He walks up to the door, which is hanging off its hinges, and pushes it open. The wood groans in protest, and I hold my breath, waiting for the whole thing to come crashing down. But it doesn't. Andrey steps inside, disappearing into the darkness, and I hear his footsteps on the floorboards.
"See?" he calls out. "It's fine."
I don't move. My heart is pounding so hard, I can feel it in my throat. This is insane. Completely insane.
"Mariya," Andrey says, reappearing in the doorway. "I need you to come inside. I'll explain everything, but I need you in here."
"Explain it now," I demand.
He sighs, running a hand through his dark hair. "Remember the note we found in the brooch? The one that said'bayou'?"
I nod slowly.
"Matvey thinks it refers to this place. The old-timers used to call this field 'the bayou' because it was always wet and muddy. There used to be meetings here, back before the Bratva had the power to operate openly." He gestures to the shack. "This was one of their safehouses. And we think your father might have hidden something here."
The words hit me like a physical blow. My father. He knew about this place? He hid something here?
"What do you think he hid?" I ask.
"I don't know. Maybe the heirlooms. Maybe something else." Andrey's expression softens. "But I need your help to find it. Please."
I look at the shack, then at Andrey, then at the beast standing behind me like a wall. I'm trapped, completely and utterly trapped. And if there's even a chance that my father left something here, something that might explain what happened or where he is, I have to look.
"Fine," I say. "But if that thing collapses on us, I'm haunting you for eternity."
Andrey's lips twitch in what might be a smile. "Deal."
I follow him inside, my body stiff and alert, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. The interior is even worse than the exterior. The floorboards are rotted in places, and there are holes in the walls where animals have made nests. Everything is covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.
"What are we looking for?" I ask, my voice echoing in the empty space.
"Anything unusual," Andrey says. "Loose boards, hidden compartments, anything that looks like it's been disturbed recently."
We spread out, each of us taking a section of the small room. I move carefully, testing each floorboard before putting my full weight on it. My eyes scan every surface, looking for anything that might be a clue.
Minutes pass. Then ten minutes. Then twenty. We find nothing, just rot and decay and the remnants of whatever this place used to be.
I'm starting to think this is a waste of time when my foot comes down on a board that gives way beneath me. I don't even have time to scream before I'm falling, the wood splintering around me, and then I'm hitting the ground hard enough to knock the air from my lungs.
"Mariya!" Andrey's voice comes from above, panicked.
I lie there for a moment, stunned, trying to figure out if anything is broken. My back hurts where I landed, and my ankle is throbbing, but I can move everything. I'm okay. Mostly.
"I'm fine," I call up, my voice shaky.
I look around, and my breath catches. I'm not in a crawl space or a shallow hole. I'm in a room. An underground room with dirt walls and a low ceiling. It's dark, but enough light filters down through the hole I made that I can see the space is about ten feet by ten feet.
"There's a basement down here," I say, my voice filled with wonder.
Andrey's face appears in the hole above me. "Are you hurt?"
"No. But you need to see this."
Within seconds, both Andrey and the beast have lowered themselves down through the hole. Matvey pulls out a flashlight, and the beam cuts through the darkness, revealing more of the space.
It's empty except for a few old crates in one corner. But the walls are what catch my attention. They're not just dirt. They're reinforced with old wooden planks, like someone built this space to last.
"This was intentional," Andrey says, running his hand along one of the walls. "Someone built this as a hiding place."
