Page 212 of Damsel in Disguise

It also explains why every available member of the Dominion appears to be inside the compound.

The guard looks back at Ariella. Then he steps aside, and the gates open.

I drive forward to my usual parking spot.

Heavy iron doors close behind us with a series of metal locks that slide into place.

Ariella looks back over her shoulder. For the first time since she walked into my office that morning, uncertainty crosses her face.

“This doesn’t look like a safe house,” she says, looking at me again. “Where is it, Alistair?”

I turn off the engine. “A place where they won’t look for you.”

Another truth.

Perhaps the last one I’ll be allowed to give her.

I step out of the car and walk around to open her side, offering my hand.

She hesitates only for a second. Then she places her hand in mine and lets me help her out.

I’ve spent years convincing myself that every decision can be justified if the outcome is necessary.

Standing beneath the walls of the Triarch Dominion with Ariella Keinston trusting me enough to follow without another question, I discover that intelligence and wisdom have never been the same thing.

Even so, I lead her inside through the entrance hall, which is too packed, unlike the other times.

That, more than the armed guards or the locked gates, tells me how serious the situation has become.

Triarch Dominion was never built to impress outsiders. It was built to function. Corridors that should be empty stand occupied. Doors that are usually left closed are left open.

Conversations die the moment we pass. What I don’t know is if it’s because of the heiress of the CynoTech Group walking with me or seeing me bringing an outsider and still breathing.

The latter surprises me too—outsiders are never allowed inside Triarch Dominion unless the Founders personally recruited them. If someone even brings an infant, both will be killed on the spot.

Which brings me to the conclusion that everyone here was expecting me to bring her. And though they might gather here for the said lockdown to catch who leaked the classified, they all gathered here for a celebration. After all, it’s a Keinston they caught.

Ariella notices but decides to say nothing.

So I don’t explain either. The fewer lies I tell her now, the better.

I lead her away from the central wing and toward the oldest part of the estate, where the architecture slowly abandons grandeur for practicality.

The stone walls give way to steel doors. Portraits disappear, replaced by security panels and reinforced glass. The polished floors become plain concrete.

She finally breaks the silence. “Alistair….”

“It’s my laboratory if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Her steps falter for the briefest moment before she catches up with me. “First Triarch Dominion and now this… wow, you don’t cease to impress me,” she suppresses a giggle, but I don’t join her temporary amusement.

The biometric scanner recognizes me immediately. A heavy door slides open, revealing the laboratory beyond is exactly as I left it.

It’s the only place in the world I’ve ever allowed to reflect the inside of my own mind.

Ariella slowly turns in place, her eyes awed. “You never mentioned any of this.”

“There was never a reason to.”