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I want to laugh, but I hold it in. It’s frankly a miracle to be seen with Andrei and not have the world implode on itself. I don’t think I’d get away with being publicly amicable with him.
And it feelsterrible. Pretending we’re nothing more than strangers. If Vance weren’t here shadowing my every move, I wouldn’t hesitate to throw myself at Andrei—though being in a cemetery certainly makes me pause. It hurts not being able to touch him. Talk with him. Laugh and tease him. I wish I could send my bodyguard away, but that’d just look suspicious.
When we arrive at the admin office, Andrei knocks on the door. There’s no response. Not even a peep. I peek in through one of the side windows. The lights are out.
“Nobody’s here,” I inform Andrei.
He sighs. “Damn.”
“I guess we’ll have to come back another time and—”
Andrei shrugs off his suit jacket, wraps it around his fist, and punches straight through the glass. Shards shatter and fall to the ground, a couple of jagged edges sticking out dangerously.
“What on Earth do you think you’re doing?” I gasp.
Vance takes a single step forward. “What’s going on?”
I wave him off. “Seriously, Andrei. What are you playing at here?”
“We don’t have time to come back,” he says, carefully slipping his arm through to reach the lock. After a moment of fumbling, he manages to get it open, pushing up on the sill to open the window. “If Ivanovich catches wind we’re here, he could run again. We can’t give him the chance.”
“If you expect me to crawl in through there—”
“Hop up, princess.”
I yelp as Andrei grabs me by the waist, hoists me up, and shoves me through the opening without any semblance of grace. I fall through, rolling forward so my momentum doesn’t come to an abrupt and painful halt. I’m quick to clamber back to my feet just in time to put a hand up and stop Vance in his tracks.
“It’s fine,” I tell him. “We need somewhere private to talk.”
“I don’t like this, ma’am. I don’t trust him.”
“I do.”
Vance seems taken aback by my declaration, but Andrei is nothing short of awestruck. He looks at me with wide eyes and a soft smile, with an unmatched reverie I can’t even begin to hope to describe.
“We needed a quiet place to discuss a peace treaty,” I lie to Vance. “Just the two of us. Somewhere we won’t be disturbed. And since this is hallowed ground, we both figured this was as neutral a meeting place as we were going to get. Understand?”
Vance nods slowly, though his expression tells me he’s unconvinced. “I’ll wait by the door, then.”
“That’d be good. Thank you, Vance.” I stick my hand out and offer it to Andrei. “Come on.”
I help pull Andrei through the window. It’s a clumsy affair. Lots of flailing arms and legs, but we eventually manage to get inside. A thin layer of dust covers every surface, and even without the broken window we crawled through, there’s a terrible draft in here. I have a sneaking suspicion this building is either not used very often or it’s fallen into disrepair due to negligent staff.
I take in our surroundings. No cameras to worry about. No alarm sensors to trip. I suppose there isn’t much worth stealing in a place like this—aside from information.
In the very back of the building, I spot rows upon rows of shelves, on which sit a seemingly endless collection of paper files and binders. My face must give away my displeasure at this finding because Andrei chuckles. “What’s got you all grumpy?”
“They don’t file everything electronically?”
He shrugs. “These grounds are centuries old. I wouldn’t be surprised if the caretakers never bothered to update their internal filing system.”
“This is going to take forever,” I mumble.
Andrei nudges me with his elbow, starting towards the shelves in the back. “Quitting before we’ve even begun? That doesn’t sound like the Sandra I know.”
“Oh, youknowme, do you?” I ask coyly, though I follow him all the same.
He dares to wink at me over his shoulder. “Better than most, I’d wager.”
