I exchange a look with Allie. She shakes her head slightly. “It doesn’t matter,” I tell him and move back to the door. “I’ll leave you two alone to visit.”
Allie says something that makes Gabe laugh as I step out into the hall.
For a moment, I enjoy the silence. But it’s quickly broken as the sound of footsteps echoes nearby.
Lucy comes storming over, her face buried in her phone. “Did you hear about what’s going on in New Zealand?” Her nose wrinkles with disgust. “An entire shipping container was confiscated. Dragon Zohran is pissed.”
“Zohran can handle it himself.”
“It was a shipment from us heading to his ports.”
I sigh, rubbing my face with one hand. “The problems never end.”
“You’re a Dragon, Mass. That’s your whole life.”
Can’t argue with that. I stretch and glance over my shoulder at the door to the west wing. Once it held my greatest secret anda good friend. Now it contains my brother-in-law, a man far too ambitious for his own good.
“Let’s handle it then,” I say and let Lucy lead me to the command room.
EPILOGUE: ALLIE
Six Months Later
I kissMass hard and squeeze his face between my hands. “Stop giving me that angry possessive look, alright?”
“I don’t like this.”
“I know, but it’s family. I can’t say no to family.”
“You could try.”
I kiss him again. “Stop it.”
“I can’t.”
“Do it anyway.” I kiss him a third time and release his cheeks. “Watch Rosie for me, will you?”
“I hate this city.” Mass stares out the penthouse window down at New York. “Filthy place.”
“Oh, stop it. You just miss your private little island and your comfortable fortress. You’re kind of a homeboy.”
His eyes narrow. “I’m a Dragon.”
“A Dragon who loves his own bed.” I kiss his cheek. “I love you. Be back soon.”
“Love you too,” he mumbles, already scooping Rosie up into his arms.
I leave them reluctantly. In the last year, I’ve left the island only a few times on business with Mass. This trip is supposed to be something like a vacation—visiting old friends, seeing my family, that sort of thing—but I have one little piece of business I have to handle.
The call came as a surprise two days before we left. Gabe’s voice was slightly garbled like the connection was bad. “Where are you right now?” I asked him.
He’d only left the Fortress a few months earlier. “Moscow! It’s cold as shit!”
“What are you doing there?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just promise you’ll have a meeting with me in New York when you’re visiting.”
“You just said you’re in Moscow.”
