Chapter 17 Allie
ALLIE
Inervously follow Mass through the halls of the Fortress, clutching Rosie to my chest.
The place swarms with activity. Men and women in guard uniforms rush all over the place, only pausing to nod and salute Mass.
He ignores most of them and strides through the chaos with pure confidence and strength.
Other staff members linger in doorways, peering out with curious frowns at all the commotion.
None of them stop or say anything to us as we hurry on.
Lucy appears when we reach the bottom floor.
She attaches herself to Mass’s hip, and I’m essentially shoved into the back of our growing group.
More guards form around us, creating a protective cordon.
I can’t decide if I feel safer or if they’re a threat.
Rosie, for her part, is totally amused and happy to be out for a little walk.
“He was found about ten minutes ago by a member of the landscaping crew,” Lucy says as we step out a back door and onto a manicured walkway. I catch glimpses of pools, hot tubs, beautiful shrubs, and exotic flowers. It’s like we’re in our own private five-star hotel. “We’ve already identified him.”
“Cause of death?”
“His throat was cut.”
Worry stabs into my stomach. Everything feels wrong. This is happening too soon after my meeting with Ryan. But he didn’t seem like he was necessarily worried for himself. We weren’t caught, at least not that I could tell.
Still, who would murder someone in this place?
I know it’s the fortress of a notoriously powerful and violent crime lord, but it’s also one of the most heavily surveilled and protected places I’ve ever seen.
There’s no way something so gruesome could happen with all these eyes everywhere.
But I start to revise that position as we get closer to the beach.
The trees are fairly thick down closer to the water before the sand starts.
There’s a natural barrier between anyone watching up at the fortress and anyone walking down below.
Lucy and the guards take us along a narrow pathway, perfectly sculpted and manicured, and out onto the dunes.
Wind moves through my hair and clothes, and Rosie laughs as she squirms in my arms and struggles to look around.
The group marches grimly on. I pause to take off my shoes, which earns a hard look from Lucy. Mass doesn’t seem to care. He’s staring around him with a deep frown, like he’s trying to understand how something like this could have happened.
There’s another knot of guards about a half mile down the sand. They’re standing in a loose ring around a dark splotch lying directly between the dunes and the water. The splotch isn’t moving, and it takes a moment before I realize it’s a body.
Lucy and the soldiers continue forward while Mass pauses at my side.
“You should stay over here,” he says, not looking down at me. “I’m told the body is in bad shape.”
“Someone was murdered in my home,” I say softly. I don’t have to try very hard to sound scared. “I need to see it.”
He glances down at me with a curious tilt to his head. “You’re calling it your home now?”
“Better than calling it my prison.”
“Both are accurate for now.” He strides off without another comment. I linger behind, struggling with myself.
I have to see the body. Not because of what I said to Mass. He clearly saw through that bullshit, but I don’t think he knows the real reason.
I have to know if it’s Ryan.
Fear rifles through me. I don’t want to go over there. There’s blood in the sand, dark and splotchy. I don’t want my daughter anywhere near it.
But she’s too busy watching the water.
And I need to find out.
I get closer. My heart’s racing in my chest. Mass is striding around the corpse, looking at every detail like a detective on TV. He’s talking quietly to Lucy while she types on her phone.
The guards don’t stop me. I really wish they would.
I walk to my left and I already know. I haven’t seen the face yet, but that’ll only confirm it.
He’s young. He’s got blood-splattered hair. He’s wearing the same outfit that he wore in the solarium.
I stare into Ryan’s cold, unseeing eyes.
It’s definitely him. All hope dies in me, and a cold terror fills my chest instead.
He tried to help me.
And now he’s dead.
I look up in a panic. I have to struggle hard to keep myself from screaming. Some of the guards are watching me, and I have to hope they just think I’m a normal girl seeing a dead body for the first time.
Which is also very true.
But mostly I’m on the verge of running straight into the water.
Who did this? Who killed my only link to the outside?
A shadow appears at my elbow. “Are you okay?”
Mass’s voice is low and menacing.
He touches my elbow. I go very stiff and bite my lower lip. Rosie starts to fuss. She probably senses my discomfort. Or maybe I’m gripping her too hard.
“I’m fine. It’s just hard to look at.”
“You don’t need to be here.” He nods at one of the guards. “Go back to the house.”
“I can’t, I mean, I don’t—”
Lucy comes over. She touches my elbow and steers me away from Mass. “I’ve got her. You keep looking around.” She nudges me back to the path toward the house, and I walk with stiff, numb legs.
“Make sure she gets back to the apartment,” Mass calls as we start trudging through the sand.
It’s not too hot, but I’m sweating. My arms and back both ache from carrying Rosie.
