“You can’t be serious,” said the first. “I can’t go back to my manufacturer and tell him this is all I got. He’ll kill me.”
“I’m not in the habit of buying from thieves,” said a second, so low I could barely make out the words. I leaned in. “And at the price you’re charging, that’s exactly what you are.”
“With all due respect—”
“If you had an ounce of respect for me, you would offer me a reasonable price,” said the second voice. “It’s clear you don’t, so I will take my business elsewhere.”
The door opened without warning. I jumped away, but it was too late. Any chance I had at hiding was gone.
“Lila?”
My mouth went dry. Knox stood in the doorway, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
It was the gun in his hand.
Chapter 10
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” said Knox, grabbing my elbow. Behind him the door slammed shut, but not before I caught sight of a portly man surrounded by open suitcases of guns.
“I was trying to find you,” I said. A lie, but he had no way of knowing for sure.
“I told you to wait.”
“I’ve never been very good at listening.” I jerked my arm away. “What were you doing in there? And what are you doing with that? ”
Knox tucked the gun into the back of his pants. “None of your business. Let’s get you back downstairs before everyone starts to wonder where you went.”
I stayed put, and though he was strong enough to drag me, he didn’t. “Were you buying those?”
“Not yet. The price was too high, but he’ll lower it soon enough. Why are you so curious?”
I shrugged. Guns were illegal for everyone except Shields, but apparently those laws didn’t apply to VIs and VIIs either. “Can you teach me how to use one?”
Knox stared at me. “You want to learn how to shoot?”
“Yes. Can you teach me?”
“No.”
“Then I’m sure Augusta would love to know what you do on your nights out.”
Several seconds passed. I half expected him to threaten me—or worse, take a swing—but instead he burst out laughing.
“I like you,” he said, reminding me so firmly of Daxton that I nearly recoiled. “Sure, I’ll teach you. Why do you think you need to learn?”
Instead of answering, I started toward the stairwell. It was a stupid question. He knew how much danger I was in. “This doesn’t have anything to do with what happened to Lila, does it?” I said.
He fell into step beside me as we descended the stairs.
“Why do you think it does?”
“You like answering questions with another question, don’t you?” I said, struggling to come up with a reason that didn’t include my knowing he’d been told about Lila’s assassination ahead of time. “Guns are for killing people or making them do what you want. You only have two hands, so there’s no reason for you to have so many guns. That means you were going to give them to other people, which means either you need money or you’re upset about something. Since you’re in no danger of starving, Lila’s the obvious answer.”
He eyed me. “Yes, it has to do with Lila.”
“What about her?” I said. “How she died, or—”
“The guns are for the people who supported her,” he said. “That’s all I’m telling you.”
I whirled around in the middle of the stairwell, and he grabbed the railing to stop from plowing into me.
“You said you’d never seen the speeches before. Were you lying?”
“What? No.” He looked flustered, and a hint of satisfaction crept through me. “I had an idea of what she was doing, but I kept out of it. Celia filled me in after you were Masked.”
“Celia was using her to overthrow Daxton, wasn’t she?
That’s why Lila was killed.”
Knox didn’t meet my eyes, and that was all the answer I needed.
“Is Daxton going to kill Celia, too?” I said, and Knox shook his head. “Why not?”
“It’s—complicated.” He frowned. “Daxton, he—”
Below us, the door clanged open, and I froze. Knox pressed me against the wall, and as footsteps thudded up the stairs, he kissed me hard.
“What’s going on here?” said a gruff voice, and Knox pulled away, looking annoyed.
“What does it look like?” he said, and the burly security guard below us paled.
“Miss Hart, Mr. Creed—my sincerest apologies. I didn’t realize—”
“That much is obvious,” said Knox, and he tucked me underneath his arm. “If you don’t mind, we’ll be going now.”
The guard stepped aside as Knox led me down the stairs. Once we were back in the corridor with the bathrooms, I slipped away from him and took a deep breath to clear my head. Pretend or not, he was a great kisser.
“You can’t just— do that whenever you feel like it,” I said, trying to sound angry, but it came out more like a whine.
“Is that so?” said Knox. “I’ll try to remember that next time we’re seconds away from being caught fifty feet from an illegal arms dealer.”
He waited, his eyes on me, and I had to turn away from him so I could refocus. I didn’t have time to care about the guns or the way he kissed me. My chances of having another opportunity to sneak away and find Benjy were all but nonexistent now, and making a break for it wouldn’t do me any good. Knox was taller than me, and I was sure he could outrun me.
