Page 42 of Mind Maze

He’s one of ours—a CUP Star. I know this because I can see the tiny star-shaped scar on his temple. This means someone activated him via a predetermined trigger word. However, I should be able to neutralize him with a backdoor word Dad created.

It’s not working.

My brain works on overdrive as I consider what this means. There’s only one reason why using the supernova code word wouldn’t have worked.

Dad.

He’d have had to have created a different failsafe after the fact. And there’s only one reason he’d do that.

To render me powerless.

A cold chill creeps down my spine and it has nothing to do with the frigid New York air.

The man before me continues to strain his neck, trying to look at Romy. He’s huge and muscular. If he had put his hands on her, there’d have been no escaping whatever his plans were.

Or whoever’s behind this activated soldier…

His phone rings—a peculiar ringtone—and then, as if he wakes out of a daze, he relaxes as he reaches into his pocket for his phone. I stare him down as he answers, not yet bothered by my arm against his throat.

“Hello?” he rasps out. Then he chuckles. “Wrong number.”

The man blinks and then blinks again. The super-fixated expression on his face is gone. He frowns at me in confusion.

“Can I help you?” He shoves me away from him, a flash of fiery anger morphing his features.

I stumble away, no match for the man’s power now that he’s snapped out of his daze. “You were eyeing my girlfriend. Got a problem with her? Who sent you?”

The man sneers, holding up a hand to reveal a wedding band. “I’m married, asshole. Check your jealousy. You assumed wrong.”

He storms off down the sidewalk without sparing me a second glance. I shake off the uneasy feeling and stalk back toward the café. Romy, with a box in hand, and Eva exit the restaurant. Romy scowls at me before casting a worried glance past me.

He’s gone, little girl.

You’re welcome.

“We’re leaving,” I say to her, grabbing hold of her arm. “Let’s go.”

She wrenches out of my hold and sneers at me. “You have some nerve, Caius.”

My eyebrows fly up. “Excuse me? I just fucking saved your ass.”

“From what?” She scoffs and puts on a show of false confidence. “All I saw wasyoustalking me. You don’t own me, you know. I’m a free woman.”

Eva nods, agreeing with her. I want to throttle them both.

“Go home,” I growl to Eva. “I’m taking Romy back to the hotel where it’s safe.”

“Aren’t you being a little overprotective?” Eva asks. “Romy’s lived here her whole life and managed just fine without you.”

I sigh heavily and run my fingers through my disheveled hair I had no time to fix this morning. “Please, love.”

Romy softens at the gentler tone. I nearly miss it, but there’s a fleeting flash of relief in her eyes. The man scared her, as he should have, being what I know him to be, and she’s grateful I came for her.

“I need to bring these back to Kaitlyn anyway,” Romy says to Eva. “It was good spending time with you.”

The two women hug and Eva hurries over to a waiting SUV. I sling an arm over Romy’s shoulders, pulling her to me. It’s a long walk back to our hotel, but I need the time to think.

She doesn’t wriggle away but instead leans closer to me. This relaxes me. I don’t, however, take my eyes off every person we pass as I search for threats.

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