Epilogue
Bastian stared at the financials of the winery.
It had been weeks since the ordeal with Everly, yet they still hadn’t figured out if Dmitri was still alive and who the rat was in their ranks that was working for him.
They had talked to the Anastasi’s several times, but they were dealing with problems of their own. Problems that Dmitri had caused.
“Fuck.” He tossed the ledger to the desk and leaned back.
The soft voice of Ariel, his accountant, filtered into the room. “You okay?”
Bastian glanced up to see her propped against his open door. “No. I’m not. I think Jorge was using this place as a cover for something nefarious, but I don’t know what. Have you found anything in the shit I gave you?”
“Actually.” She disappeared only to return with a folded piece of paper. “I did.”
Bastian stiffened as she made her way around his desk and opened the paper. She was bent over in front of him, her perfectly round ass on display. He closed his eyes and willed his growing erection to behave. The last thing he needed was for her to notice the bulge in his pants.
“What is this? A map of the property?”
“Yep.”
He raised an eye. “And? How the fuck is this supposed to help me?”
“If you would look at it, you would see I circled something on the back property.”
Bastian leaned forward, his chest brushing against the globe of her ass. “What is it?”
“A building of some kind. It’s not on any of the other manifestos, so I don’t know what it is. What I can tell you, is it is at the far corner of the property that backs up to the cliffs.”
Bastian ran his palm down his face. “I’ll go check it out.” He started to stand and grab the map, but she snatched it from his grasp.
“Not without me. I want to see what this building is, and since I found it, I’m going.” Ariel wadded up the map and stormed toward the door. “Are you coming?”
Bastian grunted and stood. “Yeah. I’m coming.” He hurried past her and down the front steps. “We’ll take a gator. Come on.” He headed across the lawn toward one of the barns. Ariel watched as he hopped onto an outdoor version of a golfcart and patted the seat. “Hurry up, Princess.”
“Stop calling me that. You can be such a dick.”
Bastian smirked as they pulled out onto the property. “Where are we going?”
“Far back left. Near the cliffs.”
Neither spoke as they made the trek toward the backside of the one-hundred-acre lot.
Jorge had let the place go to shit, but Bastian hoped he would salvage it, turning it into a profitable venue for the family.
Not as if they needed more money, but he wanted something of his own—something with less bloodshed.
The ride across the property was peaceful.
The lush greenery and heavy aroma of grape vines filled the air, giving it a serene vibe.
The property stopped at the edge of a cliff, dropping into the azure waters below.
It was stunning and would eventually draw tourists once Bastian built some bungalows to rent out.
It was all part of his plan once the dust settled and he eradicated the memory of Jorge Peru from the lands.
Bastian was positive Jorge had used the property for more than wine, but he and his brothers had not found anything beyond some gun sales. That was baby shit compared to the illegal sales of lithium the Silva family made their money from.
“I think that’s it.” Ariel’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.
He glanced the direction her finger pointed and frowned. “Why the hell would they build something so close to the edge?”
“I don’t know. Let’s stop and check it out.” Ariel practically hopped off before he stopped the cart.
“Woah. Hold on, Ariel. Something isn’t right.” Bastian rounded the front of their ride and grabbed her arm.
“What the fuck, Bastian? It’s a building. Are you afraid ghosts are inside? Jesus.” She jerked her arm from his grasp and pushed through the door. “Wow. This is weird.”
Bastian followed her inside and stopped. “Come here. The floor doesn’t look safe. What the hell did they do back here?” He slowly walked toward her, trying to get Ariel closer to him. His gut was telling him something was off.
Ariel froze when she stepped on some kind of metal button. The floor began to make a horrible grinding noise, shaking the entire room. “What the hell?”
“Don’t—”
He didn’t get the words out before she lifted her foot to step away. Before he could grasp what was happening, the floor opened, causing Ariel to fall into a giant hole in the center of the room. Bastian dived toward her, trying to grab her wrists, but fell headfirst into the opening behind her.
He was certain he had broken his arm and possibly some ribs when he finally hit the bottom. It felt like he had fallen several hundred feet before hitting the hard dirt with a heavy thud.
“Fuck,” he groaned. “Ariel?”
Bastian let his eyes adjust to the dark space as he looked for Ariel.
When he finally adjusted to the lack of light, he realized they were in some underground tunnel.
Bastian used his good arm to push himself up and stand.
He needed to try to find Ariel. He was worried she had seriously hurt herself from the fall.
Glancing up, he saw the faint light from the floor they had fallen from, it seemed miles away.
Bastian noticed what appeared to have been steps at one point against the wall.
Perhaps the floor opened to them at some point in time, but weather and time had rotted them away.
“Ariel?” Bastian called out, shuffling his feet to avoid stepping on her. As he felt his way around the room, he was surprised to see light down one of the tunnels that branched off from where he was. Once he found Ariel, he would venture down it to see if there was a way out.
Bastian nearly fell over something, only to realize it was Ariel.
She was on her side and unconscious as far as he could tell.
Squatting down, he ran his hand down her prone form.
“Hey? Can you hear me?” Bastian couldn’t tell if something was broken, but she was breathing.
He sighed a breath of relief. “Ariel. Sweetheart, wake up.” He pressed his palm to her cheek, only to find something wet.
Bringing his fingers up to his nose, he inhaled. It was warm and smelled metallic.
Fuck.
She was bleeding. He trailed his fingers around her face, stopping at the side of her head when he found the source.
She had a pretty large cut on her head, most likely the reason she was out.
Bastian slowly took his shirt off, wincing as he pulled it over his injured arm.
He turned it inside out and wrapped it around the gaping wound.
Bastian sat down and pulled her into his lap. He would wait until she woke up to figure a way out. Calling someone was impossible since he had left his cell phone on the cart. He hadn’t anticipated being inside long—hell, he hadn’t expected the floor to give away either.
For now, he would wait until she woke. And then… he would figure out where they were and how the hell to get out.
He only prayed there wasn’t more to the hidden tunnels. He had nothing to protect them if there was something else hidden down here with them.