That left the truth. I had no guarantee he wouldn’t try to stop me, but I did know about the weapons. If that’s what it would take to get him to bring me to Benjy, I would do it.
“I need to get to the Heights.”
“Why’s that?” he said, leaning against the opposite wall.
“Benjy’s taking his test tomorrow, and this is my last chance to find him before he disappears.”
Knox raised an eyebrow. “The Heights are fifteen miles away. What do you expect to do, walk the entire way?”
“If I have to.” I crossed my arms. “And unless you want everyone finding out about what happened tonight, you’re going to help me.”
“We’re already helping you,” he said. “You can’t try to take charge like this. It’ll derail everything we’ve been doing.”
“What have you been doing? You can’t just tell me everything’s being handled and not expect me to think you’re lying.”
“And why would I lie to you?”
“To get me to cooperate.”
“You’re already cooperating,” he pointed out. “We know what we’re doing, and you’re going to have to trust us.”
No, I didn’t. I could walk right out that door, and short of dragging me kicking and screaming back to Somerset, there was nothing Knox could do about it. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the curtain aside and did exactly that.
Hundreds of people stared at me as I stormed over the bridge and out of the club, but I ignored them. Once I reached the street, I headed back toward the walkway, jumping onto one heading east.
“This is going to end eventually.”
I scowled. Knox could follow me all he wanted, but that wasn’t going to change a damn thing.
“What are you going to do then? Keep walking until your feet blister?”
He leaned up against the railing and directly into my line of sight. I looked away.
“Tell me, Lila,” he said. “How do you plan on finding him? He won’t be at the group home anymore. Are you going to walk the streets until you spot him?”
“If I have to,” I said through gritted teeth. Benjy would show up at the testing center in the Heights the next morning, and that would be as good a place as any to wait for him.
“And how are you going to explain to him who you are?”
“I’m going to tell him the truth. Despite what you and everyone else seem to think, usually that’s the best way to handle things.”
“Fair enough.” Knox cracked his knuckles. “How are you going to tell him that you’re marrying someone else?”
I glared at him. “You bring that up now?”
“He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he? Won’t that bother him?”
Of course it would, and Knox knew it. It didn’t matter, though. Benjy would know the only reason I was marrying Knox was to stay alive. He would understand.
But I would never forgive myself if something happened to Benjy because I didn’t reach him in time.
Eventually the walkway ended, and we set out on foot. The buildings became smaller, more run-down, and there were fewer lights. Knox tried to take my elbow, and even though I shrugged him off, he stayed close.
When the street ended, I stopped at the crossroad.
We had to have walked at least three miles by then, and my feet were throbbing, but I couldn’t give up. “Which way?”
Knox shrugged. “You’re the one leading. You figure it out.”
I tried to imagine a map of the city in my head, but while I could picture the squiggly lines that indicated streets, I had no idea which one we were on. I squinted up at the sign, struggling to recognize the letters, but it was hopeless. I couldn’t do this without Knox’s help.
“Please,” I said tightly. “They could kill him.”
We were alone on the street now, but Knox kept glancing around nervously. I didn’t know why, since he was the one with the gun. “Trust me, okay? We’re not going to let anything happen to Benjy.” He set his hand on my arm, and when I tried to pull away, he tightened his grip.
“Do you want to know a secret?”
“No. I want to find Benjy.”
He leaned in closer anyway. “You’re the most important person in the family right now. Daxton and Augusta need you to help undo the damage that Lila caused.
Once lockdown is over, they’re going to ask you to make speeches that denounce everything Lila spent the past year building. They can’t do it on their own, and letting the news of Lila’s death become public will only prove that what she was saying was right. They can’t have that.
They’re not going to kill Benjy to keep you in line, because as far as they know, he’s the only reason you agreed to go along with this in the first place.”
I dug my nails into my palms. “They can replace me.”
“Not as easily as they want you to think. Your eyes make you special, for one. And being Masked is rare, and it’s never used like this. Not replacing someone completely.” He grimaced, and for a moment I thought I saw a flicker of pain in his eyes. “All going to the Heights will do is risk our lives—mine, yours, and his. Come back to Somerset with me, and you’ll see Benjy again. Celia and I have already arranged it.”
