“I’m compromising.”
“You’re not the kind of man who compromises anything.”
“Maybe you’re a positive influence on me.”
“Doubt it.” Her eyes narrow. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch, wife.” I stand and move around the table. She stays very still when I put a hand on her slim shoulder. I love the wayshe feels. And I love how afraid she is. “Now you don’t have an excuse to stay behind.”
She stiffens as I walk away. I smile to myself. I didn’t exactly win anything, but at least I’ll get what I want.
Allie in my bed.
I’m about to gather my things when Lady starts blaring an alarm. I move into action, rushing to the small closet near the elevators. Inside is an assault rifle. I pull it out, check the magazine, and chamber a round.
“Lady, report. What’s going on?”
Allie looks panicked. She runs upstairs, probably to check on Rosie.
“Mass, it’s Lucy.” Lady’s smooth voice is gone, replaced by my second-in-command. “Red alert here. Guards found a body just now.”
“A body? Where?”
“At the beach. You’d better come take a look.”
Allie appears clutching a crying Rosie. “Is everything okay?”
“Stay here.” I summon the elevator and step on.
But my wife doesn’t listen. “I’m not sitting alone in there, are you crazy?”
I glare at her. I could order her to stay put. The house AI could lock the room down.
Instead, I relent and hit the button for the bottom floor. “Keep close to me.”
“I have nowhere else to go.”
ALLIE
Inervously follow Mass through the halls of the Fortress, clutching Rosie to my chest.
The place swarms with activity. Men and women in guard uniforms rush all over the place, only pausing to nod and salute Mass. He ignores most of them and strides through the chaos with pure confidence and strength. Other staff members linger in doorways, peering out with curious frowns at all the commotion. None of them stop or say anything to us as we hurry on.
Lucy appears when we reach the bottom floor. She attaches herself to Mass’s hip, and I’m essentially shoved into the back of our growing group. More guards form around us, creating a protective cordon. I can’t decide if I feel safer or if they’re a threat. Rosie, for her part, is totally amused and happy to be out for a little walk.
“He was found about ten minutes ago by a member of the landscaping crew,” Lucy says as we step out a back door and onto a manicured walkway. I catch glimpses of pools, hot tubs,beautiful shrubs, and exotic flowers. It’s like we’re in our own private five-star hotel. “We’ve already identified him.”
“Cause of death?”
“His throat was cut.”
Worry stabs into my stomach. Everything feels wrong. This is happening too soon after my meeting with Ryan. But he didn’t seem like he was necessarily worried for himself. We weren’t caught, at least not that I could tell.
Still, who would murder someone in this place?
I know it’s the fortress of a notoriously powerful and violent crime lord, but it’s also one of the most heavily surveilled and protected places I’ve ever seen.
There’s no way something so gruesome could happen with all these eyes everywhere.
