Page 79 of Coach
It was a large round space with cement walls and floors.
Toward the back of the room, past where Konstantin and Mikhail were standing, glowering at me, were two sets of beds attached to the wall. A wardrobe.
And stacks of water and those freeze-dried meal things that preppers kept stocked up on.
Was this… a fallout shelter? Or a storm shelter?
That, well, that made a lot of sense, actually.
What a great place to question, torture, and kill someone. Deep underground where no one could ever see or hear.
Sucking in a shaky breath, I leveled my gaze at Konstantin, not bothering to mask my disgust toward him. If I was going to die, who cared if I hurt his feelings in the process?
Konstantin noted it, then looked over at me to nod at Mikhail.
I stiffened as I heard the younger brother move in behind me, sure he was about to slice my throat or stick a gun to my head.
Instead, my hair pulled as he worked the latch on the ball gag loose, then removed it from my mouth.
I wanted to cry in relief as my mouth closed, as I swallowed back my mouthful of saliva.
After I did that, I looked at Konstantin.
“My dog,” I said.
That, at least, got a rise out of the seemingly unflappable man. His dark brow raised.
“You should be more concerned about yourself.”
“Yeah, well, if something happens to me, no one will take care of her. I mean, the least you can do is just… let her out the back door. Someone will find her and take care of her then.”
Mikhail moved to stand next to his brother, both of them looking down at me like I’d grown another head.
“She’s innocent,” I added, hating how my lip trembled.
“Ah, yes, we get to the crux of the problem,” Konstantin said. “Your dog may be innocent, but you most certainly are not.”
“It wasn’tmyfault the two of you started talking about killing someone before checking to make sure the building was empty,” I said, fear making me angry. My words were sharp enough to cut.
The brothers shared a confused look.
“What?”
“That’s why you’re going to kill me, right? Because I overheard you saying you wanted to torture and kill the person who is stealing from you.”
“You,” Konstantin said.
“Yes, me. I heard you.”
“No,” Konstantin said, looking more confused by the moment. “No, you are the thief.”
“I’m… what? No, I’m not.”
“It started when you did.”
“It started right before I did,” I corrected. “You thought I stole from you?” I asked, shock making me a little hysterical. “Wow. You’re a real crack team of criminals,” I added, an almost maniacal laugh escaping me. “Didn’t even know your vent was full of stolen cash.”
“What?” Konstantin barked. “The money is in the vent?”
