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“I’ve gotten everything else past him so far,” she says simply. “He already knows someone is after you. Your stepdad is in bed with a lot of bad people. Could be any one of them who came after you, honestly. Ivan may never be able to puzzle it out.”
My stomach is in knots. I’m trying to poke holes in a plan I’m hearing about for the first time, but Francia has been plotting all of this since the moment we met. Every second of our friendship has been a scheme and I had no clue.
Francia has thought of everything.
“You’re insane,” I breathe. “Actually, clinically insane. None of this is normal. You understand that, right? You’re a crazy fucking bitch.”
Francia walks around my chair. I try to angle back to see her, but I can’t. The ropes are too tight. Then she squeezes my knuckles painfully and yanks on my finger. Something cracks. Pain flashes. Then a weight disappears.
My ring.
She walks back to face me. Slowly, she slips the huge diamond onto her finger.
“Maybe I am crazy.” She holds out her hand, letting the diamond reflect the muddy lights of our dungeon. “But you’re about to die in a dank basement while this crazy bitch gets everything she has ever wanted.”
My fear vaporizes in an inferno of rage.
“Ivan will never be yours,” I spit. “He is and always has beenmine.”
Francia opens her mouth to respond…just as something loud shudders upstairs.
She turns towards the door. For the first time since she revealed her loyalty, Francia looks scared.
“Looks like my big, muscled man has come to save me,” I spit.
I’m hoping like hell that I’m right.
85
IVAN
“This is a waste of fucking time.”
Yasha doesn’t say anything, but I know he agrees.
We swept Jorden’s apartment again for clues, but found next to nothing. So we are back at Francia’s apartment building, once again approaching the emergency exit door on the side of the building.
“Are you going to let me clear the building this time?” Yasha asks bitterly.
“Fuck no.” I wrench open the door and step inside. A few feet ahead is another door. There’s a doorbell to the right of it with a speaker attached. But when Yasha pushes the button, nothing happens.
“It’s disabled,” he says.
“Then we’ll have to do this the hard way.”
I lower my shoulder. Yasha steps up next to me, bracing himself. Then we both charge at the door. It takes a few hits before the wood around the handle splinters. It takes a few more before the door shears away from the handle and the bolt and flies open.
An alarm should be sounding at this point. We’ve made enough noise that there should be guards waiting for us on the other side.
But there’s nothing.
No lights. No alarms. No sounds.
The building sounds abandoned, even though I know there are people living here.
Yasha points towards the front of the building. “We can check the front lobby first. I doubt anyone is manning the desk given what we’re seeing, but we could check and—”
Somewhere nearby, a hinge squeals.
