by Elle, Leen
She tried to smile at him, but it was too difficult. "How long have you been living here?" She asked as she sat down.
Luke stretched, glancing away from her so that she didn't see his expression. "Three years." He replied. "Max found me when I was fifteen." He thought for a moment before continuing. "I was a runaway. I'd been on my own for a little over two weeks."
"If he hadn't found you, would you be living with your family right now?"
"I'd either be in and out of homeless shelter, or a prison."
That's not much different from now, Sophie thought, frowning.
"What offer does Max pay you with?" She felt guilty for snooping in his room, but she was still curious about his situation. Now that she knew about Robert's past, she felt like she needed to know more about Luke as well. "He seemed okay with compensating me with money."
"He offered me money as well. When I tried to escape for the first time, that offer turned into a threat." He lifted up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a scar on his arm from a gunshot wound.
"First time?" Sophie whispered, her eyes focused on the scar. She wondered how many more he had.
"It took a lot of lessons for me to learn. The more violent the punishment, the more desperate I wanted to escape." His voice didn't sound bitter, just tired. "Now, I'm just waiting for the right chance to try again."
"What if he kills you?" Sophie whispered, fear growing in her chest.
"Then I die." Luke said matter-of-factly. "Nothing in this world's worth getting if there's no risk."
"He'll never let you go?" Sophie didn't like how easily Luke had accepted his fate. She knew better to argue with him though. She could tell from his expression that he'd come to terms with his choice years ago.
"No one he's employed as ever been let go. They've been killed, injured, and arrested, but none of them have escaped."
"Luke, I'm so sorry... I didn't know how bad it was."
"Don't be sorry. We're all given our burden to bare. I've lasted longer than anyone else in the past." He brushed his dark hair out of his eyes. "I think that's why Max was willing to listen to me about you. I'm the best he's got, and I'm still not enough to out smart Robert."
"If there's anyway to get you out of here, I'll help." Sophie spoke without thinking, and her words sounded more naive than she'd intended.
"There isn't, but I appreciate the offer." Luke smiled at her shyly, looking pleased by her concern. "However, it's my job to get you out of this place first. Max just gave me our first assignment."
He laid out a folder on his desk. "The task is simple. He wants us to steal a painting that's scheduled to be restored next week. That'll give us the opportunity we need to sneak in. The most difficult part is retrieving it by tomorrow, but it's not something I haven't done before."
"If it's something that easy, then why did he say it was a test?" Sophie raised her eyebrow, not trusting Max for a second.
"Well, the painting is rather...large." Luke winced momentarily. "It depicts a battle in the Civil War, and takes up almost the entire wall of the gallery it's placed in."
"How are we supposed to steal that?" Sophie's mouth dropped open. Now she knew the catch behind the mission.
"Do you remember when you told me about your training with Robert? When he asked you to steal a couch, you persuaded the manager to help deliver it outside for you. We're going to have to do the same kind of thing...just with a bigger target."
Sophie remembered how she'd stolen the couch, but it seemed impossible to apply the same principle to such a large painting.
"Let me take care of the details." Luke smiled at her, his dark eyes warm. "You just focus on blending in here, and finding your letter. This mission shouldn't even concern you."
She wasn't sure she liked being left out of the planning, but she knew it would be a relief not to have to worry about something new.
"Thanks, Luke." She smiled sincerely for the first time all day. "Really, thank you for everything."
"Anything for you." She noticed he was blushing.
While she knew Luke needed to work on the mission, Sophie was reluctant to leave. She didn't want to be by herself right now.
"Do you mind if I hang out in here?" She asked cautiously. "I won't bother you, I just wouldn't mind the company."
Luke's eyes widened, as if he'd never considered that she'd want to spend time with him.
"O..of course you can hang out." He replied nervously. For the first time he seemed to notice how messy his room was. "I wish I'd cleaned." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"No, I don't mind at all." Sophie laughed at how awkward he seemed. "You can keep working, I'll just look through this." She held up one of the travel books he had lying on the floor of the room. "If you don't mind?"
"Not at all." He grinned, staring at her for a short moment.
Suddenly, the cold atmosphere that had been surrounding the East wing faded.
For a moment, the two of them were lost in their own worlds.
* * *
The phone call came exactly at midnight, though it didn't manage to wake her up.
Sophie had lain awake for hours, staring at the ceiling of her new room. Luke had been right when he'd said this place was a like a hotel. Her bed was soft and comfortable, but the room was impersonal and suffocating.
