Page 4 of Broken Empire
“Where… where…” I was trying to ask where we were going, but I couldn’t get the words out properly.
I let Robert pull me out of the back room and into the gallery’s main space. The images in the colorful paintings on the walls seemed to be whirling and twisting all over the place, creating a terrifying hellscape of red, orange, and black.Not a nightmare,I reminded myself, weakly dragging one hand upward to pinch my other arm.This is real.
Robert led me through the door and helped me stay upright as we walked down the busy street. I saw several people looking at me as they passed, but I didn’t bother asking them for help. They obviously thought I was drunk, judging by their expressions, and I knew Robert would confirm that for them if I tried to say a single word to them.
We stopped at a black car on the edge of the street. “Here we are,” Robert said in a pleasant tone, opening the back door. “Watch your head.”
He bundled me into the car and sat next to me, helping me clip myself into the seatbelt. “Please,” I murmured. “I don’t want to…”
“You don’t want to what?” Robert asked, looking down at me as my head lolled against his shoulder.
“Russia. Don’t want to go there.” My voice sounded slurred, and I felt as if my body was melting into the car seat. “You can’t make me go. I just… I want to go home.”
Robert gently stroked my hair. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. You aren’t going to Russia.”
I gazed up at him through bleary eyes. “So that man is coming here?”
“No. You’ll never meet him,” he replied, tucking my hair behind my ear.
I blinked slowly. “I… I don’t understand.”
I didn’t hear his response because I finally lost consciousness.
When I came to, Robert was carrying me out of an elevator into a wide hallway. The stupefying effect of the drugs had mostly worn off, and my brain was beginning to function again.
I slowly looked around, wondering why the place looked so familiar. It hit me a second later. We were on the secret floor of the Kingsford. I couldn’t let Robert know that I’d been up here before, though. If I admitted that, he’d want to know why, and then Killian could end up in trouble.
“Where are we?” I asked instead, pretending to be totally clueless.
“Ah, you’re awake.” Robert carefully set me down on the carpeted floor. “Can you walk on your own?”
I took one wobbly step. “Yes,” I muttered.
“Good. To answer your question, we’re at your new home. For now, anyway,” he said. He clicked a finger. “Follow me. We have to pick up the key to your suite.”
He led me down the left hallway, toward the offices and conference rooms that Killian and I tried to explore a few nights ago. The computer room was lit up and filled with people, all tapping away at keyboards.
A man glanced up and smiled when he saw us, one hand fishing in his pocket for a key. “Here you go, sir,” he said, handing it to Robert. “The cameras in her room are all ready to go. You just need to press the green button on the wall outside the door to let the stream begin.”
“Excellent,” Robert replied, pocketing the key. “Thank you for setting this up so promptly. I wish the DC guys were even half as efficient.”
He turned and led me back down the hallway, toward the east wing of the secret floor. We passed the room Leon Hildebrand took me to the other night and turned down another hall.
“Here we are,” Robert said, halting outside a door marked ‘B6’. “Home sweet home.”
I put one hand on the wall to hold myself steady. “This isn’t my home,” I said in a low voice.
“It’s the only home you’ll know for the rest of your life, so you might as well call it that.”
I narrowed my eyes. “People will notice I’m missing,” I gritted out. “They’ll come after me.”
“Yes, you mentioned that earlier. But I’m going to make sure they don’t have any reason to do that,” Robert replied. He patted his jacket pocket. “I have your phone, so I’m going to send out a message to everyone you know saying you’ve had enough of the city after everything you’ve gone through lately.”
“My friends will know it’s a lie.”
He shrugged and twisted the key in the door. “Even if theydoquestion it, the police won’t do anything. You have a right to disappear, and the message will confirm that you intended to leave.”
He opened the door and pushed me inside. I glanced around, taking in the unfamiliar suite with wide eyes. It was bigger than I expected with a heart-shaped bed, ornate light fixtures, a walk-in closet, and a lounge area which held a rose-pink velveteen chaise and a white table with a dainty pink and white tea set. The walls and decorative elements were pink and white too, and fake windows had been painted on one side with thick brushstrokes, making the space look like a cartoon house.
