catalina couldn't remember the unfortunate woman's name to save her life; all that she remembered was that the name, and voice, was reminiscent of a man's.

"Here," she said, pulling cash from her clutch purse. "Please, just go. Enjoy your night. The security here is beyond anything even you could provide me. Look, see that woman over there?" She nodded towards Emily Renfroe, a glittering vision in silver and white. "She's the Lady of Chicago. Does that mean anything to you?" A blank stare was her answer.

"Go home," Catalina said under her breath as she thumped him on the chest with her clutch, then affixed a pleasant smile on her face as she accepted a glass of champagne from one of the circulating waiters. Another tuxedo-clad gentleman soon approached, and she was led to Miss Renfroe's head table. 

"This is more than just a tour of the ballroom, Mr. Raine... I'm quite underdressed," she whispered to the sergeant of arms as she passed him. Her plain black cocktail dress felt like a potato sack compared to the garb of the majority of the partygoers in the room. Her hand snaked out and grabbed another glass of champagne as soon as a tray dared get close enough to her. 

“Oh please, Miss Ray, skip the formalities, it is simply Raine.”

He smiled warmly at her as he spoke. He was happy she could make it down to the gala. It was always good to break the monotony of these things with a friendly face or two. He hadn’t had a chance to speak with her since she arrived, his own business having him nearly running around the entire hotel at all hours of the night. 

Awkwardly tugging at his bow tie he led her to her seat at the head table. He whispered to her as he pulled her chair out, “I’m glad you could make it tonight.” He leaned ever closer as he pushed he seat in, “And that dress looks amazing.”

In seemingly no time at all, Emily had gotten pulled away from Raine and her trajectory toward their table. No matter, she knew his eye was on her. She had nothing to worry about in that way. 

She mingled through the crowd, speaking to the few she recognized and glad-handing the ones she didn't. Eventually, she managed to work her way to their table where she found Raine and Catalina. Laying her handbag in the table, Emily pretended to wipe sweat from her brow. 

"Finally, made it through the fray. Catalina, I'm so happy you're here, and what a lovely dress!" 

A server appeared with a glass of champagne as Emily sat beside the Left Hand of the Posner Investment Trust. 

"I trust Raine has been conducting himself as a gentleman."

She smirked and gave him a wink. 

"A perfect gentleman. Thank you so much for extending me an invitation, Miss Renfroe. Although I must confess, it's taking every bit of restraint I have, to not dash around the room handing out business cards," she chuckled. Teamsters, on her product? Chicago would be ablaze.

"May I ask, is this is a, what do you call it," she said, brow furrowed as she sought the correct word. 

"Convention! Is this a convention, or might we be seeing more business developments coming to South Side?" Chicago's southern section had exploded in both population and economic interest since The Lady had arrived, and everyone in the city seemed to be benefitting from it. Catalina still had several places she'd yet to visit, and people she wanted to meet.

Chuckling, Emily made a sweeping motion around the room. 

"What's stopping you? There's more money in this room than you could ever imagine. Opportunity abounds, and for a lovely lady like yourself, the world is your oyster!" 

She took a rather long pull from the champagne glass. Most of the guests were beginning to find their tables. Emily leaned back towards Raine. 

​​​​​​"Charlie said he and Devlin would be coming. I do hope they are able to. I meant to check in with them before, but then..."

Her voice trailed off, remembering the brief encounter with Trevor. 

“It’s been a long day, for all of us, Ma’am. Blasts from the past always tend to leave things a little off balance.”

Raine let his eyes wander over everything, from the guests to the waiters to the exit doors. There was a small pit in his stomach but that was expected on his part, big events like this always tended to make him at least a little nervous. 

“If you don’t mind Miss, I think I’d like to find Hanley for a moment, see how he is seeing things tonight.” He flashed her a sweet, knowing smile.

Appetizers were being placed on the tables when Catalina leaned towards Emily and spoke. 

"I may take you up on that offer of circulating a bit, before the next course arrives. If you'll excuse me?" She smiled and placed her linen napkin aside and stood, moving off to the outer edge of the room, beyond the tables. Small groups of mostly men stood here and there, talking loudly and gesticulating as only professional drunks can do. She passed by the noisier ones, but stopped to introduce herself to some of the more well-mannered ones. By the time she'd made it three-quarters of the way around the room, she had made two solid connections, with a possible third that would take further finessing at another time. She was nearing the kitchen doors when a glint of metal caught her eye as one swung shut. A utensil, surely, or perhaps someone's polished wristwatch, catching the overhead lighting? 

It felt wrong, though. Catalina glanced around for Raine, or any telltale security, but her view was obstructed by a large pillar to her left, and the group of partygoers that had gathered around it. Her gun was in her purse; it would have to be enough.

Backing up slowly, Catalina turned and pushed through the doors. 

The band on stage had taken a break, leaving a piano man on stage to play during the meal. Emily had a few bites of the bisque that was being served as the appetizer, then began scanning the room for Catalina, or Raine. One of her nearby security guards leaned in to ask if everything was alright. 

"Can you find Miss Rey, please?" 

"Why the fuck am I in this suit? I ain't fooking idiot here, what the fuck is this?"

Charlie turned, his eyes filled with sarcastic humor before he waved his hand in such mockery that Devlin's cheeks were going tomato red. 

"Well, that is a suit. As to why you are here, you're my guard plus you make for excellent conversation. Plus if one of your countrymen is here, you could easily assist and help me out of that conversation."

Devlin chuckled, already wanting to call Charlie out on his bullshit. 