I gaped at him. “What? When? How?”
“Patience.” He nodded to the left. “If you really have to do this, the Heights are that way. I’ll even go with you.
But trust me, Kitty—nothing’s going to happen to him.”
“What if it does? What if something happens that you didn’t see coming?”
“Then I’ll hand you a loaded gun and close my eyes,” he said. “You have my word.”
Except I had no idea how much his word was worth.
The thought of placing Benjy’s life in his hands made me nauseated, but Knox was right. I had no real plan.
Even if Benjy were still in the Heights and did show up at the testing center in the morning, it would be next to impossible to convince him to come with me, let alone find a place to keep him safe.
“By the time you find him, Augusta and Daxton will realize you’re gone,” said Knox, “and they’ll know I’m with you. I won’t be able to protect you anymore.”
Hot tears blurred my vision, and I blinked rapidly. I had a VII and the face of a Hart, but I was still as powerless as I’d been as a III. It wasn’t fair.
“Fine,” I said, turning away from him and walking back the direction we’d come. “If anything happens to him—”
“It won’t.” Knox easily kept up with me, and he pulled his tiny phone from his pocket and pressed a button.
“Greg, we need a ride.”
Seconds later, a voice replied, “I’ve got your location.
I’ll be there in ten.”
“Got it.” Knox hung up and slid his phone back into his pocket. “And before you ask, no, I won’t tell him to take us to the Heights, and he’s my driver, so he won’t listen to you.”
I scowled. There went plan B.
Instead of dropping us off near the alleyway that led to the tunnel, Knox’s driver brought us straight to the front entrance of Somerset. A dozen guards milled around the sealed gates, and they shined f lashlight after f lashlight in our eyes. By the time they were finally willing to believe we were who Knox said we were, I was half-blind.
That wasn’t the worst part, though. That came when we walked into the drawing room, where every member of the Hart family had gathered despite the late hour.
Celia and Daxton stood together in the middle of the room, both with their arms crossed and identical scowls on their faces. Augusta sat next to Greyson, and they talked quietly with their heads bent together as we entered.
“There you are,” said Celia. “See, Mother? I told you they’d be back soon.”
“You should never have left in the first place,” said Augusta. “We are in the middle of a national security crisis, and you two thought it would be a good night to go out?”
“I’m not in the habit of buying from thieves,” said a second, so low I could barely make out the words. I leaned in. “And at the price you’re charging, that’s exactly what you are.”
“With all due respect—”
“If you had an ounce of respect for me, you would offer me a reasonable price,” said the second voice. “It’s clear you don’t, so I will take my business elsewhere.”
The door opened without warning. I jumped away, but it was too late. Any chance I had at hiding was gone.
“Lila?”
My mouth went dry. Knox stood in the doorway, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
It was the gun in his hand.
Chapter 10
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” said Knox, grabbing my elbow. Behind him the door slammed shut, but not before I caught sight of a portly man surrounded by open suitcases of guns.
“I was trying to find you,” I said. A lie, but he had no way of knowing for sure.
“I told you to wait.”
“I’ve never been very good at listening.” I jerked my arm away. “What were you doing in there? And what are you doing with that? ”
Knox tucked the gun into the back of his pants. “None of your business. Let’s get you back downstairs before everyone starts to wonder where you went.”
I stayed put, and though he was strong enough to drag me, he didn’t. “Were you buying those?”
“Not yet. The price was too high, but he’ll lower it soon enough. Why are you so curious?”
I shrugged. Guns were illegal for everyone except Shields, but apparently those laws didn’t apply to VIs and VIIs either. “Can you teach me how to use one?”
Knox stared at me. “You want to learn how to shoot?”
“Yes. Can you teach me?”
“No.”
“Then I’m sure Augusta would love to know what you do on your nights out.”
Several seconds passed. I half expected him to threaten me—or worse, take a swing—but instead he burst out laughing.
“I like you,” he said, reminding me so firmly of Daxton that I nearly recoiled. “Sure, I’ll teach you. Why do you think you need to learn?”
Instead of answering, I started toward the stairwell. It was a stupid question. He knew how much danger I was in. “This doesn’t have anything to do with what happened to Lila, does it?” I said.
He fell into step beside me as we descended the stairs.
“Why do you think it does?”
