Table of Contents
START READING
PROLOGUE
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE SOPHIA
CHAPTER TWO HAZEL
CHAPTER THREE ROSE
CHAPTER FOUR SOPHIA
CHAPTER FIVE HAZEL
CHAPTER SIX ROSE
CHAPTER SEVEN SOPHIA
CHAPTER EIGHT HAZEL
CHAPTER NINE ROSE
CHAPTER TEN HAZEL
PART TWO
CHAPTER ELEVEN ROSE
CHAPTER TWELVE HAZEL
CHAPTER THIRTEEN ROSE
CHAPTER FOURTEEN SOPHIA
CHAPTER FIFTEEN HAZEL
CHAPTER SIXTEEN ROSE
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN SOPHIA
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN HAZEL
CHAPTER NINETEEN ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY HAZEL
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO HAZEL
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR HAZEL
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE SOPHIA
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX HAZEL
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT SOPHIA
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE ROSE
EPILOGUE
ROSE
HAZEL
SOPHIA
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY SORAYA M. LANE
Voyage of the Heart
Wives of War
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2018 Soraya M. Lane
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Lake Union Publishing, Seattle
www.apub.com
Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Lake Union Publishing are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.
ISBN-13: 9781477805107
ISBN-10: 1477805109
Cover design by Emma Rogers
Cover photography by Richard Jenkins
For all my wonderful readers – thank you.
CONTENTS
START READING
PROLOGUE
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE SOPHIA
CHAPTER TWO HAZEL
CHAPTER THREE ROSE
CHAPTER FOUR SOPHIA
CHAPTER FIVE HAZEL
CHAPTER SIX ROSE
CHAPTER SEVEN SOPHIA
CHAPTER EIGHT HAZEL
CHAPTER NINE ROSE
CHAPTER TEN HAZEL
PART TWO
CHAPTER ELEVEN ROSE
CHAPTER TWELVE HAZEL
CHAPTER THIRTEEN ROSE
CHAPTER FOURTEEN SOPHIA
CHAPTER FIFTEEN HAZEL
CHAPTER SIXTEEN ROSE
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN SOPHIA
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN HAZEL
CHAPTER NINETEEN ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY HAZEL
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO HAZEL
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR HAZEL
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE SOPHIA
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX HAZEL
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT SOPHIA
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE ROSE
EPILOGUE
ROSE
HAZEL
SOPHIA
HAZEL
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Throughout France the Resistance had been of inestimable value in the campaign. Without their great assistance, the liberation of France would have consumed a much longer time and meant greater losses to ourselves.
– General Eisenhower, US leader of the Allied invasion into France
PROLOGUE
FRANCE
1944
‘Run!’ Rose hissed as the deafening bang of the explosion fired behind them.
Sophia gasped as Hazel roughly snatched her hand, pulling her along. She stifled a scream as her ankle collapsed, twisting on something that snared from the ground, but she didn’t slow down. They had to move fast.
They were surrounded by the enemy. If they didn’t find their way to safety soon, they were as good as dead.
‘It’ll take time for them to regroup,’ Sophia managed, panting as she whispered. ‘We’ll be gone before they even start searching for us.’
The silence from the other two women told her they weren’t so optimistic, but Sophia refused to be anything other than certain of their survival. She’d faced worse odds before – they all had – and there was a reason they were all still alive when so many others weren’t. They’d have dogs sent to find them soon though, men scouring every blade of grass for them, so they didn’t have long.
‘Hazel—’
‘No!’ screamed Rose, leaping in front of Sophia and pushing her back.
The Nazi had appeared from nowhere, pistol raised, the barrel pointed skyward now as Rose fought against him, pushing him away. As Sophia staggered to her feet, the gun went off, the blast making her ears ring, making everything silent around her as she watched Hazel move behind the soldier. The silver of Hazel’s blade shone brightly.
They’d talked about death, about whether they were capable of killing a man with their bare hands the way they’d been trained to do. Sophia swallowed the bile rising in her throat as she watched Hazel’s hand tremble.
It was kill or be killed.
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
SOPHIA
BERLIN, GERMANY
LATE 1942
Sophia watched Alex from across the room of her apartment. He was stretched out over her chair, one foot resting over the arm of it, the other on the zebra-skin rug. She’d always hated that particular furnishing – a gift from her father that she knew better than to dispose of – but the way Alex was rubbing his toes across it, she was starting to think he might wear a hole into it if she didn’t get him out of her apartment soon.
She stifled a laugh when he scrunched up a piece of paper and threw it at her, watching a smile touch his lips as he returned her stare. She had no idea how the poor man could still be so jovial after being cooped up in her apartment for so long, seeing only her, day in and day out. He didn’t seem to mind terribly, or else he was the world’s greatest actor.
