The Director - Renee Rose Page 0,53

morning walk the next day.

“Zdravstvuyte, Ms. Lawrence,” he answers, smiling. She’s already won over everyone she’s met with her continued attempts to speak Russian. I love the fact that she didn’t stop learning after I allowed others to speak English to her.

“There’s a bit of a situation in the elevator.” Maykl jerks his thumb toward the bank of elevators.

Frowning, I walk over to find Adrian and Nadia, his sister, camped out in one, Adrian’s foot stuck in the door to keep it open. Nadia’s facing the wall, crying, gripping the handrail for dear life as Adrian attempts to coax her out.

I hold the elevator door open with my shoulder. Lucy’s hand gets tight in mine, her eyes wide. “What’s going on?” she asks nervously. “Does she need help?”

Adrian twists to look over his shoulder at her with irritability, but seeing it’s us, fully faces us. “I can’t get her out of the building,” he says to me in Russian.

“In English,” I tell him. I’m long over making everyone speak Russian in front of Lucy. It’s far more important that Adrian and Nadia learn to speak English.

“Sorry,” he says to Lucy. “My sister has some… phobias. She doesn’t want to leave the elevator.”

“This is your sister?”

Nadia sniffs and looks over her shoulder at us.

“Da. Nadia.”

“Nadia, you’re safe here,” I say gently in Russian because she doesn’t speak English yet. “No one will hurt you,” I say in English, for Lucy’s benefit.

“Did someone hurt her?” Lucy’s alarmed. Her hand’s clammy and stiff in mine, and I can sense her mind spinning. “What happened, Adrian?”

Adrian shoots a look at me.

I nod.

“Yes, she was hurt. Badly. Now she’s too afraid to go outside.” He throws his hands in the air in frustration.

“We should get her some counseling, Adrian,” I say.

Adrian shrugs helplessly. “If you know one who speaks Russian, I will drag her there.”

“Maybe telecall,” I say, thinking of how Lucy conducts all her business seamlessly from my room. “I’ll arrange something.”

“Was this why you set the fire?” Lucy asks.

I blink, surprised at how quickly she put it together.

Adrian frowns, darting a glance at his sister. He neither confirms nor denies.

“Was she hurt at the sofa factory?” Lucy gasps, putting the rest of it together. “She was a sex slave?” Tears fill her eyes.

As if reminded of the horror his sister went through, Adrian loses his irritation with Nadia and the situation. He steps forward and wraps his arms around his sister. “Another day,” he murmurs in Russian. “We’ll try another day.”

I pull Lucy in, and we hit the button to go up.

“So the fire was for revenge? Or was it part of a rescue?”

“Revenge,” Adrian says coldly. When he turns, there’s still murder in his eyes. “I freed them all the week before.”

Lucy nods a tear skidding down her cheek. “Well, that makes a great defense.”

Adrian eyes her. He’s brave, but I know he’s afraid. Mostly afraid of leaving his sister here alone if he ends up in prison. I’ve already pledged to take care of her if that happens.

“No promises, but I don’t believe we’ll need it. I think I can get the evidence suppressed on a technicality. We’ll find out tomorrow at the prelim.”

Relief makes Adrian slouch against the elevator wall. He brings the heels of his hands to his forehead. “That would be great. Thank you. Thank you, that would be great.”

“I’ll do my best,” Lucy promises.

After we leave them on their floor, she turns to me, a line between her brows. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she accuses.

“I told you. It wasn’t my story to tell.”

“It’s horrible.”

“I know. She was kidnapped in Russia by Ukranian slavers. Adrian is lucky to have found her alive.”

“Did he come here just to find her? Or was he already here?”

“He came to find her. He’s been here eight months, but he only found her last month.”

Another tear slips from Lucy’s eye. She swipes at it. “Damn hormones. I cry at everything.”

“Nadia is worth your tears,” I say.

She nods. “Yes.” She lifts her gaze to mine. “You helped him,” she says. “You helped him find her, and you bailed him out of jail.”

“Of course. But I did not set the fire, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“It’s not. I’m just starting to understand the whole picture.”

“If I had set the fire, Leon Poval would be dead, and no one would’ve been caught,” I say.

Lucy goes still a moment, and I realize I said too much. She doesn’t like my violent ways. But then she