Be a maid and gather intel for him from Andre Orlov. Or else he’d stop funding the treatments and medical care Esmeralda needed to stay alive. Not to thrive, just to be alive.
Gulping back another scream of frustration, I scrubbed the floor harder. Faster. As if rubbing a hole in this floor would give me a means to vent how much I loathed my uncle. How deeply I feared losing my sweet cousin. And how much I dreaded being here as a liar and spy at all.
I wasn’t a damn spy. I’d trained to be a nurse.
I wasn’t sure about how to sleuth and snoop. I’d grown up with the plan to mind my own business.
And I wasn’t comfortable being here at all, living under a false identity.
All I could hope for was the concept of this ultimatum having an expiration date. Uncle Roberto couldn’t possibly expect me to hide and spy here forever, indefinitely. Although I was “just” a girl, and not one of his revered and trusted soldiers or men, even I was aware of how he’d been arranging a brutal and intense campaign against the Orlovs. The Giovanni and Orlov feud and rivalry predated my existence, and it would likely surpass it for decades more. My uncle was fine-tuning his antagonism and angle of fighting through the drug business. His plan was to beat the Orlovs with drug distribution, but in order to be one step ahead, he had to rely on obtaining intel about their routes and shipments.
His former spy, Emilio, had been killed recently, and that was where I came in.
“Look in his office. Take pictures of anything you can find about their drugs. And send it to me. How fucking hard is that, Sofia?” Uncle Roberto had shaken his head in disgust at me when I asked him to clarify exactly what he’d wanted from me. “Andre Orlov is the one who’s negotiating most of their deals, and he’ll have access to the details I need.”
As far as I could tell, spying like that wasn’t something I’d need to invest a long time on.
I was here.
I was near Andre’s office.
And I could easily sneak in, get pictures, send them, and leave.
Renee could bitch to another new maid.
I could return home and resume helping my cousin.
In and out.
Right?
Letting the nerves rise up in me, I paused scrubbing the floor. I was alone in this dimly lit corridor. Darkness spread down the hall, and only the moon’s rays of light from outside gave me the clearance to see that no one was lurking.
Guards would be around, of course, but none were patrolling here now. According to the schedules I’d already noticed and memorized, I’d have at least a half hour now with the last patroller pair passing me just minutes ago, taunting that I’d missed a spot.
Renee was in bed, off the clock with the warning that she’d check my progress on this floor when she woke.
Andre and any other members of the Orlov family were likely out or asleep.
So just do it.
Go in there. Find something to take a picture of. And tomorrow morning, you can go home.
I bit my lip, nervous. If not for the looming threat over Esmeralda’s well-being, I wouldn’t have had the gumption to act on this stealthy maneuver.
Just go in the office already. Get it over with!
I left the scrub pad on the floor. Another glance back and forth proved that no one was around. Keeping my appearance simple and making sure that it wasn’t obvious that I was spying—in case of cameras tracking me and how I behaved—I stood up calmly and brushed off my apron.
Then, still wearing a look of authority like I belonged here, I approached the door to Andre’s office. The doorknob’s metal was cool to touch, but I ignored the chill. I tamped down the fear of getting caught.
After I opened it and entered, I leaned against the back of the closed door and let out a whoosh of an exhale.
I’m in.
I did it.
I’m in here.
