Page 33 of The Prize

Tobias hit the button for the elevator. “I am.”

“And me too, right?”

He nudged me into the lift. “Wait for me in the car.”

I turned to face him. “I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not.” He tossed me the car keys.

I caught them and stopped the sliding doors from closing. “Why can’t I come?”

“We’ll talk afterward.”

“After what?”

“Let’s play the ‘shut your piehole’ game. You go first.” He peeled my hands off the doors and they slid closed in my face.

My jaw dropped at his cheekiness. I tucked the keys into my coat pocket and rode the elevator down as my annoyance almost won out over my phobia.

When the elevator landed on the ground floor, I hurried out before the doors opened fully and retraced my steps toward the foyer. Seriously, Tobias knew how much pleasure seeing that collection would give me. My feet jolted to a stop as my mind processed the thought he was going to steal something from the collection to help his re-creation.

He was such a rogue.

Hordes of students poured into the foyer having gotten caught in the downpour. With trepidation rising in my belly, I hurried toward the exit, ready to brave the rain, my angry monologue poised to be unleashed on Wilder.

Just before the front door to my left a young student caught her heel in the carpet and took a tumble onto her knees and dropped her books. I went to help her, first checking she was okay and then helping her pick them up and handing them back.

I reached for the one on Florence. “Have you been to Italy?” I looked up at her. “It’s amazing.” I’d visited the city with my dad and my fondest memories were of the time spent with him in the Uffizi Gallery.

“Not yet.” She took her book back with a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

I should have been allowed to see the Leonardo da Vinci collection and was seriously considering finding my way to the fifth floor.

A blur of movement to my right caught my attention. It was the vision of five men entering briskly with their long formal coats flapping behind them and they easily looked out of place—among them I recognized Eli Burell striding fast toward the elevator.

Tobias.

I sprang to my feet and bolted toward the stairwell and shoved the door open, taking two stairs at a time as I rushed back up toward the fifth floor, guessing he was still up there. Round and round I ascended the stairs with my legs burning from the strain.

I burst into the hallway—

Tobias was standing before an elevator, waiting for the doors to open. He turned and gave me a wry smile.

I pointed at the elevator and mouthed,Eli.

Tobias bolted toward me and an envelope slipped from his grip and fell to the ground.

The elevator pinged.

Tobias ran back for the envelope and scooped it up and sprung toward me, gesturing to the stairwell. I shoved open the door and he followed me. He slammed it shut behind us and we sped down the stairs to the ground floor. When we reached the bottom, we took a few seconds to listen out for anyone following us. He rested a finger to his lips in a warning for us to remain silent.

A fading lightbulb flickered.

“They didn’t see you?” I whispered.

“No.”

“How did Eli find us?”