Chapter 15 Sloane
Sloane
I must be sick in the head.
Not only have I not spoken to the cops, but I’m on my way to the address Zeth sent me, and I’ve worn the shortest, slinkiest dress I own.
I don’t know why, but his text felt like a dare.
He didn’t think I would do it, which made my rebellious streak stick its middle finger up.
It’s been a while since that happened. After the worst day at work, being interrogated about Carrie’s disappearance—You were the last to see her, Dr. Romera.
Are you positive she didn’t mention anything about leaving?
—a fight with this guy is the very last thing I need.
I’m not stupid, though. It’s probably going to happen, so I’m well primed for one.
I leave my car two streets over and make my way to the apartment building.
Should I tell Pippa what I’m doing tonight?
If I go missing and am never heard from again, at least that way she could report my last known location.
But I can’t tell her. One, because I don’t have my fucking cell anymore and I’m not a savant with other people’s phone numbers, and two, because she will definitely tear me a new one for not listening to her.
I press the buzzer for 12C, wondering if the girl is going to be here.
I’ve brought my medical bag with me just in case.
If she is, I’ll be able to inspect her wounds and change her dressings.
I’ll also be able to leave her the antibiotics she’s definitely going to need.
A crackle blasts down the intercom, but no one speaks.
Whoever is upstairs presses the entry key, and the door lets out an ear-splitting buzz and clicks open.
I climb four flights of stairs before the rumble of music and laughter fills the air.
Someone’s having a party. A lone guy, suited up with his hands folded in front of him, stands at the end of the hallway, watching me approach.
Doesn’t take long for me to realize the music is coming from the apartment I’m after, and the guy in the suit?
He’s standing guard at the door like a bouncer. What the hell?
“Can I help you?” he asks in a smooth, low voice. His skin is light brown, his eyes a surprising, piercing light blue. With his shaved head and imposing six-and-a-half-foot stature, he’s a refined kind of dangerous. Like a stiletto blade. Slender. Beautifully made… but deadly as can be.
“I’m—Zeth told me to come.” Why the hell would he tell me to come here while he’s having some kind of blowout? It was probably his idea of damage control, make sure there are plenty of people around so I can’t cause a scene about… well, everything.
The doorman smiles politely. “May I have your name?”
“Sloane. Sloane Romera.”
There’s no guest list on a clipboard. No earpiece in the guy’s ear.
He nods when he hears my name, though—confirmation that I am expected.
“Welcome, Dr. Romera. I’m Michael. If you need anything this evening, please don’t hesitate to find me.
” He steps to one side and opens the door behind him, blocking the room inside from view with his body.
He gestures to a table behind the door with an open palm, smiling courteously. “Please. Select a mask.”
Select a mask? My toes curl inside my shoes. The last time I had to wear a mask was back in the hotel when I’d met Zeth the first time. It hadn’t mattered in the end because of the dark, but still, the association has liquid dread cycling through my veins.
“Uh, no. I don’t think so.”
Michael nods understandingly, like he’s been through this before. “I’m sorry, Dr. Romera, but without a mask I’m afraid I can’t let you inside.”
Mother. Fucker. I want my phone back. I want to see if Carrie, or whoever the hell she is, is all right.
I want to find out what Zeth knows about my sister.
My jaw sets as I look down on the large table.
There are six masks left. Four of them are more masculine.
The two feminine ones are both black with golden swirls, but a shining, metallic black-purple-green feather plumes from one of them.
It’s pretty, so I pluck it up, and Michael does me the honor of affixing it into my hair.
Seems like the guy has done this before.
“Thank you for obliging us, Dr. Romera,” he says.
And then he moves back so I can see into the room behind him, and my stomach bottoms out.