Page 370 of Eternal
“Either back to his room,” Damir muttered, “or watching the whole damn party from somewhere we can’t see.”
I stepped up to the lock, no keypad, no retina scan. It was a regular keyhole, and I dug into the side seam of my dress and pulled out the pin I’d stashed there earlier. Not ideal, but it would work.
Deep breath. Pin in. Feel the click. One. Two. Three…There. Got it.
The lock gave with a soft click. And I pushed the door open and stepped back.
Damir’s voice came right behind me, soft and amused. “Who taught you that?”
I glanced over my shoulder. He was next to me, holding a gun in one hand.
I shrugged. “Did it a lot when I was younger.”
Didn’t say more, didn’t say they used to lock me in at night, didn’t say I had to pick the door to get out to get to the fights, to breathe, to be anywhere else but that house even if it wasn’t safer.
Simply said:did it a lot. When I was younger.
He came closer, slipped the gun into his jacket, and nodded toward the door. “After you.”
The office was big, sleek, expensive, but nothing strange at first glance. Desk, bar cart, untouched leather chairs.
Damir came in behind me, quiet. And we started. We were careful.
Everything we touched while searching, we put back the same way. Damir handled the cabinets. I moved through the desk. Paperwork, invoices, boring stuff that looked deliberately boring.
But then, I opened the bottom drawer.
Papers again, stacked neat. But when I shifted the middle set slightly, I felt its weight. Notpaper.
I slid the stack aside. A laptop. Slim. Powered off. Hidden.
I’d only wrapped my fingers around it when I heard footsteps and voices getting closer.
“The Boss left his phone in here.”
I looked up. Damir was already moving. Eyes on me, hand out. He didn’t speak.
I stuffed the laptop back under the papers, closed the drawer softly, and crossed the room in two quick steps.
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me with him into the closet. The door clicked shut behind us just as the office door opened.
Dark.
Tight.
I shifted slightly, trying to find a bit of space, but it was impossible.
From outside, I heard the guards’ voices casually talking about the party, how smoothly everything was going.
His body pressed hard against my back, hands settling on my waist.
“Stop moving like that,” he murmured, voice rough.
That’s when I realized.
He was…hard.
“Really?” I whispered, “This close to danger, and that’s all you can think about?”
