“I don’t want to be here.”
“What you want is irrelevant, Mrs. Cardone.” Lucy looks back down at her phone, and I get the sense that our conversation is over.
Mrs. Cardone. The name rings through my head. Nobody’s called me that yet, but it’s who I am now, isn’t it? I don’t even know what that means, if I’m honest.
But I’m sure about one thing.
If I want to survive, I have to get off this island.
The armed men salute Mass sharply. He nods back and disappears into a vehicle. I’m directed by one of the guards to my own car, a comfortable SUV with leather seats and a four-point baby harness. I get Rosie settled, adjust the straps, and clip her in.
The driver glances in the rearview mirror. “Welcome to paradise, Mrs. Cardone.” He drives off, staying close to the procession of vehicles.
At least Rosie’s good in cars. She calms and stares out the window at the passing foliage. It’s like we’re in an untamed tropical wilderness, the sort of place most people would call paradise.
But this is hell for me.
I have time to reflect as we wind our way down a narrow paved road.
Back when I first met him, he said his name was Massimo, but he didn’t give me anything else. It’s probably my fault for not asking. I knew he was connected and could tell that he was extremely rich and successful, but I just assumed he was some kind of upper-level crime lord from a city I didn’t know well.
I was off by several orders of magnitude.
If this man really is Mass Cardone, and I doubt he’d make that up, then he’s one of the five most powerful men in the world.
There’s a system beneath the interconnected economy. Back when ships began crossing the oceans and planes began dotting the skies, people quickly realized life was better when there were rules and regulations everyone agreed to. That’s when the original Dragons stepped into the void.
They amassed enormous sums of money in those early days and flexed their muscles with gleeful abandon. Papa told me about them when I was little like they were fairy stories. The first five Dragons were ruthless robber barons who kept world trade going through violence, extortion, bribery, and blackmail. They became so influential that all the smaller criminal operations began hailing them as kings.
Now the Dragons are different men entirely from who they used to be. The Dragon mantle has never passed from father to son. Only the strong could take it. Only the strong could hold it for long.
The man who Mass went up against and eventually prevailed over had been a Dragon for twenty years.
I remember all the talk back when the new Dragon came into power. There was a lot of fear and excitement. Everyone wanted to tell stories and share theories. Papa would say the new Dragon was a monster, a bloodthirsty beast, a mindless psychopath. He’d say the new Dragon cared only about brutality and profit, nothing more. He sneered, shook his head, and acted like he was above it.
I never took any of it seriously.
Dragons? Crime lords? International cartels of ultra-powerful murderers?
Sounded stupid.
But now that I’m married to one, it doesn’t seem so farfetched and absurd anymore.
“Excuse me, Mrs. Cardone? You might want to pay attention to this. Most people enjoy their first visit to the Fortress.”
I open my mouth to tell him that there’s no way in hell I’ll everenjoyany part of this?—
But the words fade away as the structure comes into view.
That’s the only way I can fit it into my head.The structure. If I try to think of it as a house, my mind starts to break.
It’s built on a hill. We’re low down, and it rises above us, glittering and bright in the intense light. Its walls are polished steel and glass. Dozens of windows stare out at the world. I count six stories in total and more rooms than I can possibly imagine. It’s ringed by walls topped with curled barbed wire. Guard towers are spaced evenly around the perimeter. The peak is capped with gold so bright it hurts my eyes. There are crenellations and carvings, decorative details and functional cameras. It’s like a jail mixed with a prince’s palace. I can’t begin to make sense of how a place like that could’ve ever appeared in an unspoiled jungle like this.
The driver’s smiling at me in the rearview. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Terrible. Horrible.”
He nods eagerly. “All of the above. You should see the inside. Well, I suppose you will shortly.”