"Well, you could just say he scares you. I saw it and by how he will be here, I'm sure everything will be better now. We've dressed up and we have a party of women, drinks, and perhaps some good old music. What could be better?"

Charlie shook his head, Devlin didn't think much. Only when he did, booze and women were always at the forefront of his mind. Not that Charlie didn't understand, only that was during his younger days of mischief.

"Oh, the day I admit that your fellow countryman scares me is the day I shove the barrel of a gun down my throat. Nothing could be better, let's go and become the life of the party, eh?"

Devlin snorted, gesturing for Charlie to go forward with this little plan of his. Deciding that right now, he would not be the one to deter Charlie from this. Still, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something had to go wrong, something always did with events like this. 

Charlie made his way to the ballroom, already catching sight of a few people heading in that direction. He made sure to keep an eye out, he was not going to be caught slacking today. As he entered, he noticed a few high society people. Some politicians and others. Seems everyone was coming out for this event. 

"Time to go make some connections Charles, lead the way."

A waiter was just refilling Emily's water glass when she spotted Charlie and Devlin heading toward the table. Smiling, she stood to greet them. 

"Well, my goodness, look at these two handsome sods coming my way."

Giving Charlie a little wink, Emily turned to face Devlin. 

"Thank you so much for joining me tonight. I do hope we all have a grand time. The food will be worth dressing up for, that I can assure you. Please, have a seat."

She gestured for Devlin to take the other seat to her left. The empty seat to her right, where Catalina had been sitting, was beginning to concern her even more. 

Inside the kitchen, the staff had frozen in their places. Tenderloin scorched in the frying pan it rested in, and one pot began to boil over on one of the large stoves, steam hissing angrily as it went ignored. Chefs, sous-chefs, and wait staff all watched as one man manhandled another down a small corridor just out of Catalina's view. She followed, peeking around the corner just as the man with the flashy S & W .38 Special shoved the other into the meat locker and slammed the door. When he turned, Catalina backed up quickly, pulling the gun from her clutch as she did. 

"What the hell you people lookin' at? Get back to work!" He yelled as he rounded the corner. There was no way Emily Renfroe knew about this, or had anything to do with it. Catalina reversed her grip on the gun in her hand, lifted it, and brought the butt of it down on the bridge of the man's nose. His clattered to the tiles below as both his hands came up to his face.

"WHAT THE FU-" She brought the gun down again, this time on the back of his head. The connection was solid, but there wasn't enough power behind it to bring him down. Catalina was raising her arm to do it again when his fist shot out and caught her squarely in the gut.

Immediately, all her air was gone and she was seeing stars. 

"Well then, I told you I was rather dashing tonight, didn't I Dev?"

Devlin caught Charlie's eyes and noticing the mischievous intent. Something told him that his boss was going to be enjoying himself tonight. 

"Oh, of course, she gave you a wink mate. That's all, let's not get in over our heads mate."

Charlie chuckled, knowing that Devlin was just a bit different in terms of the odd playfulness that was thrown in this life. He was used to talking with fists, not words. 

"Well, what can I say? I'm a catch. In all seriousness, Ren, we wouldn't miss this for the world. This business we have together, it's something that we all wish to approach for the future and I am willing to show up and look like the dashing prince if needed."

Charlie nodded his head as Devlin sat down on Ren's left. Looking around, his eyes had narrowed. 

"Where is Raine? I find that a bit odd."

Charlie looked at Dev, raising his eyebrow in which the Irishman nodded in response. Already knowing what his boss was thinking. 

"And what's that look on your face lass? You seem a bit worried there."

Devlin rose his eyebrow towards Emily-Renfroe, speaking with a touch of suspicion. Wondering why she seemed to be looking at the other seat oddly.

"Oh, just wondering about Catalina, she was going off to do some networking, but I didn't expect her to be this long, and I can't seem to spot her in the room."

The guard she sent to find her hadn't come back yet, and she was about ready to go looking herself. 

A younger looking server, maybe 18 or 19 at the most, nervously approached one of the posted guards near the kitchen door.

"Excuse me...um...I'm not sure what's happening, but I think there's something wrong in the kitchen. I heard yelling and the staff is acting weird. They're not sending out food."

The guard immediately headed for the kitchen, signaling for the two nearest guards to follow him. The three nearly knocked the server down as they headed for the swinging doors leading to the kitchen. 

Back at the table, Emily was trying to shake the feeling that something wasn't right. 

"So, Devlin, I want to know more about you. What part of Ireland do you come from?"

"Dublin, I sometimes miss home but I have to get used to such. The states are pretty fun but altogether, it's been a wonderful experience and I've met some awesome people that never cease to amaze me."

As Devlin spoke about his home, Charlie looked around, hearing the words of Emily. Maybe it was just his instincts and how he had been involved with wars before, only this seemed very different from before. 

"Do you wish for me to go check? Plus, I've always been something of a bottomless pit when it comes to food. Can't help it sometimes."

Devlin chuckled and raised his eyebrows when he didn't hear Charlie comment, something that seldom happened. Unless his boss felt a certain type of way, maybe it was not just him that felt the tension. 

Charlie turned his head, looking at Ren and the worry on her face, he reached into the pocket of his suit jacket. Thank the lords themselves that he had taken to having himself armed at this event, plus some ammo if needed. 

"Ren, could you point me to the kitchens? Let me just check things out for you, I'll be two seconds and you can talk with the Irishman. I'm sure you'll charm this one as well heh."

The cat tried to play this off with humor but it was clear that he was feeling odd about this entire situation. He never met this Catalina, she meant nothing to him. Still, it seemed she was important in the grand scheme of things, Charlie kind of had to make sure this lass was alright.