Chapter 16 Mass
MASS
Ican barely sleep that night. I keep wondering who I’ve become. I can barely recognize the man inside my skin.
Since when did I want to linger in a baby’s room just to watch her sleep? And why is that single, tasteful kiss still lodged in my stomach like a stone?
I wake early and slip from bed without bothering Allie.
I make espresso and check my messages. There’s a morning briefing created by Lady.
The house AI is good at taking all of my various emails and collating them into a single list of important tasks.
Mostly they’re minor fires I have to squash, and today’s no different.
Rebels in Yemen are killing my suppliers. A bomb-maker affiliated with our organization is dead in a blast of his own making in downtown Cairo. Problems are scattered all over the fucking place.
And I still can’t think of anything but my wife.
Frustration lingers in my stomach. I stand by the windows and look out at the ocean. Usually, the endless blue calms me. But not today.
“Lady, play something to help me concentrate.”
“Right away, Mr. Cardone.” Her vaguely accent-free voice floats from the hidden speakers. Simple lo-fi piano music follows with a mellow beat and calming strings on top. Probably Lady’s generating everything on the fly. I drink my coffee and try to get back to reading, but that doesn’t last long.
Allie appears in the kitchen. She yawns, stretching up onto her tiptoes. Her top pulls up and shows off her smooth stomach. If she reaches higher, it’ll touch the bottoms of her breasts. My heart rate increases and I feel myself getting half-hard at the sight of her messy hair and her sleepy eyes.
“Why are you staring at me?” she asks, smiling a little.
“You look good.”
“Uh, thanks.” She quickly turns away. “Can I have some coffee?”
“I’ll make you a latte.” I take over in the kitchen. She watches me, leaning against the counter. “When does our daughter wake up?”
“My daughter,” she corrects absently and glances at the monitor. “Not too much longer. What’s this music?”
“Lady’s making it.”
“The house AI?” Allie wrinkles her nose. “Why not listen to something from a human?”
“All noise is the same to me. I just needed something to help me think.” But I want to please her, and so I query Lady with my phone and have her play only human-made songs.
I barely notice the difference.
“Did you know it threatened to zap me yesterday? There’s this big metal door—”
I finish her drink and hand it over. She cradles it between both hands and blows lightly on the top. “You must’ve gone far if you found that.”
“What are you hiding in there?”
“Nothing you’d be interested in.”
“Drugs? Money? Guns?”
“A person.”
Her eyebrows raise. “Really?”
I smile and lean in. “What do you think?” I hold her gaze for a moment, but she finally looks away first.
“You’re fucking with me,” she mutters and puts some more space between us. “Seriously, that AI thing is deranged.”
“Lady’s fine. Don’t mind her. Lady, you’ll be nice to my wife, isn’t that right?”
“Of course, Mass. Your family is my only priority.”
Allie yelps and looks around. Panic makes her cheeks turn red. “She’s watching?!”
“Listening. Her name’s the trigger word. Everything else gets dumped into memory and flushed after five seconds. Don’t worry. It’s all locally done.”
“Cool. Great. The AI’s listening now too.” She scowls for a moment, drinks her coffee, and seems to like it. “Why am I locked out of that room, by the way? I thought I had freedom in this place.”
“You do. That room is off-limits. Everything else is yours.”
“What about the beach? Can I go outside?”
“Yes, you can. There’s a stretch of beach on the property. It’s very safe.”
“And heavily guarded.”
“Of course. You’d better wear a very conservative bikini. I’d hate to have to kill my men for looking at my wife the wrong way.”
She snorts and smiles a little. But she quickly schools her face. “Are you going to make me do more filing today?”
“No, not today.” I sit across from her and decide this is as good a time as any. “We’re going on a trip later this afternoon.”
“Seriously? Where?”
“I have business in Turkey. I want you there with me.”
“I’ve never been to Turkey.” She doesn’t seem to mind as much as I thought she would. “I guess that’s better than hanging around. How long are we going? I’ll need to make sure I have enough stuff for Rosie.”
I hold up a hand. “About her. I think it’s best if we leave our daughter here where she’ll be safest.”
Allie pulls back. She looks at me sharply and lowers the coffee down to the table. “Absolutely not.”
“This is the safest place in the world—”
“Then why not leave me here too?”
“Because I want you with me. You’ll be bored here. This way is better—”
“Better for you. I’m not going anywhere without my daughter.”
I open my mouth to argue with her. I knew she’d react like this, and I still blundered into this confrontation anyway. But as soon as I imagine what Turkey will be like without Rosie, all the fight drains away.
Allie will hate it. And a part of me will too.
Why not bring my entire family? Why leave the child behind?
It’s true, she’d be safer here.
Still, I want my daughter there for the same reason I want my wife.
“Alright. We’ll bring her.”
Allie looks suspicious. “Just like that? You’re caving?”
“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 way she 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.”