Page 60 of Take the Sub and Run

“Yes.”

“And who did you live with. You mentioned your father. Did you have a second parent?”

“I had a nanny. Father traveled for work, so he hired nannies to live with me full time.”

“And where did you go to school?”

“At home.”

Agent Baas’s brows rose. “That is not very common. Exceptions that allow homeschooling are rare. Do you know why you were homeschooled?”

Sofie hesitated. “My nannies acted as my teachers.”

“There’s more to going to school than just the academics. School when we are young is how we learn to make friends, to interact with other people, and the world around us. Did you have any friends?”

“A few. I attended art classes, painting classes. My father got special permission for me to attend classes at the university when I was still young.”

“I saw that in your file. You were only eleven and in an art residency with artists three and four times your age.”

“Some of my first classes were with other children.”

Agent Baas clasped her hands and leaned forward. “You were a child prodigy in art. Based on some articles published about you during that two-year residency, it sounds like you see the world just a little differently from the rest of us, and that makes you a, quite literally, world-class painter.”

“Thank you.” Sofie sounded fine, but Andrei was looking at her feet. Colette had gotten her slippers, and from the way the soft toes of those slippers were bunched, he was sure she was nervously curling her toes.

“So why is it that I couldn’t find any mention of gallery shows or auctions of your work?”

“I only sell to private collectors.”

“And why is that?”

“It’s better that way.”

“And who decided that?”

“My father handles the business side.”

Agent Baas shot Andrei a grim look. He knew what she was thinking. She was thinking that Sofie was entirely unaware she was a victim of a very serious crime, and that, even if they explained, she might not understand.

But Andrei’s thoughts were leaning a different direction. He studied Sofie's profile, turning over every piece of information he had about her.

Agent Baas asked several more questions, and Sofie answered each of them without really giving any information.

“Sofie,” he barked. “Enough.”

She looked back over her shoulder. “Enough what?”

He arched a brow…and she blushed.

Agent Baas sat back, brows raised as she glanced between them.

Andrei rose from his chair in the corner. He very deliberately turned off the camera, stopping the recording, then leaned against the counter.

“Agent Leonard, we?—”

He ignored the other agent. “Who is he?”

“Who?”

---