Masked (3 page)

The room was dark, and clearly a man’s domain. There was nothing feminine about the deep, burgundy walls, leather chairs, and large, wooden desk. Standing in front of floor-to-ceiling windows was her biggest obstacle yet, Ludwig Tennebris.
Crap, crap, crap
. She stopped just inside, watching him as the prey watches a predator. Roman was scary, but Ludwig, he was terrifying. He didn’t give off the same sort of strength that Roman did. His was more an aura of unpredictability; a man who could and would do anything and everything at any moment. She didn’t like men like him. She liked to know what to expect, and she doubted that would ever be the case with the New World leader.

His eyes swung to hers, his blonde hair messy, probably from running his hands through it. She could tell he was agitated, which didn’t bode well for her.

“Finally,” he said, stepping closer to her. The desk remained between them, a fact she was thankful for. “How are you feeling, Di?”

Bridgette paused for a second. She had forgotten that most of the New World soldiers thought Charlotte’s name was Dinah. It made her wonder why Roman called her Lottey. It also shocked her that Ludwig had asked how she was. If she was being honest, she wasn’t expecting that. From the look of him, she had thought he was going to start yelling, not look genuinely concerned for her.

“Better,” she answered.

He nodded, taking a seat behind his desk. “Good,” he said. “A lot has happened, or hasn’t happened would be more accurate,” he continued. Rubbing a hand down his face, he leaned back in his chair, his mouth set in a thin line. “Those rebels you’ve been watching, did they ever mention anything about a traitor in their ranks?”

Bridgette shook her head. “Not that I heard,” she said, changing her voice.

“Well someone tipped them off tonight. When my men got to that church, the whole place had been cleared out.”

Charlotte must have warned them, Bridgette thought. Ludwig didn’t seem to suspect her at all. How much did he trust her sister? Roman stepped forward so he was no longer in her peripheral vision.

“Could they have someone on the inside here?” Ludwig said.

Her heart rate kicked into high gear.

“I highly doubt it,” Roman said immediately. “Our men are loyal. Perhaps it was your inside man. Could he be playing both sides?”

Bridgette breathed a sigh of relief. Did Roman know about her sister’s relationship with McKay? His denial had come quickly; making her wonder if he was protecting Charlotte from Ludwig’s suspicion.

Ludwig rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “We’ll have to interrogate him and see, I suppose.” His head turned to her. “Have you had any contact from the rebels you’ve been watching?”

She shook her head. “They’re gone as well,” she said. At least she hoped they were. If McKay and the gang were smart, they would be far away from New Berlin. She had a pretty good intuition that Ludwig and his men were going to tear the eastern ghetto apart looking for them.

His lips pressed together. “Did you ever break through their walls?”

She shook her head again.

He let out a long breath. “I’m disappointed, but at least that means you can stop going out. I didn’t like you being in the lower’s section. Stay around headquarters until we figure out where they are. I’m worried they might have figured out who you were, and realized it was only a matter of time before I found them.”

They definitely knew who Charlotte was now, she thought wryly.

“We need to find these rats and get rid of them once and for all,” Ludwig continued. “I can’t have them running around out there causing trouble when our dealers are coming to town. We need this problem taken care of.” His eyes focused on Roman.

His second in command nodded in understanding. “We’ll find them,” Roman said.

“You’d better.” Ludwig’s eyes went back to Bridgette, dropping down the front of her body and up again. A small smile played on his lips as amusement danced in his eyes. “Have you gained weight, Di?”

Her whole body stiffened. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of. When people have been around each other for long periods of time, they would be more likely to notice slight changes. What the hell was she supposed to say now?

“You did not just say that,” Roman said. Bridgette turned to look at him. Bad idea. Looking at him just made maintaining her charade harder. She still remembered the last time they were together when she was still working at the Red Lounge. “
Do I make you nervous, Bridgette?”
he had asked. The answer was, then and now, a resounding yes. Having to hide that fact from him was probably going to be the hardest thing about this entire mission.

“What?” Ludwig said with a laugh. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. She’s just looking more – curvy. It must be that lower section diet. Pub food looks good on you.” He gave her a playful wink. She was being
teased
by Ludwig-friggin-Tennebris. This was surreal.

“Never talk about a lady’s weight,” Roman said. Bridgette glanced at him and saw that he was smiling too.

Time to play this right, she thought. From now on she was going to live by the code – W.W.C.D. What Would Charlotte Do. Bridgette flipped them both off, stopping herself from cringing at the rude gesture, and turned to leave, calling over her shoulder, “I’m going to bed,” and quickly walked out of the room. Their laughter followed her out.

CHAPTER TWO

Roman watched Lottey leave, his eyes glued to her back. His body felt tight and on edge; had been all day. The two of them never fought, and to be honest he had no idea how to handle the situation. He knew she was still pissed about him telling that damn lower who she really was, and ruining her chances with him. Yet, despite the fact that he really did feel sorry about it, and that he suspected the man actually cared for her, he didn’t necessarily regret doing it. He had told her he did, but what he really regretted was hurting
her.
What he didn’t regret was destroying that relationship, ensuring that she was here now.

He didn’t like her out there where he couldn’t keep an eye on her. She had already come back with a bullet wound for Christ’s sake. If that
boy
couldn’t keep her safe then Roman didn’t want her with him. Walking over to the chair in front of him, he sat down, running a hand through his hair. His mind immediately went back to when she had opened the door to her room and faced him finally. That moment had a lot to do with the tension he was feeling now.

