Page 55 of Hell Hath No Fury

A “Jail” Break

Matt

“ItwasfuckingLilith,wasn’t it?” Tony asks for at least the tenth time.

I give him the same bored look I’ve given him every other time he has asked and respond, “Probably.”

“Where the fuck is Darius?”

“Still don’t know.”

“This is fucking ridiculous,” Tony snarls, his fist pounding on the refrigerator door. “Who buys a goddamn walk-in fridge that doesn’t have a safety mechanism preventing this?”

“This one has a safety mechanism. It just doesn’t matter because somehow, they managed to rig it from the outside, so it won’t work.”

“How the fuck did they manage to do that?”

“For fuck’s sake, Tony. I know as much as you do at this point.”

He scowls at me, staring intently, so after a moment, I add, “If I had to guess, I’d say some kind of pin-like object inserted on the outside will prevent the door from opening from the inside.And likely Darius was stuffed in a closet or one of the many hidey holes Declan keeps around here to fuck with him.”

He snorts, turns, and pounds on the door a few more times before turning back to me. “At least they didn’t lock us in the freezer.”

I laugh and nod, my attention going to the door behind him as a faint tapping comes through. Tony whirls around, both fists now hitting the door as he shouts, “Hey, let us out!”

I grab Tony’s arm, yanking him back from the door. A scraping indicates someone is out there, then the latch disengages, and the door swings open, revealing Camilla. She smiles brightly, “Well, there you two are.”

“Thank fuck someone finally showed up,” Tony mutters as he exits the cold space. “My poor balls couldn’t take much more.”

“Tony,” I chastise, punching him in the arm. “You could at least thank the lady for saving us.”

Tony almost looks sheepish but does manage to say, “Yes, Chameleon. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” she answers easily, obviously not at all bothered by Tony’s bad mood. “I was on my way here when Agatha called anyway.”

“Aggie called you?” I ask as I make my way out of the kitchen, headed to find Darius.

Camilla follows close behind as she replies, “Yes. Seems like Antonio spoke to Lilith, who admitted to making some questionable choices that you all did not seem to be a part of. So, Agatha had some concerns.”

I laugh humorlessly, hurrying up the stairs and down the hallway toward the room typically designated for Darius and Antoinette.

“Darius,” I shout as I enter the bedroom, stopping short in the doorway. The room appears empty, so I rush over to the bathroom, finding it also empty. Camilla and I stand in themiddle of the room, both of us looking around, listening intently, and then I hear it, a faint tapping coming from the closet.

I attempt to open the door, but it doesn’t budge. And then Camilla points to the keypad on the wall. “Someone engaged the panic room feature. Gonna need a code to disengage it from the outside.”

“I don’t have the code,” I reply testily, annoyed by all the dumbshit technology interfering with my day. “I probably can crack it, but it’ll take a bit.”

“Do you think Antoinette knows it?” Tony asks from the doorway.

“Most likely. But she’s not gonna give it to us.”

Tony pulls his phone from his pocket, tapping out a message as he replies, “No, but she’ll probably give it to my wife.”

We only have to wait a few minutes before his phone pings, confirming his assumption was correct when he walks to the keypad and types a number in. The light immediately turns green, and then a bunch of locking mechanisms click over.

Camilla and Tony step back, and I slowly push the door open, peeking inside. “Darius?”

The room remains quiet, so I flip the light switch on. Blinking against the glare, I spot Darius at the far end of the closet, seated on the floor, his back leaning against the wall. “Are you alright, man?”

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