Page 85 of Corrupted Deception

“Exactly,” she agreed, nodding her head. “I pulled up the estate’s original blueprints. The walls should be standard frame construction, but those walls are shielded, and that means it’s likely concrete or metal, probably with some pretty thick bulletproof windows too.”

“It’s a safe room,” I concluded.

“If it locks down, you’ll be trapped in there.”

“Then I suppose I’d better not get caught.”

She scoffed. “I assumed that was the plan, but plans have a nasty way of going sideways.”

Fair enough.

“I can tap into the estate’s main security system and disable it,” she said, “but you’re planning to go in through a window—on the second story, I’d guess. There are no guards near the windows, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Mendoza has a secondary system on them—old school, and probably not something I can tap into.”

“So, what is it you’re proposing?” I asked, curious.

“I think you should walk right in the front door.”

“If you wanted me dead,tempesta,there are easier ways to accomplish it, I’m sure.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Tempting. But no, I actually think your ass looks better without a clip full of bullets.”

“Good to know,” I replied, stifling a smile.

“If I set off a perimeter alarm on the opposite side of the estate, then disable the security on the front door, you should be able to walk right in. And if the guards don’t take the bait, I’ll know, thanks to their heat signatures.”

Not bad.

“You can do that from here?” I asked, because if this plan of hers involved Charlotte taking one step closer to danger, it wasn’t happening.

She nodded.

“You’re sure?”

“It’s what I’m good at, Cielo. It’s… my equivalent to puzzles, I guess—seeing the maze, the traps, the ways around them.”

I glanced at my watch. I’d used up too much time, but I couldn’t deny it might have been time well spent…ifI trusted her. If I was willing to put the job—and my god damned life—in her hands.

Fuck.

“Okay,tempesta,but you have to promise me you’ll stay here. I can’t have my focus split,si?”

She eyed me for a moment, then nodded. “You have my word. But Cielo,” she continued, grinning too brightly, “there is a time limit. I won’t be patient indefinitely. Whatever it is you need to do, do it fast.”

Pretty sure those were my own damned words she was reiterating back to me.

***

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I crouched in the shadows, my back pressed against the imposing stone wall of the estate. I’d made it this far undetected. It wouldn’t be long now.

“All right, Cielo, I’ve got their attention,” Charlotte said, her voice coming clear through the earpiece. “They’re swarming the east side of the estate. You’ve got a clear path. My guess is three minutes. Make this fast.”

Christ. Now I wasn’t just working with the tempest; she was giving me orders.

I took off toward the mansion’s front door, keeping close to the stone wall and in the shadows.

“I disabled the system; the door’s unlocked. Get in there,” she demanded the moment I reached the front door, but those words brought an old memory surging to the forefront of my mind.

“If you insist on being here, charming, then get in there,” she demands with her hands on her hips, glancing up and down the empty school hallway.

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