Page 54 of Broken By A King

Twenty-Six

STONE

"Ican't open it."

Ariana is exhausted. What little energy she had left after working a long shift at the hospital is being drained from her because of this clusterfuck.

"Why not?"

"I don't have the key."

"Well where's the fucking key?"

He points the gun closer to her face.

I could smash his head like a pumpkin into the concrete countertop, but that still leaves the two other dickheads with guns in their hands. I can't risk it.

"My father is the only one with a key. I just know that the safe is down there."

"The key's probably at her house, man." One of the other men says. I notice that he has a tattoo of a wolf on his hand. "But that shit is like thirty minutes away."

They know a lot. Too much. They know about the safe. They know that Ariana lives with Nate. They even know where they live. This shit isn't good. I can't allow them to leave this place breathing.

"It's not there," she says fearfully. "My father always carries it on him, and he's out of town."

"I don't believe her."

"Me either."

The one in charge is thinking it over. He didn't anticipate this kink in the plan, but that's the thing about armed robbery. You always have to consider the possibilities and plan for contingencies, and even then, you're taking a huge risk.

"Everybody up," the leader orders.

We all stand and he has Savannah and I walk over to the trap door, making sure to put me in front.

"Open the door," he tells me.

I lift the trap door and find exactly what Ariana said. Steps to a dark cellar. There's a light switch at the top of the stairs and it works. Nate must come down here occasionally. At least to change the bulb. Each of us descends down the stairs, and I'm shocked at what we find when we reach the bottom.

A safe that looks like it's the size of a fucking bank vault built into the stone wall of the basement.

Fuck me.

This is where he's keeping the money.

"Sit down."

They order all three of us to sit on the floor of the cellar while they take a look at the safe. It doesn't require a key. It's a huge combination lock. Just like you would see on an old school bank vault. Ariana has just been caught in a lie. Making our amateur thieves even angrier than they already were.

"I thought you said this was a key lock!"

"I thought it was," she cries. "My father told me it was."

"You expect us to believe that shit. You've never seen this safe in your life? You knew where the trap door was."

"I've never been down here though. He told me about the safe. Told me where it was in case something ever happened to him. But that's it."

"How about you?" they ask Savannah.