“Lucy Hernandez is much more than a beautiful face. She’s a dangerous one. But I probably don’t need to tell you that.”
No, she really didn’t. “She must be close with Mass then.”
“Very close. They go way back. Ah, here we are.” We reach an ornate door hidden down what feels like a series of random hallways. Satya presses a button and waits until a loud buzzsounds before holding the door open for me. “Go on in. Have a wonderful day.”
“You’re not coming?”
“He didn’t summon me. Just you this morning.” She winks at me. “I think he misses you.”
I laugh again. The idea of Mass missing another human being seems absurd.
Satya shuts the door behind me. I’m left in a massive space. For a moment, I’m slightly disoriented, and it takes a second to gather myself. There are shelves all along the walls like it’s a library. Several desks and cubicles are arranged to my right. The soft sound of typing filters across the cavernous ceiling. Lucy’s lounging on a couch near the back and flippantly nods at me as she taps quickly on her phone screen. I don’t recognize the other people.
It feels like I stepped into an open-plan office for some tech startup.
Except for Mass.
His desk is on my left. His space dominates half the massive room. Silk curtains and fancy screens are left out to provide him with privacy, but they’re all folded and opened at the moment. He’s sitting hunched over a stack of documents, diligently reading them with a slight scowl on his face, which I’m pretty sure is his default stare. There’s a couch near him, currently covered with books and more files, and several cabinets scattered nearby. It looks like the working space of a scatterbrained professor, not a cold-hearted killer.
“Over here,” he says without looking up from his work.
I hesitate before going to him. I feel the eyes of the other people in the room. They’re all young women and very pretty. A strange surge of jealousy fills me, and I quickly force it back down.
“Close the curtains.” He’s still reading something.
I don’t move to obey. “Why did you bring me all the way here?”
“You seemed bored. I’m giving you a job.” He finally glances up, face hardening more. “Close the curtains.”
“Please,” I suggest. He doesn’t move.
I sigh and cover the space. I catch a glimpse of Lucy. She’s smiling to herself.
Once we’re in relative privacy, I put down Rosie near the couch and clear a space for us. I can tell Mass doesn’t like it when I dump the files on the floor, but he doesn’t say anything about it.
“What kind of job are you giving me?”
“Data entry.”
“Seriously?”
“And a bit of filing.” He leans back and stretches. I glance at his lean, muscular arms and have to quickly look away.
“Don’t you have employees who can do that for you?”
“None are as nice to look at.”
I let out a surprised laugh. “Is that flirting?”
“Statement of fact.” He gestures at the files I put on the floor at my feet. “Those are out of order. Please file them alphabetically. When you’re done, there’s another stack over here. I need you to input the sums into a spreadsheet. I’m trying to digitize.”
“You’re digitizing your crime empire?”
“You’d be surprised how much accounting and logistics are involved in moving around billions of dollars every day.” He arches an eyebrow. “Is this too complicated for you?”
“I can handle some filing, it’s just that—” I hesitate and glance at Rosie. She’s crawling around and seems content to explore. We need to be out of here and in the solarium in an hour, but I don’t even know where that is. Based on the mountain of files and the way Mass is looking at me, I really doubt I’ll get out of here with enough time to figure it out.
“It’s just what?” he prompts.
