Chapter 37 #3
“I will.” I was too jittery to wait. Since we had no idea what we were looking for, we’d decided to take it in turns to search. This way, our absences wouldn’t draw too much attention, and we could cover for each other.
Ethan led me off the dance floor. “Good luck. And remember: Don’t stay away too long. We don’t want people getting suspicious.”
I nodded, though I doubted that would happen. No one here knew me. Who would possibly ask after me or come looking?
Ethan squeezed my hand one last time before letting go, and I set off, doing my best not to look like I was up to something.
I left the ballroom alongside two other women who, thankfully, paid me no attention.
Instead of following them to the ladies’, I headed for the staircase leading up to the first floor.
I’d never been here before, but I had a rough idea where Mr. Asterdam’s study was located.
Ethan and I had found an old article online about the billionaire’s family life, which featured a photograph of his study.
The view from the window had given us a clue as to where it must be.
I cast a glance over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching, then hurried up the stairs to the first floor.
Once at the top, I kept in the shadows close to the wall as I took in my surroundings.
The house was enormous, and I wondered why a family of four needed so much space, especially considering Olivia had already moved out and James spent most of his time in Cambridge.
There was another floor above this one, and from the staircase, the corridor split off in two directions, branching again at its far end.
Off this corridor alone, eight doors led into eight separate rooms.
I entered the west corridor, where the study had to be, and followed it until it split.
I took the left turn, planning to start at the furthest end and work my way back through.
Behind the first door I opened was a utility room, which seemed ironic, as if the villa were trying to remind me of my place.
I closed the door again and moved on to the next: a bedroom with posters on the walls.
It must have once belonged to one of the Asterdam children.
The next room was a second teenager’s room, frozen in time.
It was sweet that Mr. and Mrs. Asterdam had seemingly left their kids’ rooms untouched, unlike what my parents were planning to do with Amy’s.
Then again, the Asterdams weren’t exactly short of space.
Opposite the two bedrooms were a bathroom and a games room, which had a pool table and a few arcade machines.
Olivia and James must have loved growing up here. But where the hell was the study?
I crept on towards the next door when I suddenly heard voices.
The constant underlying murmur of the party had been present the whole time, like the distant whirring of insects, but these voices were getting closer, along with the footsteps accompanying them.
My body, already on edge, snapped to high alert.
I held my breath and pressed my back against the wall as hard as I could, as though I could somehow merge into the shadows and the wall.
Please don’t come this way.
Please don’t come this way.
Please don’t come this way.
The sentence ran through my mind like a mantra as the footsteps drew steadily nearer. I was already scrambling for an excuse in my head, even though there was no logical reason to be lurking here in the dark.
“James will be doing an internship at the company over the summer,” I heard Mr. Asterdam say. “I’ve been trying to persuade him for years, but threatening to freeze his accounts finally did the trick.”
“The work ethic of these young people is appalling,” replied Mr. Asterdam’s companion. Was that Mr. Eddington? I wasn’t entirely sure. Their footsteps, which now sounded very close, slowed and finally stopped. Then I heard a metallic click, followed by the faint creak of a door opening.
I exhaled in relief. Cautiously, centimetre by centimetre, I edged closer to the corner that led into the corridor where the two men had just been standing.
They had gone, but I wasn’t sure behind which door.
Still, I would have bet my entire ring collection that they’d entered Mr. Asterdam’s study, which was very inconvenient for me.
I wondered whether I could sneak back to the ballroom and try again later when a door suddenly swung open again.
Startled, I recoiled, pressing a hand to my chest, certain that everyone could hear the rapid pounding of my heart.
I peered around the corner once more and spotted Mr. Asterdam and Mr. Eddington.
Each held a cigar, and the host was pontificating about their origins.
“They were a gift to myself for a fantastic year-end,” Mr. Asterdam declared grandly, reaching into the right pocket of his tuxedo to pull out a key, which he used to lock the study door behind him.
He pocketed it again, and the two men disappeared, leaving me alone, frozen to the spot. This had not gone to plan.