Page 57

SISI

V lad can't help his sly smile every time he looks at me, and for all his protests that I shouldn't tempt him further, he sure does a good job of eliciting that response from me.

As we head to the administrative buildings, I realize that the convent is quieter than I'm used to. Especially since it's not quite curfew yet.

There had been the not so welcome meeting with Sofia and Carlotta who just had to spew their venom at me. But for the first time I'd given them what they deserved, even though it was reckless for me to do so.

But when they'd said I was bad luck I'd just snapped, years of being called that to my face made me forget about everything but revenge.

In all honesty, I'd expected Vlad to chastise me slightly for going off plan, but instead he'd just said he was proud of me, his expression full of so much support that I almost melted on the spot.

Still, I can't stray from the plan again until we finish with Mother Superior.

And so as we enter the building that houses her office, Vlad's skills in lock picking have a chance to shine.

"And that's another skill to add to your arsenal," I note, amused.

"You'll see, hell girl. There's few things I'm not good at." He winks at me, the door sliding open with a minimal push.

"Show off," I mutter just as he motions me inside, intoning ladies first.

The office is very simple, with a desk, a chair, and a few drawers.

"According to what I've observed, she only comes to the office every Tuesday and Thursday, so that means we have plenty of time to search without fear she'll show up," he says as he opens one drawer, taking out the files.

We start sorting through everything in the office, but most of the documents are administrative papers from Sacre Coeur or from one of the orphanages.

"This is mostly donations." I sigh as I finish with one drawer.

"Nothing on my side either," he comments as he shuffles through the papers, his eyes quickly scanning for keywords.

Sometimes I forget I'm dealing with someone who's not quite human. In the time it has taken me to go through one stack, he's gone through three.

"We might have to check her room," I add, disappointed. I'd hoped we'd find everything we were looking for in her office, so we wouldn't have to linger more than necessary.

"Not yet," Vlad says, his eyes still on the papers.

When he finishes his perusal, he drops them on the desk with a thud, looking annoyed.

"You said she only kept physical records," he starts, his thumb stroking his jaw.

I nod.

"She was pretty known for her dislike of technology.

They even tried to add some more devices to the church and other places around the convent to make it easier for us.

But she wouldn't have it. It was a huge scandal a couple years back.

She kept saying that technology is the work of the devil and it has no place in the house of God.

Unless she's a bigger hypocrite than I gave her credit for, I don't think she'd have any technology. "

"You might be right." He goes around the desk, taking out the chair and inspecting the wall.

"See? There are no wires for ethernet, or even a socket.

On that note, who doesn't use at least a lamp?

" He shakes his head, a smile on his lips, "Unless she's reading all these documents at candle light? " he jokes.

But just as I turn my head I spot an empty candle holder, and I show it to him. "Candle light it is," I tell him and he chuckles.

"Why would someone who is clearly not interested in the commodities of modern life be involved in human trafficking? What is she even doing with the money?" He purses his lips, continuing to look around.

"We should go to her room, since there's nothing here." I dust off my habit as I stand up, putting everything back inside the drawers, so it doesn't seem as if someone's been here.

"No, not yet," Vlad mumbles, taking a few steps back and studying the walls.

While the convent is old, the administrative buildings were built more recently, somewhere in the later part of the twentieth century, so everything around is pure concrete.

"If she doesn't trust computers to keep her things safe." He narrows his eyes as he studies the wall behind the desk. "Then she must trust something, right?"

His shrewd gaze moves slowly over every inch of concrete. I frown as I reach his side, trying to see what he's staring at but finding nothing out of the ordinary. Just plain, white walls.

"What is it?" I ask when he takes a step forward, immediately focusing on one spot in particular—the one that's hiding behind the drawers.

He doesn't answer. Instead, he moves the drawers to the middle of the room, heading back to the wall and knocking lightly in the cement. He continues to do this, moving a few inches to the right every time.

Until he stops.

"Hear that," he says, his ear to the wall. When I'm at his side, he knocks again, and my eyes widen as I realize what he means.

"It's hollow."