It seemed a long time ago that she’d crept in through his window in the dead of night, begging him to flee Berlin. She’d known what was coming and had desperately tried to warn all of her Jewish friends and their families, but Alex’s father had been stubborn and refused to leave the city he loved. She swallowed, blinking away the familiar sting of tears whenever she thought about that night. If only she’d fought harder, maybe they would have listened. She wouldn’t have Alex with her now, but at least his family might still be safe and alive.
He threw another balled-up piece of paper at her, and she set down the glass she’d been holding and crossed the room to join him. He did it again, only this time she was fast enough to catch it and throw it back at him.
‘Stop it,’ she said, glaring at him and trying to appear angry.
‘I’m too bored to stop,’ Alex said. ‘Besides, you’re beautiful when you’re angry with me.’
Sophia sighed and stood, hands on her hips. ‘I know how hard this is for you,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘But . . .’
‘Don’t,’ he said gently, rising
from the sofa and holding out his hands to her. ‘We don’t talk about the past, remember?’
She took them willingly, never needing any encouragement when it came to touching Alex. She’d been in love with him since she was a young girl visiting his father’s shop with her mother and she’d grown into a young woman who loved him more fiercely with each passing day. Sophia let him pull her close and press a warm kiss to her lips, his hands sliding down her body and up again before stopping to rest on her shoulders.
‘I am so lucky to have you,’ he murmured, then kissed her again. ‘Every single day that I’m here, alive and safe, is a good day. Don’t you ever go feeling sorry for me, Sophia.’
Sophia stroked his cheek, looking into brown eyes flecked with green. ‘How do you stay so positive all the time? When so many terrible things have happened to the people you love?’
It was something she thought about constantly, wondering all the time how he managed to keep smiling, to stay so strong when he’d lost so much. When his family had finally realised it was time to leave the city, it had been too late. The Rubensteins had tried to flee, but their shop had already been destroyed and when the Nazis had come looking for Alex’s father, he’d been beaten and dragged away, trying to protect his wife and daughters. Alex had arrived back home to see them being taken, had seen his mother mouth the word Go to him as they’d been hauled away. And so he’d run, hiding in the shadows until he’d managed to make his way to Sophia’s apartment – and he’d never left.
His hand fell away and Sophia kissed his cheek, gently pressing her lips to his skin and hoping he knew how much she loved him.
‘One day it will be over,’ he said, turning to look out the window. She watched as he leaned on the low bookcase, careful not to get too close to the glass in case he was seen. ‘One day, people like you will be remembered, revered even, for what you’ve done.’
‘The others like me, we’re just doing what any decent human being would do,’ Sophia replied. To her, she was doing nothing special by rescuing Jews and securing them safe passage. But she was doing more than many, who were too afraid to stand up for what was right.
‘Do we have any more visitors coming?’ he asked, turning back to face her.
She shrugged. ‘That’s for me to know and you to wonder.’
‘Don’t tease me unless you can handle the consequences,’ he replied with a wink.
Alex ran for her and she pounced in the other direction, running away from him. She burst out laughing when he caught her around the waist, giggling when his teeth skimmed her neck as he pretended to bite her.
Knock, knock, knock.
Sophia froze as the rapping echoed through her apartment. At the same time, Alex scrambled, instinctively making for the middle of the room. A scream ached in her throat, desperate to be released as she silently swallowed it instead. She lived in fear of a knock at her door, knowing that at any moment the precious world she’d so carefully crafted could come crashing down around them.
‘Just, ah . . . ,’ she stammered, trying to pull herself together, knowing that she needed to keep herself calm. ‘Just a moment,’ she called out loudly.
Sophia watched as Alex disappeared into the large rectangular ottoman in the centre of the room, positioned between her sofa and the armchair. She darted after him to help, carefully putting the end back together and folding a blanket to place on it, the hem hanging down to cover the entrance to the secret compartment. They were fast – they had to be – and within seconds she was back on her feet and hurrying across the room.
She took a deep breath as another knock sounded out, before pulling the door open, smile fixed perfectly, though her body trembled.
‘I’m sorry, I was . . .’ The words died in her throat as relief washed through her. It was only her neighbour, a young boy from the same apartment block whom she’d seen numerous times with his mother.
‘Can you help me?’ he asked, big eyes fixed on hers as he spoke. ‘Mama said to ask if you had any food to spare? She’s sick and it’s been too cold for her to go out.’
Sophia remembered that his mother had been expecting. The other woman had always smiled and said hello when they’d passed each other, and Sophia knew how desperate she must be to ask for help. Residents had been fortunate to still have a reasonable supply of food in Berlin despite the war, although rations still made life less comfortable than many were used to.
She nodded, bending so she was eye level with him. ‘Has your mother had her baby yet?’
He shook his head, hands wrapped together tightly at his chest.
‘Let me get you something and I’ll be straight back out,’ she said. ‘Wait here.’
