Romy’s head spun as the woman confirmed her terrified misgivings.

“No,” he said. “It won’t.”

Hurt stabbed its way through her. It couldn’t be.

He. . . .

He wouldn’t do that to her. She ran through the conversation again, searching for any loophole, studying it from all angles.

But Tina’s words had confirmed it.

The Mandate was coming for the bodies of Romy and her friends.

Atlas was betraying Knot 27.

He was betraying her. He meant to kill them all.

Had the trio planned this from the beginning? Atlas, Houston, and Tina. Anger built inside of her and she longed to throw the door open and scream at the pair.

Why hadn’t they just killed the knot at the start? Why mess with them? Make the knot think they had a chance?

It was cruel.

And he hadn’t just played with her heart.

Atlas had toyed with the lives of her family. Romy’s face hardened.

“I’ll go finalise the details,” Tina said.

Her voice jerked Romy back to the present. Footsteps were drawing closer. Romy whirled, looking around her, and skimmed as quietly as possible to Houston’s door, testing the handle.

Locked.

Not bothering to check the other two doors—because one belonged to Tina, and Tina might be going there and the other was always locked—she twisted, dashing for the only furniture in sight: the bench outside Atlas’s office. Romy pressed herself into the corner’s shadows, sliding down behind the bench.

She held her breath as Atlas and Tina exited his office. Tina went straight into her workspace, but Atlas veered off, heading for the locked room. He jammed a key in the lock and flung the door open. He’d never opened it so wide, nor so carelessly, but to her utter frustration she couldn’t see inside from her vantage point. Romy didn’t dare move a muscle to sneak a peek.

Atlas rushed inside, and she listened to the frantic rustling of papers for a minute before he reappeared in the doorway. He balanced the armload of papers as he reached back, clicking a button on the inside of the door before giving it a soft pull.

The door to the secret area creaked as it began to slowly swing closed.

Atlas quickly disappeared into Tina’s room and shut the door. Their voices were just a murmur on the other side.

. . . But the door to the locked room was still open, swinging towards a close. It was three-quarters of the way there.

Pushing her warning instinct aside, Romy darted forwards on silent feet, shoving her fingers into the gap just in time. She paused in this position, tensed just outside the locked room, listening to Atlas and Tina, but there was no interruption in the low hum next door. No sounds of discovery. Romy eased the door open and slid inside. Inside the locked room at last.