Lucy doesn’t talk at first. She watches the ocean and glances at me. I don’t think I’ve seen her ignore her phone for this long before. Her attention is unnerving. She’s tall and athletic, and I swear she moves like a hunter. Her head swivels around like she’s studying her surroundings for danger.
She’s terrifying.
“It’s strange that you wanted to come down here,” she says at last when we’re far enough away from Mass and the others that they wouldn’t hear me if I screamed. The pathway into the trees looms up ahead, and the Fortress towers over everything. Brutal, utilitarian, and oddly beautiful.
“I was curious,” I say weakly. She doesn’t seem like she believes me. I wouldn’t either if I were her.
“A morbid thing to be curious about.”
“Do many people get murdered here?”
“Never, not without me knowing about it.” Her stare is deadpan, and I know she’s not joking. “Did you recognize him?”
“I’ve never seen him before in my life,” I lie.
“Strange. You looked like you were scared.”
“He was my first body. There was a lot of blood.”
“Not so much, actually. The sand drank it all up. If he’d been killed somewhere less porous, you’d be swimming in his mess.”
My guts twist. I feel like I might be sick. I clutch Rosie tighter. “I don’t know anything about what happened to him.”
“We have drones that patrol the beach. They fly at regular intervals. Somehow, that young man was killed in a gap between surveillance. How do you think that’s possible?”
“Bad luck.”
“Or a very deep knowledge of our security practices. Which do you find more likely?”
I shake my head, too nervous to trust myself with speaking.
Lucy watches me as we walk down the path. It’s good we’re off the beach at least. My legs are screaming from carrying Rosie and walking in the sand. But Lucy’s stare and attention are overwhelming. Sweat dribbles down my back and beads under my arms.
“Accidents don’t happen. Not in a place like this.” Lucy’s pace slows as we get closer to the Fortress. “Everyone who works here is deeply loyal to Mass. Do you know why?”
“I have no idea,” I say honestly.
“They all owe him something.”
“What do you mean? Like he pays very well?”
“He does, but it’s more than that. Mass likes to do favors.
He helps people. And not always just to get something in return, but it often works out that way.
Mass builds hospitals, funds schools, pays for cancer treatments.
He does these good deeds and people come to believe he’s a decent person.
They trust him. They believe in him. Even when they come here and it becomes clear that he’s a villain, they still love him. Because of what he did.”
I try to let that sink in. An entire building filled with people loyal to him, not just for money, but because they think he’s a decent man.
“But if he does good stuff, doesn’t that make him a good man?”
Lucy watches me sharply, and I get the sense she’s judging how I respond to this. “Not always. Not if he’s doing good deeds for bad reasons.”
“But his reasons don’t change the good.”
“Not unless there are knock-on effects. For every child with cancer he helps, there are ten adults addicted to his drugs. For every family he houses and feeds, there are dozens more torn to pieces because of his operations. He’s a wound and a surgeon.”
“It could be worse.”
Lucy stops walking and faces me. We’re a few feet from the back entrance. “It sounds like you’re defending him.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing.” I mean that very honestly too. I’m overwhelmed and exhausted by the walk back here while carrying Rosie the whole time. “Maybe Mass is more complicated than I gave him credit for.”
“He’s not. Mass is a power-hungry monster. He’s a killer.”
“He doesn’t seem that way to me.” At least not most of the time. Except he’s got to be dangerous if he’s a Dragon.
“You’re his wife.”
“Are you trying to scare me or something?”
“I’m trying to understand where your loyalties are.
” She steps in closer, lowering her voice.
“I’m just like everyone else in this place.
Mass helped me a long time ago and earned my loyalty.
And if there’s someone in the Fortress who wants to hurt him—” She lets that last part linger between us.
The implicit threat sends a chill down my spine.
“I don’t know anything about what happened to that dead guy back there.”
Lucy nods slowly. “We’ll see.” She gestures at the doors. “You can find your own way back. Don’t deviate from the path. Lady’s watching.”
I feel sick as I hurry inside. The cold air conditioning hits me like a hammer. It’s like cold metal eyes are staring at me from the doorways. I try to find cameras, but I don’t see any.
This situation couldn’t be any worse. Ryan was my only chance at escaping this place. I don’t know who sent him or what they were going to do, but now I’m cut adrift again. I’m trapped, and to make it worse, Lucy’s clearly suspicious of me.
I struggle not to run. I find the elevator, take it to the apartment, and put Rosie down in the living room.
Before I fish out the phone from where I hid it down the back of the couch.
No messages. Nothing at all.
I could scream.
Who killed Ryan? And what if they’re coming for me next?
The phone is everything now. Without it, I’m totally lost.
I put it back in its hiding place and try to pretend like I’m not drowning.