“Like what?” My voice cracks, and I clear my throat. I hate how much emotion is in my voice, but Lucca seems happy with me speaking.
“Anything. Clothes, a car…”
“A car? Where would I go?”
“We could go anywhere you want.” He smiles at me.
We? Meaning I couldn’t go by myself.
The door to the bedroom opens a fraction; it’s not enough to see us but enough to let Nicolai speak.
“Lucca, a moment.”
Lucca gets off the bed. “Have a think about it.” He tells me before leaning in and placing a kiss on my knee. I don’t look away as he leaves the room, and when the door closes, I let my chin rest on my knee as I try to picture a life here with Lucca. With the Lucca who just touched me like I was precious. For that reason, staying with Lucca didn’t seem so scary.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
LUCCA
“Igor is out of the office.”
I close the door gently behind me as I step out into the hall—Nicolai’s gaze darts to the door before they return to me.
“You know this how?” I cross my arms.
“I have eyes and ears everywhere.” Nicolai steps away, and I take one final glance at the door and follow him.
“He should be busy for an hour. So it’s a quick in and out.” Nicolai glances at me over his shoulder and grins. “I’ll come with you.”
That part I’m not sure about. I stop Nicolai once we are downstairs. “You don’t have to.” Breaking into Igor’s office would be a death sentence if we got caught.
I couldn’t put that kind of threat around Nicolai’s neck.
“I am going with you. Who will keep the security busy?”
“I haven’t thought that far,” I admit.
Nicolai opens a door and removes two black rucksacks, one he fires at me, and I catch it.
“I’ll distract them while you go in and get what you need.”
I open the bag. It’s a standard go bag that most of us keep in our homes. I strip off my shirt and pull on the black jumper. The dark gloves I push into the back pocket of my suit trousers. I don’t remove the money but take out the gun, knife, and earpiece that will allow Nicolai and me to communicate. He’s getting ready also, as I hide the gun and knife on my body.
“How will you distract them?” These men were trained to kill.
“Don’t worry about that. All you need to worry about is getting in and out.” Nicolai picks the bags up off the ground and pushes them back into the storage space.
Before we leave, Nicolai grabs a bottle of vodka and takes several deep drinks.
“A bit of Dutch courage?” I ask.
“Like I ever needed courage.” He grins as we leave the house.
***
Fifteen minutes later, I’m outside the building as I pull on the dark jacket. Nicolai stays in the car. When I walk through the same double doors I did only days before, it feels like a lifetime ago.
The lobby is quiet as I make my way to the elevator. There is no security on the lobby floor; they don’t need it. I take the elevator up to the top floor.
“How are you doing?” Nicolai’s voice booms in my ear and I adjust the device in my ear, so he isn’t as loud.
The ding of the doors has my answer dying on my lips, and I step out into Igor’s lobby. His security moves towards me. I don’t stop walking.
“I have a meeting with Igor.”
One of them blocks my path. “Igor isn’t here.”
“He’s en route to Sheriff’s for a suit fitting.” Nicolai’s words echo in my ear.
“I know he isn’t. He’s at Sheriff’s for a suit fitting and told me to meet him here.”
The security man eyes me for a second before moving aside. I take a seat across from his door, and the two men return to the station at the elevator door.
I want to check my watch to see how much time has passed. Nicolai had said we had an hour. It took fifteen minutes to get here, and five must have passed. If I was to search his office, I needed to move soon. I could just kill both men.
“I’m on my way, don’t do anything stupid.” Nicolai’s voice has me fighting a grin. He knows me too well.
Fifteen seconds later, the ding of the elevator doors has the security shifting.
A tall man stumbles out; a cap dragged down over his eyes as he continues to stumble into the security.
“I need to take a piss. Where’s the bathroom?” Nicolai’s voice is slurred, and both security men reach for him. He’s struggling against them, and I meet his gaze for a second before I get up and enter Igor’s office. His drinking the vodka makes sense now, and he’s close enough to the security for them to smell the alcohol on his breath.
I had less time now. Nicolai couldn’t wrestle them for long, and when they turned and saw my chair empty, they would know that I didn’t leave, that I was in one of the rooms on this floor.
The minute I step into the office, I make a beeline for a chair that I pick up and push under the door handle. Once it’s secured, I walk back to Igor’s desk and sit down. Papers of contracts sit on his desk in a neat pile to my left. I scan them. They are jobs, but not the one I was doing or anything that was relevant.
Turning on the computer is unfruitful as the moment it powers up, it requests a password. I could try to guess, but I
