Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
I can guess what happened next. “And then Rex got involved.”
“Yeah.” He drops his hand. “His lawyers showed up with video footage of the fight and helped me appeal. Saved my ass. I got my sentence reduced to a self-defense plea and was released with time served.”
I let my head fall back on the car seat. Night has fallen, and we’re driving through back roads now, winding between fields and forests.
“How’d Rex get the video footage?” I ask.
Ivan shrugs. “The fight was in an alley behind a bar,” he says. “The bar owner had cameras, but they were just for show. They weren’t running. And in the alley. . . nothing.”
I don’t need Ivan to tell me. I already know.
Rex told me he watches over me “by any means necessary.” The files Mina sent have company records of R&D into cutting edge surveillance equipment. Rex also said he monitored Gregory Martin’s movements in preparation to take his life.
But what if Rex is surveilling more than just his potential victims? What if he’s got eyes in every corner of the city?
It fits the profile. The death of his parents pushed him into hypervigilance. He wants to own everything, control everything. And to do that, he has to know everything.
I’m not the only one he’s watching. He might be more focused on me, but he’s watching everyone. It’s horrifying in scope, but it makes sense.
And so does my plan. If I get into Roy Manor, I can look for evidence of everything he’s done. I just have to be willing to use the leverage I have to gain access.
“How much longer?” I ask Ivan.
“Thirty minutes,” he says.
I try to settle into the seat and relax but find myself gnawing on my thumbnail instead. It’s fully dark now. The moon’s risen, but it’s only a sliver on an endless velvet sky. Every so often, there’s a bend in the road, and spots of light appear in the long grass that lines the roads. The headlights catch on some night creature’s eyes.
The knots in my insides twist tighter. “Does he know I’m coming?”
There’s a long pause, and I know my answer. “He’s my employer,” Ivan says, and it’s no consolation that his voice is tinged with regret. I go back to gnawing at my thumb.
All too soon, the headlights bump over a hill and hit a wall of weathered stone. We drive along the walled perimeter for at least a mile until we reach the entrance to Roy Manor—a two-story iron gate flanked by the statues of pacing lions on massive plinths. I crane my head to study their snarling faces.
All the privacy and security money could buy and still, the Roys couldn’t escape their fate. Rex is the last of their line.
When Roy Manor comes into view, I lose my breath. Compared to this place, all the grand mansions I’ve ever seen are shacks. It’s massive, overlooking miles of a garden estate.
“How big is this place?”
“Couple hundred rooms, not including the outbuildings like stables and pool houses. Or the servants’ quarters.”
Servants’ quarters. I roll my eyes.
“It takes a team of people to keep this estate running, with a grounds manager who oversees it all.”
“Hamish Hitchcock.” After our conversation, I looked him up on my phone before we left the city. There’s not much about his early life, but he served with the Scottish military before he came here and became close with the Roys. “He was Rex’s guardian.”
“Yeah. You know him?”
“Not yet.” I’m looking forward to putting a face to a name. “How close is the nearest neighbor?”
“There’s no one out here for miles. The Roy who built this place bought up all the farmland around it, but that was half a century ago. Since then, the family could’ve bought up more.”
He hits a button, and the windows roll down, startling me.
“Hear that?” He lets the car slow, and I concentrate. Beyond the purr of the car’s engine and the singing crickets, there’s a faint exhaling roar.
“That’s the sea. This place is on a huge cliff overlooking the sea.” We listen for another moment, and then he presses the gas.
The closer we get, the bigger the grand towers of Roy Manor grow. Rex spent his childhood here, in a palace fit for a king. I bet he keeps plenty of secrets hidden away, secrets I can gather as evidence. I just have to find them. But I have no idea how I’m going to search such a massive place.
The golden stone glows against the night sky, a brilliant bastion against the crouching darkness. Every stately window is illuminated. It must cost a fortune just to keep the lights on.
And we’re not the only ones rolling up the long drive. Rows of cars line the circle around a center fountain. Ferraris, limos, and Rolls Royces are picking up or dropping off guests. A flock of women stroll up a red carpet, shining like jewels in their fine dresses.