Chapter 21 Allie
ALLIE
It’s weird how relieved I feel when we finally get back to the apartment in the Fortress.
This place is my prison. It’s a really nice prison, but there’s no ambiguity here. I can go wherever I want, so long as I stay in my pretty little cage.
But I like it. Traveling around Turkey was fun. This place is like coming home.
Which is disturbing.
Rosie seems to feel the same way. She was fussy during travel but instantly calms once we’re in the apartment. I’m able to put her down in her crib that night.
Mass kisses me, lingering longer than I expected before finally excusing himself. “Work never stops,” he whispers, and I can tell he doesn’t want to leave.
The sick part is I don’t want him to go either.
I keep thinking about that night when he came home stinking of a burning building.
His clothes were stained with splashes of red, and he was walking with a limp.
But he picked up Rosie and put her down in her crib like a surgeon cutting into a delicate brain.
He looked at my baby girl like she was the most incredible creature he’d ever seen before.
And then he looked at me the same way.
That’s the part that really fucked me up. It was the longing in his stare. The way he pulled me back to his bed, held me in his arms, and fell asleep like that.
It was vulnerable. And I doubt Mass ever lets his defenses down like that with anyone else in his life.
I liked it. God help me, but I did. I liked the sex, for obvious reasons, but I also liked the stuff after. Sleeping together. Waking up together. Drinking coffee on the veranda while he told me about the night before.
For some reason, the violence didn’t even bother me.
I can almost forget. Back in the Fortress, surrounded by luxury, my daughter healthy and strangely happy, I can almost pretend my life is normal.
Until I hear a faint buzzing coming from the couch.
It takes a few minutes to find the phone. I shoved it down deep, and it got stuck in the back mechanism. My fingers wiggle around until I get a good grip and pull it out.
There’s a text from a number I don’t know.
My heart races as I open it up. Mass is still gone, and I should go to sleep.
It’s been a long travel day.
Maybe it’d be better to forget about this phone.
But it’s my only link to the outside world.
And someone died to get it to me.
I feel sick as I read the message.
You have to find him in the west wing. You have to get through if you want to get out.
That’s it. Cryptic bullshit. I know about the door, but the rest of it feels meaningless. Who is him in this situation? And where do I have to get through?
I type a text in reply asking for more information, but the phone stays dead and silent. Eventually, I hide it again and go to bed.
But the seed’s there.
I last a full three days.
Mass is busy dealing with the fallout from what happened in Turkey. When he does come to the apartment, he spends his time holding Rosie and going to town on me. The man’s insatiable. It’s like the hours he spends away from me only make him want me even more. Filling me to the brim is never enough.
I like it a whole lot.
But I’m really bad at focusing. If I could shut off my brain and make the dumb voice in my head accept my situation, I might actually do it.
I’m not talking full-on lobotomy, but like a little casual dumbing down of my cerebral cortex.
Just enough so that I can forget about the stupid phone and its dumb mystery text.
“Are you sure this is okay?” I ask Satya as I close Rosie’s nursery door behind me. The room’s pitch black and a sound machine whirrs endlessly.
Satya laughs lightly. “Absolutely fine. I’d be more than happy to sit around and make sure the little darling is safe.”
“I’ll be back before she wakes up. I just can’t leave her alone.”
“It’s my job, Allie. Don’t you worry for one second. Go on, wander the halls, get lost, enjoy yourself. There’s a wonderful kitchen on the third floor if you’re hungry. Highly recommend it.”
“Thank you.” I force myself to walk fast to the elevator. “I swear, I’ll be back soon! And if she wakes up early, you can just—” I realize there’s no way she can contact me. “I’m sure you can tell someone and they’ll bring me back.”
“Lady’s always watching.” Satya beams pleasantly at me like that’s not a creepy proposition. “But don’t worry. It’ll be fine. Go on!”
I ride the elevator down to the first floor. Worry fills me the second I get off and stare around at the front lobby.
For a reclusive crime lord, Mass sure has a lot of staff here.
I know most of them aren’t really working directly with him but instead are busy with some specific part of his operation.
He’s got a finger in almost every criminal enterprise imaginable plus more than a few legitimate organizations.
I learned recently that he’s got an entire floor of biomedical research scientists doing cutting-edge work with immunotherapies for cancer.
But still, I feel like they’re all watching me.
Some really are. I’m aware the guards have instructions to keep an eye on me.
I don’t think they’re following me necessarily, but when I’m nearby, they make sure I’m okay and don’t need anything.
I feel relieved when I enter the back hallways again and find myself in a part of the Fortress that isn’t crawling with people moving around to the various sections of the structure.
It’s not easy retracing my steps. I get lost a couple of times and have to ask for directions to the solarium. But once I find it, I’m able to retrace my path until I find myself standing outside of the massive locked door.
“Alright, I’m here,” I mutter to myself, frowning around. “Now what the heck am I supposed to do?”
I poke around the frame and try the handle.
It’s shut tight. There’s a code pad set in the wall, and I try a few random numbers, hoping someone was stupid enough to make it respond to 1111, 0000, and 1234, but none of those work.
I guess Mass isn’t the kind of man to let an idiot into the heart of his operation, much less let one design his special door.
“Now what the heck am I supposed to do with you?” I talk to myself as I work. Nothing makes the locks open, and I know I don’t have forever. Eventually, the house AI will summon security to chase me off.
But the text told me I have to find a way inside.
Mostly out of desperation, I press my ear to the door. I close my eyes and steady my breathing. All I can hear is the thumping of my heart.
I knew this was a mistake.
I’m trapped here. Whoever’s on the other end of that phone can’t really have my best interests at heart. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be sending me a bunch of puzzles. Instead, they’d smuggle me a key and a gun baked into a cake.
My mind wanders to Mass and that night in Turkey again. I find myself wishing he was here with me right now. That way, I could just ask him straight out what’s in this room. I don’t even think he’d lie, but I’m not sure he’d answer either.
Curiosity keeps me in place. I’m ready to give up when I hear it.
The sound’s faint. It’s clearly coming from deeper in the room.
But it’s unmistakable.
It’s the sound of a man singing in Italian.
The song is shockingly familiar. My mother used to sing it to me when I was little, back before she really started to despise me.
I loved that song so much I made her sing it every night until I was ten years old, at which point she finally snapped at me, you’re too old for this baby stuff, close your eyes and sleep.
But the voice in this room tugs at something. There’s a memory buried deep in my head. A man’s voice, like that one, warbling that same lullaby. Mama rolls her eyes but smiles a little.
Who’s singing? What’s he doing in that room? And why does it feel like I know him?
“Time for you to move on.”
I pull away, heart racing into my throat. I look around, but there’s nobody nearby. It takes a second before I understand. “Was that you, Lady?”
“Yes, Allie, it was me.” The house AI’s voice is pleasant and emotionless. “The guards are on their way. I suggest you go elsewhere.”
I frown slightly. “Why are you warning me?”
“Because I’ve been instructed to prioritize your health, safety, and comfort above all else by Dragon Massimo.”
Interesting. I didn’t know he’d given her that instruction. “Thanks for the heads-up, Lady.”
“Anytime, Allie.”
I hurry away from the door. Memory still itches at the back of my head. The lullaby’s haunting melody dredges something old from deep in my past.
But as soon as I reach for it, I feel the half-remembered images fade like an old dream.