She stepped out of my arms, already heading for the next room. “Exactly.Wecould be swimming in your indoor pool right now. But instead, I’m discovering your apocalypse stash.”
I watched her round the corner, then heard her voice echo from the next space.
“Oh my God. Is that a bathtub sunkenintothe floor?”
I followed.
She stood at the threshold of the main ensuite, a room wrapped in stone and black tile, with arched lighting, gold fixtures, and a sunken tub large enough to fit four people in.
“Do you even use this?” she asked.
“No.”
She looked back at me, expression shifting.
“Do you plan on keeping your whole life empty?” Her eyes widened, like it slipped out faster than she wanted, “I mean… it’s just really clear you’re all work. Everything here is weapons, logistics, communications. What about other stuff, that isn’t work?”
I didn’t answer right away. The truth was the crest was my life.
She turned back toward the sunken bath, slowly around its edge, trailing her fingers along the smooth black stone like she was appraising it for herself.
“Seriously,” she said over her shoulder. “If you had one full day off, no syndicate, dynasty, what would you evendowith yourself?”
I leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. “Sleep.”
She scoffed. “You’re boring.”
“Efficient.”
“Not a word most people use when they talk about how they spend their free time.”
“I don’t take free time.”
She turned toward me, eyes narrowing playfully. “Okay, butifyou did. Hypothetically. What would you do?”
I shrugged. “Eat. Sleep. Probably check the cameras even though I’m not supposed to.”
“Vince.”
“What?”
“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.” She stepped around the tub toward me. “You have a bathtub designed for royalty. There’s a sauna through that wall, isn’t there?”
I didn’t answer. She already knew she was right.
“You could swim in your indoor pool. Read something that isn’t encrypted. Take a drive with the roof down. Eat cake. Make a mess.Be human.”
“Cake?”
She grinned. “Preferably chocolate. Ideally stolen. Eaten somewhere wildly inappropriate, like in bed. Or in a weapons vault.”
She paused near the edge of the bath, glancing over her shoulder with that curious glint in her eye again. “Didn’t you say this was justoneproperty?”
I nodded.
“And Iknowyou own the estate,” she added. “So how many are there?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Seven…nine… a few.”
