Page 67 of Take the Sub and Run

“Wait, where was he getting these originals?” Landon asked.

“The Vatican archive,” Andrei responded.

“No,” Colette said, shaking her head. “The Vatican archive is documents. The Vatican museum has the art. The majority of the collection is in museum storage, but the museum and the archive are different.”

“It upsets me that you know that,” Landon muttered.

“Every art thief worth the title has imagined stealing art from the Vatican.”

“You’re going to hell,” Andrei said in a bored tone.

But Sofie was sitting forward. “Yes! See, that’s what I want.”

They all looked at her, Andrei sitting up and slowly twisting to face her. She’d been right. It was much harder to focus on telling the story with his predatory attention on her.

“What do you mean that's what you want?” Andrei asked.

“I… Wait there’s more. Unless you don’t want to hear?” Sofie blinked at him.

“Tell me,” he ordered.

She felt that command run down her spine.

“The paintings he brought me, they were all different styles. Nothing too modern, but not all Renaissance or old masters. During my residency, I leaned toward post-impressionist style for myself, but with more surreal subjects rather than everyday life. That becomes important in a minute.”

Sofie twisted her fingers, nearly dropping the bottle.

Andrei reached out and clapped his hand over hers. The nervous, jittery feeling faded now that he was touching her again.

“Your father brought you a painting you knew was important,” Andrei prompted softly, even as he took the glass bottle from her and set it down.

“He brought me Salvator Mundi.”

Colette made a strangled sound, pressing the fingers of both hands over her mouth.

“The original,” Sofie added with a knowing look at Colette.

Colette exploded up off the couch, shouting in French.

“Angel,” Andrei said with a sardonic smile. “I want to freak out like Colette is, but I clearly don’t know enough about art.”

“Salvator Mundi is the most expensive painting in the world,” Colette rushed to say, pacing behind the couch. “It sold for 450 million dollars, and that was more than a decade ago. With inflation…” She waved one hand in the air. “A lost masterpiece that was in the collection of an American businessman until 2005. Attributed to da Vinci himself. But!” Colette stopped, turning dramatically. “There’s debate about who actually painted it. Some experts say it’s possible da Vinci painted parts of it but not the whole. Many scholars theorize that there is an original that da Vinci created for his students and followers to copy. There are many versions of Salvator Mundi, credited to followers of da Vinci.

“Each has the same subject, composition, but different due to the different artist. The one that sold for a ridiculous sum sold for that much because it’s supposedly da Vinci’s original.”

Landon had a phone out and was frowning at it. He held it out to Andrei who leaned in to look at the image—Christ in Renaissance attire, his right hand performing a blessing while he held a crystal orb in his left.

“But not everyone agrees,” Colette continued. “It was probably mostly painted by Bernardino Luini, one of da Vinci’s followers, with some help from da Vinci himself.”

Sofie nodded enthusiastically as Colette spoke, squeezing Andrei’s hand.

“If a piece with a tenuous claim on being da Vinci’s original sold for 450 million, imagine what the true original would be worth.” Colette sounded almost dreamy, and her eyes had taken on a faraway look.

“Who the fuck could afford to pay that?” Landon said with a shake of his head.

“A Saudi prince,” Sofie answered.

“Ah, well. Okay, then.”

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