“You like answering questions with another question, don’t you?” I said, struggling to come up with a reason that didn’t include my knowing he’d been told about Lila’s assassination ahead of time. “Guns are for killing people or making them do what you want. You only have two hands, so there’s no reason for you to have so many guns. That means you were going to give them to other people, which means either you need money or you’re upset about something. Since you’re in no danger of starving, Lila’s the obvious answer.”
He eyed me. “Yes, it has to do with Lila.”
“What about her?” I said. “How she died, or—”
“The guns are for the people who supported her,” he said. “That’s all I’m telling you.”
I whirled around in the middle of the stairwell, and he grabbed the railing to stop from plowing into me.
“You said you’d never seen the speeches before. Were you lying?”
“What? No.” He looked flustered, and a hint of satisfaction crept through me. “I had an idea of what she was doing, but I kept out of it. Celia filled me in after you were Masked.”
“Celia was using her to overthrow Daxton, wasn’t she?
That’s why Lila was killed.”
Knox didn’t meet my eyes, and that was all the answer I needed.
“Is Daxton going to kill Celia, too?” I said, and Knox shook his head. “Why not?”
“It’s—complicated.” He frowned. “Daxton, he—”
Below us, the door clanged open, and I froze. Knox pressed me against the wall, and as footsteps thudded up the stairs, he kissed me hard.
“What’s going on here?” said a gruff voice, and Knox pulled away, looking annoyed.
“What does it look like?” he said, and the burly security guard below us paled.
“Miss Hart, Mr. Creed—my sincerest apologies. I didn’t realize—”
“That much is obvious,” said Knox, and he tucked me underneath his arm. “If you don’t mind, we’ll be going now.”
The guard stepped aside as Knox led me down the stairs. Once we were back in the corridor with the bathrooms, I slipped away from him and took a deep breath to clear my head. Pretend or not, he was a great kisser.
“You can’t just— do that whenever you feel like it,” I said, trying to sound angry, but it came out more like a whine.
“Is that so?” said Knox. “I’ll try to remember that next time we’re seconds away from being caught fifty feet from an illegal arms dealer.”
He waited, his eyes on me, and I had to turn away from him so I could refocus. I didn’t have time to care about the guns or the way he kissed me. My chances of having another opportunity to sneak away and find Benjy were all but nonexistent now, and making a break for it wouldn’t do me any good. Knox was taller than me, and I was sure he could outrun me.
That left the truth. I had no guarantee he wouldn’t try to stop me, but I did know about the weapons. If that’s what it would take to get him to bring me to Benjy, I would do it.
“I need to get to the Heights.”
“Why’s that?” he said, leaning against the opposite wall.
“Benjy’s taking his test tomorrow, and this is my last chance to find him before he disappears.”
Knox raised an eyebrow. “The Heights are fifteen miles away. What do you expect to do, walk the entire way?”
“If I have to.” I crossed my arms. “And unless you want everyone finding out about what happened tonight, you’re going to help me.”
“We’re already helping you,” he said. “You can’t try to take charge like this. It’ll derail everything we’ve been doing.”
“What have you been doing? You can’t just tell me everything’s being handled and not expect me to think you’re lying.”
“And why would I lie to you?”
“To get me to cooperate.”
“You’re already cooperating,” he pointed out. “We know what we’re doing, and you’re going to have to trust us.”
No, I didn’t. I could walk right out that door, and short of dragging me kicking and screaming back to Somerset, there was nothing Knox could do about it. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the curtain aside and did exactly that.
Hundreds of people stared at me as I stormed over the bridge and out of the club, but I ignored them. Once I reached the street, I headed back toward the walkway, jumping onto one heading east.
“This is going to end eventually.”
I scowled. Knox could follow me all he wanted, but that wasn’t going to change a damn thing.
“What are you going to do then? Keep walking until your feet blister?”
He leaned up against the railing and directly into my line of sight. I looked away.
“Tell me, Lila,” he said. “How do you plan on finding him? He won’t be at the group home anymore. Are you going to walk the streets until you spot him?”
“If I have to,” I said through gritted teeth. Benjy would show up at the testing center in the Heights the next morning, and that would be as good a place as any to wait for him.
“And how are you going to explain to him who you are?”
“I’m going to tell him the truth. Despite what you and everyone else seem to think, usually that’s the best way to handle things.”
“Fair enough.” Knox cracked his knuckles. “How are you going to tell him that you’re marrying someone else?”
I glared at him. “You bring that up now?”
“He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he? Won’t that bother him?”
