Page 107 of Take the Sub and Run

And as for Colette’s suggestions…they both knew she wasn’t at a spa or hotel.

When he gave her the envelope, he'd expected her to go to Colette. It's the only reason he'd given it to her. Not only was Colette competent and dangerous, but Landon would go where Colette went.

“Fuck this,” he snarled. “I know where she is, because I fucking sent her there like a lamb to the slaughter. I’m changing my flight to Dusseldorf or Brussels.”

“We’ll meet you there.”

“No, you stay in Amsterdam in case she comes back.”

Andrei ended the call, pulling up the airline app on his phone. Storms over Central Europe earlier in the day meant many of the flights were delayed, and if he was lucky…

Yes! There was a flight to Brussels, delayed and leaving in half an hour. He raced through the airport, changing his ticket as he ran.

She’d left yesterday morning. Probably that meant she spent most of yesterday catching up on her sleep, and then maybe reading through the packet he'd given her. That put her in Belgium sometime today, probably afternoon at the earliest with travel time.

How long would she spend looking around? A few hours?

More than likely he was wrong, she’d found nothing, and was on her way back to Amsterdam. And that was fine because Colette would be waiting for her.

But what if she had found something. What if she found the headquarters of the organized crime ring her adoptive father was running and was there right now. Realistically the soonest he would reach her would be just before dawn, assuming he could get a rental car when he landed.

Nearly forty-eight hours after she’d left London.

A lot of bad things could happen in forty-eight hours.

With her third escape attempt, Noah Visser’s patience ran out.

It was somewhere around three a.m. when one of the guards hauled her back inside. This time, she'd managed to go out a second-floor window, creep along a ledge, and then climb down a tree. She never would have been brave enough to attempt it if she hadn't jumped out her own window into that tree with Andrei there to catch her only days ago.

This time, there was no one in the tree to catch her. Unfortunately, there had been someone out smoking, despite the hour, and after her a heart-stopping chase through the dark, he caught her.

She’d escaped from bedrooms on both the second and third floors. The money hadn't extended to a full remodel on the upper floor, so the doors and windows were both older, and apparently, she had done a very good job listening to Colette’s instructions.

“This is unacceptable, Sofie,” her father said, looking even older than he had earlier, thanks to the rumpled bathrobe he wore.

“Yes, it is," she snapped back. “Let me go. You cannot keep me here.”

Noah sighed. "I had wanted to wait and show you this tomorrow. It's best in the morning light.” He chuckled softly, shaking his head. "But I guess it is tomorrow, and close enough to morning.

“Bring her to the studio.”

There was one guard on each side of her, their hands too tight around her upper arms as they marched her down the long third-floor hallway. At the far end was a heavy wood door.

Her father opened it with a key, revealing a large room with windows on three sides. It must be the room directly above the gallery.

Unlike other parts of the third floor, this room had been remodeled. The windows were new as was the concrete tile flooring. Off to one side was a small kitchenette, and on the other, a half wall delineated a bedroom space with a bathroom beyond that. It was a little apartment.

With a door that locked from the outside.

Not just an apartment though. The majority of the space was a painting studio. Many parts of it were a near replica of her first-floor studio back home in Amsterdam. Long metal tables. Her preferred brand of easel. She saw jars of umber and lapis lazuli on bookshelves. There was even an apothecary’s cabinet.

It took her a moment to process the implications of this room existing.

“You made this for me,” she said as the guards released her.

“Yes. Everything just the way you like it.” He smiled indulgently. “You started telling me exactly what you wanted when you were just ten.”

“You made this for me because you knew someday the threats and scare tactics wouldn’t be enough and you’d have to lock me up.” She started to shake. “This is a prison.”

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