Page 69 of Merciless Daddy

My eyes moved across the house I could no longer see. Flower room.

“Tonio. Three steps forward. Door on your right.”

“I have two.”

“The narrow one. Brass knob.”

The handle turned through the earpiece.

“Locked.”

“Lift, then turn. The latch drops.”

A scrape. A click.

Tonio moved. The door closed softly behind him.

“Where am I?”

“My mother’s flower room.”

A faint rustle followed.

“Your mother had many flowers.”

“The wedding arrangements will have been put there after the ceremony was canceled. Get behind them.”

“I’m hiding behind roses.”

“They’re peonies.”

“I don’t care what they’re called—they’re flowers.”

The guard entered the passage.

I knew from the gait he was one of my father’s older men. The younger ones walked faster. They wanted people to hear how important they were. The older men understood that importance did not need noise.

His steps stopped outside the flower room.

My hand flattened on the plan. Sal’s little finger touched mine. Not a hold. Barely contact.

I heard the doorknob move. I heard resistance.

My lungs stopped.

The guard tried again. Then muttered something in muffled Russian.

The steps faded.

Tonio breathed out. “Well I have decided I fucking hate peonies.”

“You may insult them after you get Kiryl.”

“Yes, boss.”

He left the flower room.

From there, the route was faster. East passage. Servants’ stair. Ground floor. The guard station’s radio muttered beyond one wall.