I removed the padlock and pulled the metal door open. The locker was mostly empty, layered with two decades of dust. But sitting at the very bottom was a heavy, military-style steel lockbox.
My hands trembled as I reached in and pulled the box out. It weighed at least ten pounds. This was it. This was the truth my mother wanted me to find. This was what Victor was so terrified of.
I rested the box on a wooden bench, preparing to pry it open.
CLACK.
High above me, the industrial fluorescent lights snapped on in a blinding wave of white. I gasped, dropping the flashlight and throwing my hands over my eyes to adjust to the sudden glare.
When my vision cleared, my blood ran instantly cold.
Standing at the entrance of the locker room, blocking the only exit, were Rex, Gabe, and Sal. Sal was holding an aluminum baseball bat, tapping it gently against his thigh. Gabe was locking the locker room door behind them.
Rex stepped slowly down the aisle, his massive frame blocking out the light. He looked at the heavy steel box resting on the bench, and then he looked at me. His face was a mask of cold, controlled fury.
"Victor warned me about you," Rex said, his abrasive voice echoing off the metal lockers. "He told me Leo Vance’s kid might come crawling back to steal the money her father hid. I didn't want to believe a little girl would be that stupid. But I knew you'd come back for it."
He cracked his knuckles, the sound like breaking glass in the quiet room.
"You're not leaving this room, Maya."
CHAPTER 3
The panic that hit me wasn't a slow rise; it was a physical blow to the chest. I was trapped in a dead-end aisle of the locker room. There were no windows. The only door was locked behind Gabe and Sal. And Rex was walking toward me, fully convinced I was a thief trying to steal a fortune.
"Rex, wait," I said, putting my hands up, backing away until my shoulders hit the cold metal lockers. "You don't understand. Victor lied to you."
"Shut up," Rex barked, pointing a thick, calloused finger at my face. "I'm sick of people from your bloodline thinking they can take from this gym. Victor built this place with his bare hands. He took me in off the streets when I was fourteen years old, sleeping behind a dumpster. He gave me a home. Your father almost destroyed it."
Sal stepped up beside Rex, the aluminum bat resting on his shoulder. Gabe stood a few feet back, cutting off any chance of me slipping past them. The numerical and physical pressure was suffocating. I couldn't fight three men this size. Not even my mother's training could save me in a confined space like this.
"Rex, listen to me!" I shouted, the desperation bleeding into my voice. "My father didn't steal anything. Victor told me this afternoon that you killed my father twenty years ago to protect the gym. He fed me a story to make me terrified of you so I would leave. But I looked you up. You were a kid when my dad vanished. You didn't do it."
Rex stopped. A flicker of confusion crossed his scarred face. He glanced back at Gabe, then looked back at me. "Victor told you I killed Leo?"
"Yes!" I pleaded. "Victor has been lying to both of us. He told you I was coming back for fifty thousand dollars. Look at this box, Rex. Does this look like it holds fifty grand in cash? It hasn't been opened in twenty years."
Rex stared at the steel box sitting on the wooden bench. The absolute certainty that had driven him into the room began to fracture. He was a violent man, an aggressive bully who projected the toxic environment he was raised in, but he wasn't stupid.
"Open it," Rex ordered.
"I don't have the combination for this lock," I said, pointing to the dial on the front of the steel box.
Rex didn't hesitate. He grabbed the aluminum bat from Sal's hands, stepped up to the bench, and swung it downward with terrifying force. The metal groaned. He swung a second time, shattering the dial entirely. With a grunt of exertion, he ripped the lid open.
Rex stared into the box. Sal and Gabe leaned in.