Page 66 of The Eagle's Vault

Rav chuckled, the deep sound vibrating through the room. The banter, the camaraderie—it was familiar, comforting. In the face of uncertainty, at least some things never changed. He’d been my friend as long as Scarlett had. He’d been to every birthday party since I was twelve. Double-dates when we were teens. Then he left for special training, and the man I’d known most of my life disappeared. He was close, but his eyes hadn’t been the same since before he went off the grid for a year.

Unearthing another book from the chaos of my duffel, I swallowed hard.The Fortress Within. A cruel irony, considering my defenses had been anything but fortress-like around Leigh.

“I should’ve kept my damn walls up,” I grumbled, tossing the book onto the table.

Rav slouched down into a chair, frowning deeply for my benefit. “Maybe it’s for the best. She’s not your type, anyway.”

I rounded on him, a long file clutched in my hand. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

He shrugged, unflappable as ever. “You know what I mean. Leigh’s not right for you.”

“Fuck off, Rav.” If I’d gripped the file any harder, I would have snapped the damn thing in half. “This isn’t any of your business.”

“Of course not.” He just smirked at me, the bastard, knowing exactly which buttons to push. “I mean, you’re not hurt or anything, right?”

His words were like a punch to the gut.

“I—I just—Shut up, Rav.”

“Touched a nerve, did I?” He let out a low chuckle.

He had me. And he knew it. I glared at him, tossing the file onto the bed. For a moment, we were two kids again, one always trying to best the other. Only now, the game was my love life, and I was losing.

Rav leaned back, leveling me with his gaze. “Women’s hearts aren’t vaults, Dec. You can’t just crack them open and think that’s the end of it.”

“Exactly why I prefer safes,” I grumbled. “Thought I’d cracked her, then… boom, angry woman appears.”

Rav glanced at the books on the table. “What are you hoping to find in the catacombs?”

His abrupt change of topic caught me off guard, but it was a better conversation than the one we’d been having. “I don’t know. It could be anything.”

“Exactement.” Rav pointed at me. “Just like Leigh. You’ve cracked her exterior, and now you’re overwhelmed by what’s inside.”

I looked atThe Fortress Withinagain, considering his words. “Maybe she’s stronger than we all think. Especially Isaac.”

Rav snorted. “Isaac’s an idiot. Seems like he’s been smothering Leigh all her life.”

“Maybe…” Something clicked. I nodded slowly, my mind racing. “Maybe she thinks I was trying to treat her like Isaac did—telling her what she can and can’t do.”

“Now you’re thinking. It’s one thing to stand by a woman and support her, but it’s another to make her feel like she can’t do anything without you. It should be her choice, either way.”

I sighed, my gaze falling on my tools. “Safes are definitely easier than women.”

Rav had a knack for digging straight into the heart of a matter. It pissed me off every time he did it to me. “Plus, if you two spent too much time together, you’d eventually confess about breaking into her family’s company.”

“You accusing me of being too honest?”

“I’d never.” He flipped his hands over in consideration. “Too cocky, more like?”

I pressed a hand to the top book, remembering what we’d found inside Barton Safes. It hadn’t seemed important when we were there, but that was the first step on the path to where I stood now. From the Codex job to the Albrecht house to Venice and then to Edoardo’s doorstep. “You remember there were two copies of the Codex case?”

“Ben ouais. We could barely pull you away from them.”

“Leigh designed it.”

Rav sat forward, elbows on knees. “You think she works for Fenix?”

“No.” There’d been two versions of the specs. One for Phillip Maguire and one for Fenix. “She’s a good person, but it’s possible they’re using her company.”

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