Lila carefully opened the book wider and read the next page.
“You have to dismantle it?” Brian looked at her in shock.
“It seems so,” Lila said, quickly slipping the locket off.
“What’s the hold up?” Preston’s voice echoed down the long vault, sharp and impatient.
An idea struck Lila suddenly.
She looked at Brian. “I have an idea.”
His eyes narrowed. “Is it one that could get us shot?”
“Maybe,” Lila admitted.
“Hello?” Preston was getting more impatient. “What’s taking so long?”
Lila turned her head slightly, raising her voice. “We’re trying to disarm the room so you can come and get whatever it is you want.”
“Hurry up then,” Preston snarled.
“Lila,” David’s voice carried down to her, low and warning. “Whatever it is you’re about to do...”
“It’s fine, David,” she emphasized his name deliberately. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Leave her alone,” Preston warned him.
David
Mia moved closer to David, her shoulder brushing his.
He had a very bad feeling his granddaughter was about to do something really stupid.
And really brave.
“Can she do that, Dad?” Mia asked, her voice barely audible.
Dad.
The word hit David like a physical blow.
She’d called him Dad three times since the previous night. Each time, it made everything around him nearly dissolve. Madetwenty-eight years of loss and longing compress into a single moment of almost unbearable emotion.
He swallowed it down with effort.
Gave his head a small shake.
Mia sucked in a sharp breath. Eve, standing close beside her, stiffened. They’d both understood.
“We need to stop her,” Mia whispered.
“Let me help them,” David called out to Preston.
He took a step forward toward the vault. Calvin’s fist slammed into his gut, driving the air from his lungs and making him stagger backward.
“Hey!” Lila’s voice rang out, sharp and furious. “Stop that!”
“Then you’d better hurry,” Preston told her coldly. “Or you’ll witness more than just a beating.”
