He puts his lips to my ear, not wanting the guards to hear. “It’s disturbing. Are you sure you want to see? I can summarize.”
He draws back, and when I reluctantly nod, he waves to his laptop where an image is paused. He presses play, and bars appear on the screen. It’s a cell. Frederick comes into view, and a curl of dread squeezes my insides. Fangs flashing, he crosses over to the woman huddling in the corner. I gasp. It’s the judge, Sarah. Drawing back his fist, he strikes her over and over. Then he bends her over the cot and…Mathias presses stop.
“When was this?” I whisper, appalled, not wanting the guards outside to hear.
“This morning,” he replies in a low voice, his lips compressed in fury. “Frederick mentioned the cameras, and I hacked into them so I could see what happened with Bennett a few days ago. Sarah didn’t set him free; Frederick did.”
He rewinds the feed until he reaches that spot and shows me the footage. “Based on Frederick’s expression, he’s pissed about letting him go, but my guess is Bennett forced him to do it. Maybe blackmail or an incentive he couldn’t pass up. They don’t mention anything, so it’s purely a guess.”
His thumb absentmindedly rubs my shoulder as he talks, and it makes me smile. “Have you heard from Jamison?”
“They’re ready,” he murmurs. “I also have confirmation from your friend. They retrieved the package. It’s time for us to get out of here.”
I smile and take a relieved breath.
“I’ve disabled the alarms and set a few traps. Unfortunately, we can’t portal out of here, and if we go through the city, they’ll catch us. We’re going to have to walk out. I’ve got a route mapped through hidden tunnels, but it will take us right by a guard station, so we can’t be a second late. Can you be ready to leave in the next twenty minutes?”
I start to nod, then look at the screen. “We can’t leave her.”
“She’s Nolan’s daughter,” he reminds me, whispering the words in my ear. “We don’t even know if she wants to leave.”
“Is she evil?” I ask, wondering if I missed something since I don’t know her that well. Maybe there’s more to this than I realize.
“No, not really. She’s…complex,” he says with a cautious glance at the door. “Nolan made her tough, but even he couldn’t stamp out her emotions. I think she yearns for love. Knowing that she’s mated to Frederick…I can see why she hasn’t found it.”
“We can at least ask her,” I persist. “See if she wants to leave him.”
He nods several times, and I can see him mentally recalculating our plans. “You’re right. It will be tight, but we can make a stop.”
It takes me ten minutes to grab a quick shower and pack a few items into his backpack. He’s waiting when I finish, pack on, and short swords in his hands. Mathias dips his head toward the coffee table, where I see a gun. Surprised, I check the ammunition and slide it into my waistband.
He flips his hands behind his back. “Open the door, then move back.”
I take a deep breath in and center myself, then with a smile, fling the door open. “Hello, boys.” Mathias moves in front of me, and I step back a few feet.
“Sleep,” he says, and two of the guards slump to the ground. The third charges forward, and Mathias blocks his weapon, then swings and cuts off his head. Mathias turns to me. “Ready?”
My chin dips as I pull the gun from my back.
Alarms begin blaring in the distance, and he rushes out of the room with me behind him. “I remapped the locations of the alarms, but it will only buy us a few minutes.”
“What about the cameras?” I ask breathlessly as we sprint down one hallway after another, Mathias following the map in his head.
“Hacked to display a loop. It will take them a few minutes to figure it out,” he says, his voice tight.
He suddenly stops at an alcove and twists the right sconce. Stone against stone grates as the back wall opens, revealing a secret hallway. We step through, and he punches a button on the side to close it.
Unable to penetrate the darkness, I reach out with my hand, and he grabs it in his. “Can you see?”
He chuckles. “Perfectly. You’ll have to trust me.”
I tighten my grip. “Lead on.” A second later, I’m startled to feel a kiss on my hand, and I smile.
Then we’re racing through the pitch-black corridor, so many twists and turns I lose count. We stop, and I hear him hit something. Light filters into the darkness around us as the door swings open.
He creeps forward and places a finger to his lips. I hear a thud a few seconds later, then he motions for me to join him.
Stepping into the dim, damp space, familiar bars come into sight. I peer through them and see Sarah lying in a ball.
