I’m ready to run off the edge of the stone platform and end it all, but his fingers encase the chain on my neck and pull out the locket.
With a jerk, he snaps the necklace, and I feel the loss of the locket’s weight.
Dimitri gestures to the wall. Four of the men rush forward, grabbing vines and ripping them free to expose a massive stone door.
Just likededushkasaid.
But my grandfather never mentioned the key-shaped depression in the middle of the door. Dimitri pushes my locket into the stone. Metal scrapes. Somewhere behind the door, rock grinds and groans.
Dimitri pivots to me, his expression triumphant. “Your grandfather was a clever man, hiding this in plain sight. Making it some bedtime story. Ensuring only family would know.”
I flinch back as he reaches for me again, but I’m not fast enough. His hand latches into my hair and twists, reeling me closer. I’m too slow, gasping as pain lances through my scalp and I stumble after him.
“But he didn’t account for you telling your kidnapper exactly where to look,” Dimitri practically singsongs with glee. “Or howyou would work so hard to bring me the key, the initial phase in opening the vault containing all the Kozlov treasures.”
This is all my fault. I gave him the story. I helped him get my mother’s locket. I practically killed Max. I weakened Roman. All for whatever’s behind that door that Dimitri desires so badly.
I want to fling myself over the cliff for entirely different reasons now.
His hand tightens against my scalp, and he drags me toward the door. The first step in opening the vault was the locket. The second must be the blood key. Me.
Holding my head, he shoves my face into the vines.
Chapter 37
Nika
I don’t even have enough time to scream as the vines brush over my cheek.
I’m expecting piercing pain, blood to flow freely, or sudden darkness. That’s what happens in movies like this, right?
Terror floods through me, my broken hand pounding in time with my racing heart. Instead, I catch a quiet electronic beep. Blinking as my eyes adjust, I spot the small black disk on the side of the stone door.
An eye scanner.
The same kinddedushkashowed me when I was a child. Programing my eye pattern into it? To code this door?
Blood key.
Dimitri needs my retinal pattern.
A low, deep rumble starts. Stone grinds against stone, followed by the rhythmic clack of heavy chains as the door drags open, disappearing into the vine-covered cliff face.
“We’ve done it. Pavel, Anton, come with us. The rest of you, wait out here while we take inventory.” Dimitri sounds like a kid on Christmas morning as he yanks himself free of my hair. “Ladies first.” His boot connects with my calf, knocking me through the threshold.
Laughter follows as I stumble into the cave. I skid to my knee, my muscles giving out. The sudden jolt sends pain through my hand, blinding me, and for a moment, I think I might faint.
What I’d give for a sip of water.
“You owe me fifty bucks, Anton.” Pavel peeks his head in, chuckles, and then takes a few tentative steps. “There’s no hidden traps in the vault.”
Anton grumbles but pulls some bills from his wallet and jams them in Pavel’s hand.
Good to know they had one more use for me. I’m a guinea pig to check for booby traps.
Fuckers.
Dimitri enters last, his eyes bouncing around the room as his lips curve upward. “The Kozlov treasure. Legendary among even the most wealthy of Bratvas. Hidden on a tropical island and used as cache dating back to the founding of America. Where they’d hide smuggled goods and stash stockpiles of currency that couldn’t be housed in reputable banks.”
