“Sort of,” she replies cryptically. “I’m a Raven, but I’m undercover.” She winks at me. “Don’t tell anyone or we’ll have to kill you.”
She says it so casually that it takes me a second to process the fact she just threatened my life. And once I do, I move on from it way too easily.
“Raven?” I ask, wrinkling my nose.
Bailey waves a dismissive hand. “It’s this whole… thing.” She pauses, clearly deciding the explanation would take longer than she’s willing to give right now. “Anyways, I’m technically out on assignment, so nobody will even know I was there today. AndDrew’s fun little system hack bought us ten minutes of lights-out. No cameras, no trail.”
She flashes a smug smile, and my belly does a little flip. Pretty sure I’ve got a girl crush on Bailey.
“And right now he’s playing hero, getting everything back online,” she continues. “They’re probably only just realizing you’re gone.”
I cast a nervous glance toward the window, half expecting blacked-out SUVs to come screaming around the next corner. They don’t, but my knee starts bouncing anxiously anyway.
Bailey reaches back to rest a hand on my knee, stilling the motion. “We’re good,” she says firmly.
And once again, I believe her. Confidence radiates off her so strongly it’s almost impossible not to.
“How much you wanna bet Nat is losing her shit right now?” Keane speculates with a huffed laugh.
Bailey smirks as she swivels her head his way. “She’s probably pissing herself over having to break the news to Voss.”
“Who’s Voss?” I blurt.
“Bad news,” Keane answers instantly. “Damien Voss runs the Dollhouse.”
I frown slightly. “Never heard of him.”
“Not surprising,” Bailey replies. “Natalia handles the day to day, but he’s the boss.”
I stare down at my hands, furrowing my brow. “My guard– er,handler– mentioned the boss. Said he’d taken a special interest in me.”
Bailey’s head snaps around so fast it makes me flinch.
“Thank fuck we got you out of there,” she breathes, scowling. “Voss is a scary dude.”
Keane’s easygoing expression disappears completely, his mouth flattening into a hard line. “Completely fucking heartless,” he mutters bitterly. “The worst of the worst.”
I swallow thickly as a cold pit opens in my stomach.
The world outside the window has shifted so gradually I barely even noticed. We’ve gone from dense city blocks to quiet suburbs, which are now fading in the rearview, a long stretch of forested nothing ahead. I keep asking questions about the Dollhouse, and Bailey answers what she can– some things vaguely, others with elaborate detail. My brain is so busy trying to absorb everything she’s saying that it doesn’t even occur to me to ask the most obvious question: where we’re going.
The Jeep eventually veers off the highway, winding through a maze of narrow country roads before slowing and crunching onto gravel. As Keane rolls to a stop, I look up to find we’re at the edge of a forest preserve. Tall trees crowd the perimeter of the lot, sunlight filtering through bare branches and striping the ground with pale gold. And there, parked at the far end, is an all too familiar black Escalade.
My stomach drops as I take in the three figures leaning against the hood, arms folded, their attention fixed squarely on us. The Kings.
My pulse detonates.
Every instinct in my body screams at me to curl up in the footwell and hide, but all I can do is shake my head weakly, a pathetic whisper slipping past my lips.
“No…”
Bailey glances back at me, and for the first time since we met, her expression softens completely.
“Sorry girl,” she says gently. “This is as far as we can take you. We’ve got our own agenda, and you’re safer with them than with us.”
A disbelieving laugh bursts out of me. “Those boys are the furthest thing from safe.”
She gives me a small, rueful smile. “Tell me about it.”