Of course it would, and Knox knew it. It didn’t matter, though. Benjy would know the only reason I was marrying Knox was to stay alive. He would understand.
But I would never forgive myself if something happened to Benjy because I didn’t reach him in time.
Eventually the walkway ended, and we set out on foot. The buildings became smaller, more run-down, and there were fewer lights. Knox tried to take my elbow, and even though I shrugged him off, he stayed close.
When the street ended, I stopped at the crossroad.
We had to have walked at least three miles by then, and my feet were throbbing, but I couldn’t give up. “Which way?”
Knox shrugged. “You’re the one leading. You figure it out.”
I tried to imagine a map of the city in my head, but while I could picture the squiggly lines that indicated streets, I had no idea which one we were on. I squinted up at the sign, struggling to recognize the letters, but it was hopeless. I couldn’t do this without Knox’s help.
“Please,” I said tightly. “They could kill him.”
We were alone on the street now, but Knox kept glancing around nervously. I didn’t know why, since he was the one with the gun. “Trust me, okay? We’re not going to let anything happen to Benjy.” He set his hand on my arm, and when I tried to pull away, he tightened his grip.
“Do you want to know a secret?”
“No. I want to find Benjy.”
He leaned in closer anyway. “You’re the most important person in the family right now. Daxton and Augusta need you to help undo the damage that Lila caused.
Once lockdown is over, they’re going to ask you to make speeches that denounce everything Lila spent the past year building. They can’t do it on their own, and letting the news of Lila’s death become public will only prove that what she was saying was right. They can’t have that.
They’re not going to kill Benjy to keep you in line, because as far as they know, he’s the only reason you agreed to go along with this in the first place.”
I dug my nails into my palms. “They can replace me.”
“Not as easily as they want you to think. Your eyes make you special, for one. And being Masked is rare, and it’s never used like this. Not replacing someone completely.” He grimaced, and for a moment I thought I saw a flicker of pain in his eyes. “All going to the Heights will do is risk our lives—mine, yours, and his. Come back to Somerset with me, and you’ll see Benjy again. Celia and I have already arranged it.”
I gaped at him. “What? When? How?”
“Patience.” He nodded to the left. “If you really have to do this, the Heights are that way. I’ll even go with you.
But trust me, Kitty—nothing’s going to happen to him.”
“What if it does? What if something happens that you didn’t see coming?”
“Then I’ll hand you a loaded gun and close my eyes,” he said. “You have my word.”
Except I had no idea how much his word was worth.
The thought of placing Benjy’s life in his hands made me nauseated, but Knox was right. I had no real plan.
Even if Benjy were still in the Heights and did show up at the testing center in the morning, it would be next to impossible to convince him to come with me, let alone find a place to keep him safe.
“By the time you find him, Augusta and Daxton will realize you’re gone,” said Knox, “and they’ll know I’m with you. I won’t be able to protect you anymore.”
Hot tears blurred my vision, and I blinked rapidly. I had a VII and the face of a Hart, but I was still as powerless as I’d been as a III. It wasn’t fair.
“Fine,” I said, turning away from him and walking back the direction we’d come. “If anything happens to him—”
“It won’t.” Knox easily kept up with me, and he pulled his tiny phone from his pocket and pressed a button.
“Greg, we need a ride.”
Seconds later, a voice replied, “I’ve got your location.
I’ll be there in ten.”
“Got it.” Knox hung up and slid his phone back into his pocket. “And before you ask, no, I won’t tell him to take us to the Heights, and he’s my driver, so he won’t listen to you.”
I scowled. There went plan B.
Instead of dropping us off near the alleyway that led to the tunnel, Knox’s driver brought us straight to the front entrance of Somerset. A dozen guards milled around the sealed gates, and they shined f lashlight after f lashlight in our eyes. By the time they were finally willing to believe we were who Knox said we were, I was half-blind.
That wasn’t the worst part, though. That came when we walked into the drawing room, where every member of the Hart family had gathered despite the late hour.
Celia and Daxton stood together in the middle of the room, both with their arms crossed and identical scowls on their faces. Augusta sat next to Greyson, and they talked quietly with their heads bent together as we entered.
“There you are,” said Celia. “See, Mother? I told you they’d be back soon.”
“You should never have left in the first place,” said Augusta. “We are in the middle of a national security crisis, and you two thought it would be a good night to go out?”
