Page 62 of Take the Sub and Run

Andrei closed his eyes with a wince.

“Agent Leonard...”

“I know,” he said to the older woman. “It’s…messy. And getting messier.”

Andrei looked back at Sofie and saw the glint in her eye. She'd done that on purpose.

Kiss her. Spank her. Kiss her again.

It was a good plan.

One he couldn’t act on, for so many, many reasons.

“Sofie,” he growled. “What did the men who came into your bedroom say?”

She quickly recounted their threats, and what she said only confirmed his theory.

“Sofie, based on what you’re saying, I don't think you were in any real danger of being a kidnapped the way they implied. They were just there to scare you into compliance.”

He swallowed his anger and held out a hand to her. Sofie’s eyes widened as she placed her fingers in his. They were cold and trembling a little.

“Your father clearly monitors your security system, realized that you not only left but were gone overnight, and decided to bring you back in line by sending in men to hurt you. Scare you.”

“No. That's not it.” For the first time, she seemed unsure.

“If they could come into your home, right into your bedroom, why wouldn't they just kidnap you?”

“Because it's not allowed.”

“Yes,” he said slow slowly. “Kidnapping is not allowed. Anywhere or at any time.”

Her lips twitched with a smile and she opened her mouth, no doubt to say something about the way he hauled her out of the museum, so he shot her a hard look. Her mouth closed, sadness touching her features, and he felt like even more of an asshole than usual.

“The point is that there's no magical barrier around your house. If there was, they wouldn’t have been able to get in there.”

“Not a magical barrier, but it is…” Sofie looked away, brows drawn together. “It is…sanctus.”

Her eyes widened as she jerked her head around and met his gaze while yanking her hand out of his.

“I don’t speak Dutch,” Andrei said slowly.

“That wasn’t Dutch.” Agent Baas leaned in, studying Sofie. “That was Latin.”

Sofie winced, looking down at her hands.

“Sofie, are you saying that your house is holy ground? Like a church?” Agent Baas asked.

Her utter stillness was confirmation.

Holy ground…

Andrei was so rarely surprised, but again and again, Sofie surprised him.

He pushed to stand, taking a step back as he processed. Maybe she was in a religious cult of some kind. Often cults used drugs and smuggling to finance their operations…

Then an entirely different, and somehow worse, idea came to him.

“Sofie…who is your father?”

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