Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
It’s tempting to start for the street, but with Dionysus’s security in place, the penthouse really is the safest place for me to wait. Maybe. Hopefully. He did mention increasing security after…last time. Surely it’s enough to deter whoever my father has sent.
If Asterion has my brother, that means he’s coming from our father’s apartment. It’s a good ten-minute walk, give or take, depending on if they’re running or trying to move stealthily.
I drop my bag on the floor near the chair by the entrance and pull out my laptop. It takes seconds to let myself through the back door I created in the building’s security system. I make a mental note to tell Dionysus about it after I’m gone so that he can fix the problem—or to just fix it myself—as I pull up the feed from the security cameras.
I may not have had much interaction with my father’s people aside from Theseus and Asterion, but I know most of them on sight, thanks to my research. I click through the feeds of the entrances, wondering who my father will send to kill me. There’s a small possibility it will be one of Circe’s people they snuck into the city, but I don’t think so. Admitting his daughter turned traitor and that he needs help to deal with her is far too much weakness for my father’s liking. No, he’ll deal with this in-house.
It’s entirely possible that I’m being paranoid. A smart assassin will try to draw me out from my defensible position or simply wait for the perfect opportunity. But my father is frustrated with his recent failures, and he’ll be looking for a win. Since Asterion and Icarus are together, that means… Honestly, I’m not entirely certain what that means.
Asterion went to the apartment to keep my father happy so that he can maintain access to the team planning the bombing of Dodona Tower. If he is warning me off, it means something went wrong. It means he took my brother and they’re running, and he wouldn’t have done that unless he had to. There was a fight, maybe. Definitely a confrontation with my father.
If that’s the case, then my father knows he’s lost his pet monster and likely both his children as well. He won’t want to wait. He’ll send his pet assassin now, and it won’t be with some clever ploy to pry me out of the penthouse.
Tension courses through me as I flip through the security screens again. Maybe it’s paranoia, but I’m certain I can feel the hunter closing in. The desire to run is almost overwhelming. I breathe deeply and slowly, but it only makes my brain buzz harder.
I catch a familiar face just as I’m clicking away from the current screen of the hotel lobby. I click back and lean closer. The cameras are only slightly higher end than what you can find in generic buildings, which means zooming in will cause too much pixelation to see the person clearly.
They walk across the lobby in a loose, ambling gait. I click through the cameras situated around that space, but they always seem to have their face averted.
As if they know where the cameras are and they don’t want to be seen.
The small hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The sensation only gets worse as they chat with the security guard and pass over what appears to be an ID. There’s nothing overtly wrong, and yet I can’t shake the feeling that I’m staring at a predator.
The security guard laughs at something they say and waves them toward the elevator. The person turns, and I finally get a proper look at their face. All the blood rushes from my head. Phaedra. They grin at the camera and give a little salute.
As if they know I’m watching.
They don’t hesitate in their path to the elevator. It’s only when the doors slide shut behind them that I realize what’s happening. They’re taking the damn elevator directly to the penthouse. “Shit!”
I slam my computer shut and shove it into my backpack. I can’t afford to assume that Phaedra doesn’t have access to the penthouse. Asterion sure as fuck did.
I have to get out of here, and I have to do it now. The elevator is now closed to me, and the main stairwell doesn’t go all the way to the penthouse. But there has to be another way. Fire codes are a thing, and they require there to be an emergency exit with stairs on every floor.
In the hours I’ve spent in this place, I’ve been over every inch of it, and I’ve seen no sign of a staircase or a door that leads where it shouldn’t. The only room I haven’t explored is the primary bedroom.
I rush into the room now. I only got a glimpse this morning, and I don’t slow down enough to appreciate the cool and soothing space Dionysus has created for himself. There’s no door to be seen, just an open archway leading into the bathroom. With nowhere else to go, I step through it.