Chapter 2 - The Cup on the Desk
Dmitri moved first.
He pulled Maria and Sophie away from the door.
"Behind me."
The handle turned again.
Viktor stared.
"There's nobody in there."
"We were just inside," Maria whispered.
Dmitri signaled toward the side wall.
Viktor approached the door.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
He opened it.
The study was empty.
Maria stared across the room.
Desk.
Sofa.
Bookshelves.
Windows.
Nobody.
Then Sophie pointed.
"Door."
Maria followed her finger.
A narrow section of wooden paneling behind the bookshelves stood slightly open.
Dmitri swore under his breath.
Maria had cleaned the study dozens of times.
She had never known there was another door.
Viktor crossed the room and pulled it open.
Behind it was a narrow service corridor.
"Where does that go?" Maria asked.
"Old servants' staircase," Dmitri said.
"You knew?"
"I knew the house had passages. I didn't know this one opened into Alexei's study."
Sophie tugged Maria's sleeve.
"The shoe lady went there."
Every adult turned toward her.
"You saw her go through that door?" Dmitri asked.
Sophie nodded.
"She had shiny shoes."
Maria thought about the gold earring.
Elena Markovic.
Alexei's executive assistant.
Elegant.
Controlled.
Always wearing black heels.
That morning Maria had seen her leaving through the front entrance at 7:40.
She had even said goodbye.
Yet Sophie was describing someone inside Alexei's study more than an hour later.
"Elena," Maria said.
Dmitri's expression hardened.
Viktor immediately called security.
"Find Elena Markovic."
A reply crackled through his earpiece.
He listened.
Then looked at Dmitri.
"Her car isn't here."
"Call her."
Viktor did.
Straight to voicemail.
Dmitri glanced at the hidden passage.
"Check every exit."
Maria looked back at the sheet bearing her name.
"What does that document say?"
"Not now."
"No. Right now."
"Maria—"
"My name is underneath the cup of a man who may have been poisoned. My daughter saw someone inside a room that was supposedly empty. I think 'now' is appropriate."
Dmitri studied her.
Then he carefully slid the document free without touching the cup.
It wasn't one sheet.
It was a letter.
At the top was a law firm's name.
Below it:
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL.
Maria read the first paragraph.
Then the second.
Her knees weakened.
"No."
Dmitri caught her elbow.
"What?"
She pulled away.
"This isn't possible."
The letter concerned a trust.
Not Alexei's business empire.
Not his companies.
A private trust created seventeen years earlier by a man named Rafael Alvarez.
Maria's father.
A man she had been told died with nothing.
The document stated that Alexei Petrov had requested an emergency meeting concerning assets allegedly diverted from the Alvarez Family Trust after Rafael's death.
Maria stared at the words until they blurred.
"My father didn't have a trust."
Dmitri remained silent.
"He repaired elevators. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment."
"Apparently there were things he didn't tell you."
Maria turned on him.
"You knew my father?"
"No."
"Did Alexei?"
Dmitri hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
"Did he?"
"Yes."
The word landed harder than Maria expected.
"How?"
"I don't know the entire story."
"Then tell me the part you know."
Dmitri glanced at Sophie.
Maria understood.
"Sophie, sweetheart, go sit on the sofa."
"No."
"Sophie."
"I stay with Mommy."
Maria didn't have the energy to argue.
Dmitri lowered his voice.
"Rafael Alvarez once worked for a company that eventually became part of Petrov Logistics."
"My father fixed elevators."
"That may have been what he told you."
Maria stared at him.
"Alexei began investigating old financial records six months ago. Your father's name appeared repeatedly."
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"I asked him that."
"And?"
"He said he needed proof before destroying someone's life."
"Whose life?"
"I don't know."
Maria didn't believe him.
But before she could push harder, Viktor returned.
"Hospital called."
Everyone froze.
"Alexei?"
"Alive. Critical but stable."
Maria closed her eyes.
For the first time in twenty minutes, she breathed.
Viktor continued.
"Doctors believe he ingested something. They're running tests."
Dmitri looked at the coffee.
"Then nobody touches this room."
Police arrived soon afterward.
Statements were taken.
The coffee cup was collected.
The residue photographed.
The gold earring bagged.
Maria told investigators about Elena.
Sophie told them about "the lady with shiny shoes."
The detective listened patiently.
By noon, the estate felt less like a home and more like an interrogation room.
Then Elena called.
Not Dmitri.
Maria.
Her phone vibrated while she sat beside Sophie in the kitchen.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
Maria answered.
"Hello?"
Breathing.
Then a woman's voice.
"Maria."
She recognized it instantly.
"Elena?"
"Listen carefully."
Maria stood.
"Where are you?"
"I didn't hurt Alexei."
"Then why were you in his study?"
Silence.
"Elena?"
"You need to leave that house."
Maria's skin prickled.
"Why?"
"Take Sophie and go."
"What happened to Alexei?"
"I can't explain on the phone."
"Then come back."
"I can't."
Maria looked toward the kitchen doorway.
Nobody there.
"What do you know about my father?"
The silence on the other end became absolute.
That was her answer.
"You know something."
"Maria."
"What?"
"Alexei wasn't the target."
Maria's hand tightened around the phone.
"What are you talking about?"
"The coffee wasn't meant for him."
Maria stopped breathing.
Elena whispered four more words.
"It was meant for you."
The call ended.
Maria stared at the screen.
Sophie looked up from her crayons.
"Mommy?"
Maria forced herself to move.
She found Dmitri upstairs and told him everything.
He didn't interrupt.
When she finished, his face had become frighteningly calm.
"Pack a bag."
"What?"
"You're leaving."
"Elena just told me to leave."
"Which means either she's warning you or controlling you. I'm not taking the chance."
"Where would we go?"
"Somewhere nobody knows."
Maria laughed once without humor.
"I don't have secret houses, Dmitri."
"Alexei does."
She looked at him.
"Of course he does."
Twenty minutes later, Maria packed Sophie's clothes.
She opened her own closet.
A photograph fell from the top shelf.
Maria bent to pick it up.
It was an old picture of her father holding her when she was six.
She had brought it to the estate months ago but didn't remember putting it there.
She turned it over.
There was writing on the back.
Not her handwriting.
Not her father's.
Three words.
ASK PETROV ABOUT 2009.
Maria stared.
Behind her, Sophie said:
"Mommy, that lady gave me that."
Maria spun around.
"What lady?"
"The shiny-shoe lady."
"When?"
"Yesterday."
Maria's pulse jumped.
"Elena gave you this?"
Sophie shook her head.
"No."
Maria froze.
"Then who?"
Sophie pointed toward the bedroom door.
"Her."
May you like
A shadow moved beneath it.
Someone was standing in the hallway.
