29. Hades
TWENTY-NINE
HADES
Lake
Two different security teams guard the door. Alessio’s and Hades’s. The Hades team thoroughly searches Alessio and finds nothing. Which is probably why Alessio mentioned he would use his bare hands.
The man turns toward me, but Alessio shakes his head. “You’re welcome to search my companion with your eyes. She is wearing very little for this reason.”
“Not enough,” the security guard says in a deep voice.
“As you wish.” Alessio turns and directs me to walk back. “Tell your minister we will meet at another time.” We take a few steps away from the security guys when the heavy door unlocks from the inside.
Alessio wipes the satisfied smirk from his face as soon as we turn back around, but the glint of victory remains in the wink he gives me. Only Alessio is having fun here. I think these security guys, the underground, and just about everything in this meeting is terrifying. Truth be told, I almost cheered when he decided we were going back upstairs.
Alas, the meeting proceeds as planned.
We walk through the door into a brightly lit space. It’s so bright that I squint my eyes.
Inside, a dark-haired, dark-eyed young woman slightly younger than me stands to greet us. She is wearing an elegant, sleeveless white dress with a high collar. Her hair is pulled up tightly into a high bun, and her diamond earrings dangle all the way to her shoulders.
She doesn’t return my smile, but she’s not cold either. Indifferent, I would say, when she offers Alessio a large ceramic bowl of what looks like water. Alessio washes his hands and dries them on the towel folded over her left forearm.
I go to do the same, but she steps back. “You’re clean.” She moves to the side and deposits the bowl on the floor, then joins an older man, maybe in his late fifties or early sixties, standing beside a single rectangular table for four.
He wears a sharp suit and has a full head of dark hair, the color of which matches his eyes, and he looks intense. I don’t recognize him, but the way he stands tells me he’s used to being the most important person in the room.
Alessio approaches and shakes the man’s hand while introducing himself.
The man answers, but I don’t catch his name. I note that Alessio never introduced himself to the daughter, and the man also said nothing to me. In fact, it’s almost as if neither she nor I exists. For them, it’s business casual, I guess, and perhaps that’s a part of his culture. The handwashing certainly indicated some sort of ritual we don’t perform in the West.
I sit on an uncomfortable metal chair and catch the daughter’s eye. She holds my gaze. As in holds it relentlessly. I look away and finally take in the space. Gosh, it’s bright in the underworld. I’d imagined it would be dark, you know.
And have walls. No walls here. It’s a large space, maybe the size of a basketball court, filled ceiling to floor with small metal boxes. They’re numbered too. How odd. Wait…what is this? I sit up, then look behind me. The doors close with a thud, sealing us in. I think we’re inside a vault.
Alessio and the man speak in Italian. The woman assumed the stillness of a statue, while I’m over here freaking about being stuck who knows how many miles underground inside a sealed vault.
“Lake.” Alessio leans in. “How are you doing?”
“Are we in a vault?”
“Yes.”
“Just checking.”
Alessio nods and continues to speak. The man raises his voice. Alessio matches the tone. I have no idea if they’re arguing, but the blinding light, the realization of where I am, and that woman staring at me unblinkingly is all a bit much for me.
Under the table, Alessio rests a hand on my thigh. I think he’s aware I’m a wreck over here, thinking I’ll run out of oxygen while the woman across from me shoots lasers from her eyes. I put my hand on his, and he turns his palm and holds my hand as if we’re lovers. Perhaps we are.
The meeting goes on for a good ten minutes before the men switch to English.
“My staff informs me that King Arma is staying at the hotel,” Hades says.
Alessio nods. “I heard the same.”
“His wife is at the hospital, I hear,” the man says.
Alessio smiles. “They welcomed a son. I sent flowers.”
He did? That’s nice.
“When my men scanned the hotel’s guest list, the king wasn’t on the list.”
“The hotel grants him the same privilege of anonymity that they’ve granted you.”
“But I’m not staying here.”
Alessio chuckles. “You’re sitting in the hotel’s vault, and you’re still under the impression that I don’t know who stays here and when.” Alessio tsks. “I know you rented four rooms. I know you arrived yesterday with a small army. It is risky and could be perceived as a hostile act. The French courts won’t make exceptions if any of your men commit crimes on their soil.”
“I don’t know what you mean. I’m only here to take Margaret.”
Alessio stills, and I turn toward him, catching him staring at the man. It appears as though Alessio might leap out of the chair and snap the man’s neck. The man stares back, looking ready to do the same.