He nods, his hands moving around the surface of the wall as if he's looking for something. When he reaches a few bumps in the lower half, he flattens his palm against them, pushing them in.

A few tries, and a trap door built inside the wall snaps open.

"I'm guessing this is her trusted place." He smirks, clearly pleased with himself.

Wrenching the fake wall open, we find a very small storage space, all filled with boxes.

"I guess we'll be spending quite some time here," I add drily as we take out the boxes, placing them on the floor. "Or not…" I roll my eyes when I see him already putting down a couple of files, done with them.

"I'm a fast reader." He shrugs.

"No, you're an insanely fast reader. What is that even?" I take a box, removing a few papers and start to go through them.

"I can read almost two thousand words per minute," he says casually, "it helps to sift through lots of information."

"Wow, of course you'd measure yourself," I add playfully, "good stroke for your ego."

He lifts his eyes, looking at me strangely.

"It was Miles who made us test our speed. He wanted us to excel in all areas. And I, of course, was his star pupil," he jokes, and while he tries to seem amused, I can tell he's not unaffected by that memory.

I want to apologize for bringing it up, but I know he wouldn't appreciate that. Vlad likes to pretend he's invincible, especially when it comes to matters of a more emotional nature, since he's not quite used to his feelings.

That doesn't mean he's still not human, with perfectly humane reactions. He just doesn't know how to deal with them.

We continue to look through each paper in part until Vlad finally comes across something interesting.

"What's that?" I ask as he removes a stack of folders from the bottom of the box.

He frowns as he spreads them out.

"Medical files," he says, reading the names of the people they belong to.

"I know those people," I immediately interject. "Everyone is from Sacre Coeur. Wait… does that mean there's one for me too?" I get up, quickly taking a seat next to him.

"Let's see," he shuffles through them until, surely enough, there is one with my name on it.

I grab it out of his hands, too curious to see what's inside.

"This doesn't make sense," I mumble as I go through all the lab results. Vlad leans in to read, his brows furrowing as he points at something.

"Sisi," he starts, and I can tell by his voice alone that it's something bad. "These are all tests that they do for organ compatibility."

"What do you mean?"

"Here." He takes the folder from me, pointing to one page. "This is a confirmation of compatibility for bone marrow." He continues to scan the information, but I'm having a hard time digesting what he just said.

"A bone marrow transplant. For me? But I don't remember being sick," I tell him.

"According to this file, you were three years and seven months old when this happened. And you weren't sick," he says grimly, and there's a hint of violence in his words, "you were the one who gave the bone marrow. Fuck, Sisi…" He curses under his breath, quickly going back to the other files.

"This. All this," he says, opening each file and looking at the many lab results, "these are all compatibility results. Fuck." He closes his eyes, his fists clenched.

"Vlad, slow down." I touch his arm, a hint of panic swelling inside of me. "What's happening?"

"Illegal organ transplants. That was the missing piece.

That's why everyone would be so willing to get involved, and that's why there are so many levels of corruption.

Because what wouldn't people give for a new kidney, or a new lung, when through official channels you wait years for a new organ that may never come. "

"Vlad." I take a deep breath, too overwhelmed by this. "Are you saying that they took bone marrow from me to sell to someone? Just like that?"

He nods grimly, the papers in his hand crackling under the pressure of his grip.

"Fuck, Sisi. I'm so sorry," he says, but I can't hear anything more.

I close my eyes, vaguely remembering the hospital visits when all the kids had been given candy after some procedure. I try hard to remember what had happened, but nothing comes to me.

"Who else? Who else donated?" My voice trembles slightly as I turn to Vlad, snatching the folders from his lap. "What did they donate?"

But as we go through each and every file, what we find out is horrifying. There are cases of every organ being taken from children.

Children!

And the more we delve into the other boxes, the more names we find from the other orphanages.

"It's an entire ring," I whisper. "And they've been doing this for decades. Decades, Vlad. And no one's found out?"

"But that's just the thing, hell girl. Everyone knew about it. They just protected their own interests because they knew they would, at some point, need these services too."