Page 40 of The Berlin Sisters
‘Women like you might just help us win the war.’
Hanna returned then, inclining her head as she waited for Ava to stand, keeping her back turned to Noah. ‘Let’s go.’
Hanna moved slightly ahead of her, and when she did Noah’s fingers collided with Ava’s as she passed his table, slipping something into her hand. She quickly tucked her hand into her pocket, glancing back at him, but he was looking the other way as if hedidn’t know them, as if he were oblivious to the two women who were leaving.
Ava left her hand there, feeling the tiny piece of paper, wondering what he’d given her and whether it was safe to carry back into work. But she didn’t fancy opening it in front of her sister, so work it would have to be.
‘I don’t like this,’ Hanna muttered as they crossed the road. ‘The way he’s approached you, the danger of what he’s asking, I just can’t stand the thought of you being so closely connected to whatever they’re planning.’
‘You don’t have to like it,’ Ava replied. ‘Just as I don’t like some of the risks you’ve taken recently. But as I see it, this is my chance to make up for my lack of compassion and hopelessness in the past. This is something that only I can do.’
They slowed as they came closer to Ava’s office building. ‘Ava, you don’t have anything to make up for. The fact that you’re helping now, that you’re doing something when most simply turn their backs? That’s what counts. You don’t have to put yourself at risk like this – and make no mistake, Noah is playing up to your ego, he’s wanting to make you feel special just to make you do what he wants. That’s what he does.’
‘Why is it all right for you to riskyourlife, to putyourlife on the line, but not mine? Why are you the one who gets to decide what we should and shouldn’t do?’
‘Because you have your whole life ahead of you,’ Hanna said, sadly, the tears shining from her eyes. ‘Because I have nothing to live for, Ava, and you haveeverything.’
Hanna may as well have punched Ava in the stomach, her words hit her so hard. ‘You have something to live for, Hanna,’ Ava said as she slid an arm around her sister’s waist and pulled her close, feeling her pain. ‘You have a family who adores you, who’dnever be the same if something happened to you. Please don’t say that again, because it’s simply not true.’
Hanna made a noise that Ava couldn’t decipher, so she simply hugged her even tighter, wanting her to feel just how loved she was.
‘I will never be the same again, Ava,’ Hanna whispered as they stood just outside the office building. ‘Something broke inside of me that day, something that I will never get back, and some days I wonder how I can even breathe knowing that I’ll never see them again, that I’ll never hold my son in my arms or hear my husband’s laughter. I can’t explain how hard that makes the very act of living, but it does, no matter how much I know that you and Mama and Father love me. It’s just not the same.’
Ava knew better than to tell her it would get easier, because what did she know? How could she possibly understand what it was like to lose a husband and child, to have to live with that loss every day? It was no wonder Hanna was prepared to risk so much, to do everything she could to stop another mother from losing her child forever.
‘I’ll be careful,’ Ava said. ‘I promise I will.’
‘I don’t know if youcanbe careful if you do what Noah asks of you,’ Hanna said, taking a step back and shaking her head. ‘He won’t stop with just this. He is so focused on what he’s doing that I don’t know if he can even see the danger he’s putting you in.’
The little piece of paper was burning a hole in Ava’s pocket. Just knowing it was there made her feel as if she were deceiving her sister, that she had agreed to be part of something that Hanna wasn’t aware of, even though she didn’t even know yet what was written on it. But she didn’t believe her, that Noah could be so dangerous or ruthless.
‘What he said about our father . . .’
Hanna shook her head. ‘He can’t know. I don’t believe that anyone could know.’
Ava touched her sister’s arm. ‘If you haven’t told anyone, and I haven’t told anyone, then it must simply be a rumour. But should we say something to him? Warn him?’
Hanna nodded, before embracing her. ‘I’ll talk to him. He’d want to know what was being said.’ She held her for a long moment, before finally letting go of Ava and beginning to walk away. ‘I love you, sister. Just please, be careful.’
Ava watched her go, experiencing the strangest feeling, as if Hanna were saying a final goodbye to her. But then she hurried inside the office building and went to the bathroom, closing the door to ensure her privacy before sliding the piece of paper from her pocket. She unfolded it, her heart thumping when she saw that it was an address.
She shut her eyes and thought of Noah; the way he’d looked at her, his smile, the confident manner in which he’d spoken, the sparkle in his eyes. He might be dangerous, but he was also incredibly magnetic, too, and so passionate about the work he was doing. There was a knock on the door, someone else wanting to use the toilet, and Ava read the address again, committing it to memory before putting the piece of paper in her mouth and forcing herself to eat it.
The paper was clumpy and wet in her mouth, despite how small it was, but she forced herself to swallow it down and then opened the door, smiling brightly at the secretary waiting on the other side.
Would I ever be brazen enough to visit him?
She straightened her shoulders. Of course she would. They had an agreement whereby she was to help him, nothing more. Thinking that he could want to see her for any other reason than the cause was her being foolish.
Ava took a deep breath before lifting her hand to knock against the door. She’d walked to the unfamiliar apartment block straight after work, becoming more and more nervous with every step, and now that she was here, her heart was hammering. Perhaps she shouldn’t have come. It was completely out of character for her to even consider being with a man alone, especially one who was essentially a stranger to her, but if she wanted to work for him, then she was going to have to stop questioning herself.
But when the door opened, her heart almost skipped a beat.
Noah was dressed in the same clothes as earlier, only this time he was holding a glass of something alcoholic, and his two top buttons were open to show a glimpse of his chest. If she’d thought he looked handsome before, she didn’t even know how she’d describe him now. There was a confidence about him that she found herself drawn to, because it seemed so different to the other men she knew.
‘I didn’t know if you’d come,’ he said.
‘I didn’t know, either. I’m not exactly used to this type of subterfuge.’
