“Jace?” I ask, and he grimaces.
“My sisters will be judgy and bitchy, but once they see how happy I am, they’ll come around.”
“Please, they’ll just be jealous of all the amazing dick you’re getting.” I clear my throat, unsurprised by Alex’s contribution. “Sorry, dickandpussy,” Alex corrects and blows me a kiss. “Can we do this now?”
I press the numbers into the pad. Unlike the vault at home, none of these have biometric scanners, so the door clicks open as soon as I hit the last number.
“Let me go first.” Riku pushes through, gun at the ready, and as he steps over the threshold, the room lights up. “Holy shit.” His words are practically a whisper, but they seem to thunder back to us.
“What?” Alex follows after him as we all wait more patiently. “Yes, I fucking knew it!” Alex crows, and it’s enough to pique our collective curiosity, so we follow after him.
“What the fuck?” Jace’s shocked exclamation has me giggling when I catch sight of the room’s contents. I don’t think he’s ever seen a sex dungeon before, not that I have, but I’m not surprised after I heard all about the one at Willow Castle. I was very surprised when the castle in Romania didn’t have one. The seven of us look around the room. I never went up to the one back home since I didn’t need that mental visual of my brothers and Harlow using it, but this one seems to be very well stocked.
“I’m not using this room until I know all the equipment has been deep cleaned,” Shane says, examining a paddling bench. “Then this will do very nicely.”
The guys spread out to examine the room, but I grab Riku by the arm. “Will you come check out the other locked rooms with me?”
“Sure, lead the way.”
The two of us go out into the hall and head back down the tunnel. It’s about twenty yards farther down that we get to another keypad. We follow the same procedure, with Riku waiting, weapon ready, while I take care of the passcode. The door swings open, and he steps in, triggering the automatic lights. I gasp in horror when I see what’s inside this room. It’s a cell block with barred rooms. I follow close behind as we walk the length, looking in each individual cell, my fingers crossed behind my back in hope that we don’t find a dead body. I sigh with relief when they all turn up empty.
“Why would the count have cells under his house?” I ask, a little dazed. I know he was a bad man, but this takes it to a new level.
“Maybe the playthings for the other room were kept in here,” Riku suggests dryly, and I shudder at the thought.
“Let’s lock this one back up. We don’t have any need for it.”
We exit, and I slam the door, reactivating the lock. There’s one more keypad on the opposite wall another twenty yards or so down, so once we make our way there, I plug in the code. When this door swings open and the room illuminates, it’s a little like déjà vu. Just like the vault under Willow Castle, this one contains guns, drugs, and treasure. Gold bars, jewels, and antiquities fill the shelves, pallets, and wall space.
“Holy shit.” Ash’s voice has me jumping, though Riku’s reaction is a little more dangerous. He whirls around, his gun pointed in the direction of the voice. Ash jumps and holds up his hands. “Hey, it’s just me!”
Riku huffs out a breath and lowers the weapon, tucking it into his waistband. “You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you.”
“Look at this. This is freaking amazing.” Ash goes to grab something, but I hold out a hand. “Let’s not put fingerprints on things just yet.”
“Oh, good thinking.” He snatches his hand back, a contrite look on his face.
I snort, looking around. “Not my first treasure vault. Okay, the guns and drugs have to go. We’ll tell Diego he can deal with those. As for the rest, well, I guess if we ever run out of money, it will be here if we need it. Come on.”
“Don’t you want to look through it?” Ash looks longingly at the treasure like he’s Gollum and it’s the ring to rule them all.
“I guess if you want to catalog, we can, but not tonight. Anyway, I can guarantee most of it will have been stolen or collected by ill-gotten gains.”
Grumbling, they follow me out of the room, and once again, I slam the door shut. I am seriously getting sick of finding shit. I just hope the rest of my houses are normal.
* * *
The next day, I return to Diego’s guest house, and we talk some more, including sharing what we found in the tunnels, which he promises to deal with. He has men who will be discreet, and they’ll use the tunnels to ensure the dangerous stuff, like the drugs and guns, has no risk of falling into the wrong hands or being seen by the wrong people.
Jax and the rest of the family arrive late afternoon, having left as soon as Harlow’s appointment was done. Unfortunately, there’s one little piece missing from our family reunion. Hayden refused to let Spencer come since it would take time away from their remaining days together before her move. So, even though we are incomplete, it’s still a big moment for our family. There is quite an emotional reunion between Dad and Diego in particular.
Over the next few days, Jax and Diego get to know each other, and Dad and Diego catch up on each other’s lives. Dad tries to get Diego to return to LA, but he refuses to make that big of a change. He’s happy with his life here, but he gives in a little bit, because Dad wouldn’t give up until he got his old friend to agree to some visits in the future.
On New Year’s Eve, we head into Cartagena and celebrate in style. Diego booked out a restaurant for all of us, so we have food and cocktails and watch the fireworks explode over the ocean. The streets are full of revelers, and it’s fun and relaxing. The next day, it’s time for us to return to real life. Cole is champing at the bit to see Spencer, and I can’t deny that I want to see him too. I was already fond of his son, but now that Cole and I are committed to trying a relationship, there was thisclickinside me. Those maternal instincts are firmly switched on, and I can’t wait to get some hugs from his little man.
Most of the family head home after emotional goodbyes with Diego, who promises it wouldn’t be another twenty years before they saw each other again.
It’s just me and the guys left when a commotion in the garage has Riku pulling his weapon from its holster. The shouting comes toward us, growing louder, and we all move out of the way as Diego comes into view, followed by four men. They are walking in pairs, each partnership holding a limp man suspended between them.