“Who is Margaret?” I ask.
Alessio clears his throat. “A horse.”
“A winning horse,” the man says, still not looking at me. “That I bought, and you stole.”
I shake my head. “I have a hard time believing Alessio stole anything. Why steal when you can buy, you know?”
“For the thrill,” the woman answers me.
That doesn’t sound thrilling, but what do I know?
“You bought Margaret, but you abused her, and she was injured. I used a significant amount of my own resources to treat her wounds. I haven’t been compensated for her care.”
The man nods. “I heard, which is why I came.” The man extends a palm toward his daughter, who reaches into her bun and pulls out a set of gold keys. She hands it to the man, who drops it on the table.
Alessio picks up the keys and squeezes my thigh.
“I won’t be long,” he says.
He walks behind the man, and once Alessio’s back is to us, the woman slips something into my purse. Did I imagine it? She keeps staring at me, as she’s been doing the entire time. When I get no reaction from her, I glance over at the man, who stares at me for two seconds, then turns away.
She did put something in my purse. It could be her phone number, for all I know. Shit, it could be his phone number. Or it could be something more dangerous, though I can’t imagine what would be more dangerous than hitting on me while my dangerous boyfriend has you trapped in his vault.
He’s not my boyfriend , my brain supplies.
They don’t know that , the same brain argues.
Alessio unlocks one of the safe deposit boxes and pulls it out.
I can’t stand the suspense. I open my purse. A metal piece as long as my finger slips past my phone. I reach for it, but the man clears his throat. I look up, and he sighs dramatically as if bored. Or as if annoyed with me.
“Perhaps we could get some dinner later,” the woman says.
“I’m afraid Lake and I already have plans,” Alessio answers on his way back. He pockets the key the man gave him. “I accept the initial bid.”
“A bid?” The man looks surprised.
Alessio, standing beside me, offers me his hand. I take it and rise because I think we’re leaving.
“Your purse.” The woman pushes it toward me. “It’s lovely. Small. Fits right in your grip.” She squeezes my purse as she hands it to me. I feel like I’m a part of something she’s saying, but not quite. She talks to me as if she knows something I don’t.
“My associate will contact you,” Alessio says.
“You would be wise to reconsider,” Hades says.
“I can’t do that since I already opened the bidding. You’re welcome to join.”
“I already paid for Margaret. I’m not keen on having to pay for her twice.”
“Then you must steal her back.”
The man blinks. “Are you inviting me to try?”
“Certainly. You seem to have infiltrated Margaret’s caretakers, or else you wouldn’t have known that’s what I call her. I invite you to try to take her back. Otherwise, you can bid like everyone else.”
The man licks his lips and then shows Alessio his teeth. “My people are everywhere, Mr. Angelini.”
“If you mean the three of your nationals that are on my island, rest assured that I’ll find them, even if they fled.”
I stiffen. What does he mean by this man’s nationals? Three is a specific number. The woman slipped something into my purse. These two aren’t connected to the three people who ambushed me in the hotel room, are they?
My heart’s pounding wildly now.
I’m sure Alessio notices because he starts to rub my back.
“My country has over seventy million citizens,” Hades says. “Unless you’ve banned my people, they are probably on vacation. I hear your island is paradise.”
“Maybe. Maybe they’re looking to buy a yacht.”
A yacht? People sail on yachts. Didn’t the sadists mention someone sailing and disappearing into the sea? I can’t think right now.
“Do you like yachts, Ms. Wilder?” Hades addresses me for the first time, his gaze intimate, knowing. I am his spy. His.
I swallow because I can’t speak.
“Galden.” Alessio addresses the man. “If you speak with my date again, I will send this dress to your daughter so she can wear it at your funeral.”
The man chuckles as he stares at me, daring Alessio to do something.
If the man opens his mouth again, I’m dead. Alessio won’t forgive me, not after trusting me with his nephew. Alessio dressed me in millions of dollars’ worth of jewelry and clothes. A man, no matter the size of his fortune, would never spend this much money on someone he didn’t care about. If Alessio cares about me, it means he wants a relationship with me, and that pains me because I’m nothing but a liar.
But I must stay strong for my family. If anything goes wrong, my family won’t see the light of dawn.
“Please, Alessio, let’s go.” He’s not the kind of man to make empty threats, but I fear they’ll finish off my uncle. “Let them walk away. Better the devil you know.”