She didn't feel safe in this house, and she doubted she ever would. She had a suspicion that she was being watched at every moment, which heightened her sense of paranoia. She second-guessed every action she took, making sure she didn't slip out of line.
It felt like she was tiptoeing through a room of broken glass, hoping not to get cut.
When her cell phone began to ring, Sophie watched the light create a glow in the room. She stared at it, recognizing the number. It was the person she'd wanted to desperately talk to all day, though she hated to admit it.
She answered the phone quickly, but didn't say a word. A part of her was scared to get caught, and another knew she didn't have anything to say.
"Please, don't do this." Robert began, sounding both hurt and angry. "I know you're frustrated with me, but don't just run away."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sophie whispered, closing her eyes.
"You're grandmother died in the middle of February." He reminded her, not sounding surprised that she'd lied.
Sophie didn't reply. She had nothing to say to him.
"Come back. I'll make it up to you. Sophie, I didn't want to lie to you. There was no reason to tell you the truth." It sounded like he was having trouble explaining himself. She assumed he'd never done something like this before.
"Robert, stop. We're done. I'm not coming back."
"I'll change." He whispered into the phone. "I'll become the person you want me to be."
"There's no reason for that." Sophie replied.
"I need you." He stated so sincerely that Sophie's breath was taken away.
It was such a simple statement, but it felt like it twisted her whole world around on itself.
Robert was not the kind of individual who needed someone else. She'd never imagined he'd admit something like this.
"No, you don't."
"I have so much I need to tell you. Stop being stubborn, and come back. Don't let me ruin everything."
She listened to him breathing heavily on the other end of the line. She could practically hear his frustration, though she knew there was nothing she could do to change it now.
She had to hang up before her emotions got the better of her.
"Goodbye." She whispered into the phone, clenching her eyes closed. "Don't call me again."
"Sophie."
She held her breath, knowing she couldn't last much longer. The way he said her name was too painful. She couldn't handle this anymore.
"Sophie." He whispered again.
She felt her composure begin to break. All the anger she'd felt towards him faded in the wake of her aching heart. She'd momentarily forgotten his betrayal
, remembering instead all the times he'd made her laugh. She wanted him to assure her that everything would be all right. She wanted him to be on her side again, because when they worked together they could create miracles.
The truth was that she wasn't as confident as she seemed. The weaker part of herself wanted his support more than anything else in the world.
She ended the phone call immediately, and chucked her phone across the room. Her hand reflexively shot to her mouth, as she tried to keep herself shaking.
Saying goodbye to Robert was nothing compared to pushing him away when he was trying so sincerely to bring her back.
"Sophie." Another person said from her doorway. The voice was deeper and calmer than Robert's, and it didn't cause her nearly as much pain.
She turned to look, her eyes filling with tears she swore to herself she wouldn't let spill over.
"Luke." She stuttered, sitting up in her bed. "I.."
Before she could finish, he'd already taken her in his arms. "I understand." He whispered into her hair.
Sophie felt like time stopped with his words. Everything had been happening so quickly, but with those words alone everything slowed. She had never been hugged like this before...not in a way that offered so much support and comfort.
This was who Luke was...her new crutch, her rock to lean on. Out of all the people in the world who could've said they understood, Sophie only believed him. She could tell he did understand from the look in his eyes that said he'd known all along. Why she had left, what she was feeling, and what she was running away from...he knew all of that and more.
In the silence it felt like the two of them should have continued to speak. It seemed like there was more than needed to be said, but neither could find the room to say it. Sophie wanted to confide in him, to tell him how much it hurt to leave behind her makeshift family. It was the drive to solve her parents' mystery that pushed her to come here, no matter how dangerous it was.
However, she couldn't find the room to slip in words between the intense emotions around them. Words would've broken the peace of the moment, so they sat in silence, quietly comforting one another.
Each promising just a moment of safety to the other.
* * *
"He's called me over twenty times today." Sophie whispered, staring at her phone as if it were a weapon.
Luke had left her alone for the better part of the morning, and he was obviously regretting it. Last night had been a moment of weakness for both of them, but she hadn't forgotten her feelings of loneliness.
He'd wanted to give her time to recover, though she'd only been digging herself deeper into a hole.
With every phone call it felt like a part of her composure was shattering. His persistence made her want to give everything up and run home.
She knew exactly what he would tell her when she answered the phone.
He would say the kids missed her. He would say that Teddy cried over her, and that Gwyn felt betrayed by her absence. He would tell her that Rylan was trying to fix things, like he always tried to do.