Sophia gave a sigh of relief and shut the door on the boy, leaving him alone for a moment. She let her back rest against the timber, eyes shut as her hands slowly stopped shaking. She’d been certain this time that it would be them. That the Gestapo would be standing there with their evil eyes and their grinning mouths, ready to storm her place and find her secrets. She’d helped so many people now, had been the overnight stop for so many Jews who needed somewhere safe to hide, but it was Alex who was her biggest secret of all. She’d had him hidden in her apartment now for so long, right under everyone’s noses. Even her father, the loyal Nazi that he was, had been sitting in a chair while her boyfriend was folded into his hidden compartment only footsteps away. She could still remember the smile on her father’s face as he’d sat across from her, placing his cup on the ottoman that had been Alex’s safe place for so long, while she fretted that one sneeze or cough would give their secret away. She’d wondered at the time if her father would murder her himself if he ever found out, but she’d consoled herself with the thought that even he couldn’t harm someone he loved.
She pushed off from the door and crossed the room, bending low beside the ottoman. ‘Alex, it’s nothing. I’m just going to get the boy some food.’ She paused, waited for him to tap twice to indicate that he’d heard her low whisper. She placed a hand against the soft fabric, trying to give him some of her strength. ‘I’ll be as quick as I can.’
Their rule was that he had to stay hidden. Whenever she wasn’t there or if there was any danger, he had to stay out of sight, for her safety as much as his. Being crammed into a piece of furniture wasn’t ideal, but it was the only way.
Sophia collected some things together in a cloth napkin – bread and cheese, some cold meat, and a piece of chocolate. It wasn’t as much as she’d have liked – because she was supporting Alex secretly, they often didn’t have any surplus food.
She returned to the door and passed the boy the bundle. ‘Take this straight back to your mother,’ she said, patting his head, then shut the door and locked it behind her. Then she dashed to the ottoman and helped Alex out.
Alex looped his arm around her, and she leaned into him as he dropped a kiss into her hair. His lips lingered, his breath hot against the top of her head. They didn’t need to say anything; they both knew how high the stakes were.
‘I have to go and see my mother in a few days’ time,’ Sophia said, still holding on to him. ‘Will you be okay here alone? Do you think it’s too much of a risk?’
She’d been putting off saying anything to Alex, but if she didn’t visit soon, her father might become suspicious. She was in Berlin to study and she knew that not visiting her family outside of term time could easily blow her cover. They lived on a beautiful estate in the country, and it wasn’t unreasonable for her father to expect her to spend longer periods at home. Growing up, she’d had an idyllic childhood, surrounded by luxury and with her parents doting on her, but now the grand estate felt more like a prison, her father no longer the sweet, kind man she remembered.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Alex assured her.
He turned her around in his arms, kissed her again, h
is lips sending ripples of warmth through her body.
‘You know I’m going to marry you when this war is over, don’t you?’ he muttered. ‘One day we’ll be telling our children all about my time in your apartment, how I endured it all to survive and marry their mother.’
Sophia could see it as clearly as a picture: a brood of children gathered around them, listening to their handsome father sharing tales of the war and what they’d done to survive. But she knew how easily that pretty scene could be shattered.
‘One day at a time,’ she whispered against his lips. ‘Every day we have together is worth it.’
She was tired but knew how bored he must be, and so she sat with him as he talked about his plan to create another compartment somewhere in the kitchen, somewhere safe for her to conceal not just him, but whomever else she brought home. She listened to him speak of his mother, his eyes lighting up as he imagined her finding safe passage, being hidden by someone as caring as his girlfriend, escaping from the clutches of the Nazis. Sophia, in her heart of hearts, wanted to believe in his words, but she knew the truth of what was happening out there.
The Jewish camps were awful, filthy and full of starving, sick people. They were places so bad that she couldn’t even imagine a dog surviving there. But she never said a word, because if Alex didn’t have faith, then he’d never be able to survive.
‘Sophia?’
She blinked and realised he was asking her a question. ‘Sorry?’
‘Are you going out tonight?’
She nodded. ‘If I get the signal.’
Alex knew not to ask for details, and she never told him. He didn’t know about her false papers, or if he did he never said, and he didn’t know where she went or whom she met with. It was safer that way. For everyone involved. Her work was what kept her going and made her believe that the Germany she loved would one day return.
‘I’ll prepare dinner for us, then it’s time for me to go,’ she said. In other words, it was almost time for him to hide in his box again – only this time it would be for hours.
Sophia rubbed at her chest, using the heel of her palm. She’d had a tightness there for months, a pressure that she couldn’t disperse no matter how hard she tried. It was there at night, weighing her down when she tried to fall asleep; it was there when she carried on as normal during the day and tried to pretend she was a model German citizen; and it was most definitely there when she slipped out into the cover of darkness when she should be safely asleep inside her apartment.