Maybe he was imagining things, he reasoned. He had to be. It just didn’t make sense, because if he wasn’t, then something was definitely going on with Lottey. When she had opened her door he had been expecting her fury. That was something he was used to – could deal with. What he had encountered instead was something completely different. Her eyes had locked on his and then dropped to roam his entire body – slowly. It had caused every one of his nerve endings to wake up, prickling him with desire.

Her eyes finally made their way back to his, and in them he saw so much heat, he was left speechless for a moment. Lottey had never looked at him like that. They were more like siblings than anything. Arousal was not something he had ever come to expect from her, and yet he could see it clearly in the way she looked at him. And then again when she had stared at him as they stood in the office, he could have sworn he saw something glitter there. But he had to be wrong. There was no way he could be seeing things clearly.

Maybe she was plotting his death and that’s what was making her so interested, he thought. That sounded a hell of a lot more like Lottey than his first impression. Either way, it had him wound tight and he didn’t know what to do about it. Not to mention Ludwig’s comment about her being curvy. Roman wasn’t sure if she was a bit heavier, or if he just hadn’t noticed before, but he certainly noticed now. It was confusing him. Roman didn’t like to be confused about anything.

“We need to find those rebels,” Ludwig said again. “I want this General figure. It has to be Douglas Hatcher.”

Roman nodded. They didn’t know it for a fact, but he was pretty sure Ludwig was correct in his assumption. It just made sense that Lottey’s father would be leading the rebels. They’d been hearing for years that he was running things. True, he had fallen off the face of the earth for the past five years, but neither one of them had actually believed he was dead all that time. He’d been laying low, and for some reason he had resurfaced again now.

“They won’t be able to hide for long,” Roman said. “They’ll come back up for air at some point, and we’ll be there waiting for them.”

Ludwig looked to the closed door for a second, before returning to him. “What about her sister?” he asked.

Roman clenched his teeth then forced himself to relax again. “She’s gone,” he said, the words knifing through him. After Lottey had run out to warn her rebel lover that the army knew of their headquarters, he had swung by her sister’s place. She hadn’t been there, nor had she been at her place of work when he went there next. As far as he knew, she was gone, along with the rest of the rebels.

It bothered him. He didn’t know Bridgette very well, if at all, but lately he’d felt an odd sense of protectiveness for the girl. She had none of the hardness that Lottey had. It didn’t take a genius to see how innocent she still was in the corrupt world that surrounded them. She was soft where Lottey was sharp. People like her could be easily hurt in times like these, and that didn’t sit well with him.

Nothing he could do about it now though. He had no idea where the rebels could have gone, considering the eastern ghetto was surrounded by twenty foot high fences, and guarded at all times. There was one section they’d previously neglected, but that had been corrected once they had realized the rebels were letting more people in through there. Every inch of that fence had eyes on it. There was no getting in or out now.

“Are we going to be ready for when Sal and his men arrive?” Ludwig asked, his face pensive. Roman wasn’t worried. The rebels, so far, hadn’t done much to advance their cause. They were just a bunch of lowers who couldn’t handle the change. To him, they were a group of unorganized idealists who didn’t have the first clue what it took to take over a government. Ludwig had spent years inserting himself in the right political circles, making friends with people who were higher up and easily influenced. He had also made sure to maintain contact with people like Sal, who were only interested in money, and not power. Their services went to the highest bidder, and that had been Ludwig.

Roman doubted the rebels would get anywhere with their revolution. “Everything will be fine,” he assured him. “Our men have this place secured. Stop worrying.”

Ludwig grunted, unconvinced. “Stop worrying, he says. The day I stop worrying, is the day I drop dead. We’ve worked too long and hard to get where we are, to have it taken away.”

“I know, and we won’t. I’m doubling up security on both land and air for their arrival. The rebels would be stupid to try and pull anything now. Especially when they see how many soldiers are patrolling. They’ll need time to regroup anyway,” he pointed out. “We might not have caught them, but we made damn sure they won’t be able to use that church as their meeting place anymore. I wouldn’t expect much from them for a while.”

Ludwig looked at him thoughtfully. Roman knew how much the leader of the New World depended on him. Not just for his military skills, but for his advice during situations like this. Reluctantly he nodded, accepting Roman’s opinion.

“I just hope you’re right,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “We still have some time before Sal arrives. In the meantime, let’s find these rebels, and put them to rest once and for all.”

She hadn’t slept well. Anxiety had kept Bridgette up for the better part of the night. Dark circles coloured the skin beneath her eyes when she looked at her reflection. Ugh, she looked like crap. At this rate, she was going to wear herself out before the first week was over. How was she supposed to sleep under the same roof as the man who had destroyed
everything
? It was like sleeping in a cave with a bear. Who knew if she would actually survive the night? Even after locking her door, she’d found herself too wound up to rest.

Splashing some cold water on her face, she made the decision to hide out in the room for as long as possible. Maybe eventually she’d get so tired she’d just pass right out. Or not, she thought with a sigh. If only she were back home in her tiny apartment. Sure, there was nothing glamorous about it, but it was hers. This place wasn’t home, and the longer she stayed, the more she was regretting her decision to come here.

You’re doing it for Charlotte
, she reminded herself. That was what was important. Her sister had spent the last five years here, dealing with – who knows what. Bridgette didn’t like to think about it. She knew her sister must have been scared out of her mind when she had been taken at the age of sixteen, and forced to work alongside the New World leader. Never again. Bridgette wanted Charlotte to have a happy, easy life from now on. If this was what it would take, then so be it.