Then, he would tell her to come back. He would tell her he would make everything better, and she would believe him.
Even if they were all lies, she would believe them with her entire heart, because she wanted them to be true.
"I was an idiot." She turned to Luke, who was standing just behind her. "To think leaving would be easy."
"It's only been one day, and you're already giving up?" Luke tried to smile at her, but his eyes were hard. "It'll get easier. Life always does."
"Not from my experience." Sophie rubbed her eyes with her hand. "If he would just stop calling." She glared at her cell phone, which was sitting silently on her desk. Only a few minutes had passed since the last call.
She knew from Luke's expression that the solution was right in front of her. All she had to do was turn the phone off, or take out the battery and throw it away.
Sophie didn't need it to be that easy. To fully let go she needed him to give up. She needed Robert to stop calling, and to send her the message that he was done with her for good. Only then could she let go.
Luke didn't have to ask to see the truth. He'd come to understand her too well.
"Here." He offered her out a folder, and she reluctantly took it. "It's our plan for the mission."
"What time are we leaving?"
"Everything should be prepared by seven." His voice was controlled.
"Seven?" Sophie was surprised at the timing. Against personal opinion, the best to steal was during the day. The security during the day was incomparably laxer than at night, when it was expected for items to be stolen. "I thought we were going to trick them into walking out the painting for us?"
"The painting is scheduled to leave the building at eight, already." Luke explained, his face serious. "I personally switched the appointment to today. Everything is already in place, the only thing I had to change out was the trucks."
Sophie opened the folder, and glanced through Luke's plan. She was impressed by the detail to which he had thought through everything.
"Basically, all we have to do is show up." She commented when she'd gotten the gist of his plan.
"The real delivery truck will never arrive, so there shouldn't be any questions asked. Just for another measure of protection, we'll be switching the painting to new trucks three times throughout the night. When the police begin to investigate, they won't be able to track down the truck we used to transport it. The last destination for the painting will be in one of Max's vaults that's located twenty minutes from here."
"Sounds foolproof." She mused.
"There's always something that could go wrong, but in those cases all we have is improvising. Everyone I've hired for the job works for Max, so there's no chance of the truth leaking."
Sophie raised her eyebrows in surprise. She'd forgotten that it would take more than the two of them to transport the large painting. "How many guys total?"
"Ten, not counting us. Three for the trucks, and the rest will follow where the painting goes. Since the painting is so large, there's no need to attempt to use a replica."
She let everything he was telling her soak in. Everything had fallen into place too easily, to the point where she hadn't had to do anything at all. This wasn't the kind of test she expected from Max.
"Something's off." She whispered, her eyes narrowing. She felt like the size of the painting was no longer the trick.
"My thoughts exactly, which is why we will not be present during the transfers." Luke held up another file he'd been holding on to. "Max told us he wanted the Civil War painting, but I did some research, and the museum is set to feature another famous painting next week. The name hasn't been revealed, but it's supposedly a famous piece of art that was thought to have been destroyed during World War II."
"You think this is what Max wants?" Sophie knew Luke was on to something. Such a coincidence was impossible.
"I think it would be strange of him not to mention it was also there. Max probably set this up to have a reason to fire you. It's petty of him, but he's not known for his kindness."
"There has to be something more." Sophie was looking at Luke now. She'd noticed something off in his expression.
"There is one more thing. It's mostly just an assumption, but the more I think about it, the more plausible it becomes."
Suddenly, she felt the truth sink in. "You think Robert's going to come." She whispered.
"Max hired you to help me beat Robert...it's the only explanation that makes sense." Luke appeared like he regretted telling her. "If you don't want to see him, you don't have to tag along."
"No." She answered instantly. "It's my job to help you, and I'm not going to let you do all the work." She lifted the folder she had in her hands. "Thanks for planning this, but since we're partners, I'm going to help you as much as I can."
"What about Max?" Luke frowned deeply.
"I have a plan I've been working on. It's reckless, but p
ossibly brilliant." She paused for a moment before smirking. "Let's say I was inspired by Robert's performance at Diana's mansion."
"Is there anything you'll need?"
"Yes, but not right now. I need to smooth out the wrinkles first. It'll be a week before I'm ready. Is that too long?"
"You're allowed to stay as long as you like." They shared a smile. "Just try not to make it too long. Once Max get's used to you, it'll be hard for Cleo to drag you out. It'll be tough convincing him you weren't a spy all along."
"Cleo says she's got that all figured out, so I'll trust her for now." Sophie laid the folder down on her desk just as her phone began to vibrate.