So I followed.
I walked up the stairs and reached the second landing, which was absolutely silent. The sounds of the merriment from the party drifted to my ears, and my dress trailed across the hardwood floor underneath my heels.
He kept going. “This way.” He reached the fifth door on the left, checked the hallway to make sure no one was watching, and then opened it. “Go inside. We don’t have much time.”
“Who are you?”
“Just go.” He held the door open.
My arms were covered with bumps, and sweat formed on my temple. My heart was beating so fast it hurt. I tried to steady my breath and remain calm as I walked inside, unsure what I would find waiting for me.
A man in all black stood with his back to me, his hands in his pockets as he stared out the window.
I stared at him, recognizing the soft brown hair that was similar to mine. His posture was familiar, the way he shifted his weight to one foot. The build of his arms reminded me of someone I’d known all my life.
The waiter shut the door, leaving us alone together.
Joseph turned around and stared at me, his eyes taking me in like he hadn’t seen me in twenty years. He wasn’t an emotional man, usually teasing me rather than paying me a single compliment. But the moment he looked at me, the sadness took up his entire body. “London…” He closed the distance between us and hugged me, holding me so tight it didn’t seem like he wanted to let me go. “I’m so sorry…”
I held on to my brother, recognizing his cologne instantly. The last time I saw him on his feet, he had come to the city for Christmas. It was just the two of us in my cramped apartment while the snow fell outside. My radiator was broken, so we spent an entire day freezing until he managed to fix it. At the time, it was terrible. But now it was a cherished memory.
He pulled away, the same sadness in his eyes. “I don’t have a lot of time.”
“How did you get in here?”
“We don’t have time for that either,” he said quietly. “I need to get to the point, London. Crewe is a paranoid man.”
“Do you have a plan?”
He nodded. “But you aren’t going to like it.”
“Do you want me to destroy the detonator. I know he keeps it on him most of the time. I don’t know where he puts it when he sleeps…” But if I did enough digging, I could figure it out. He couldn’t keep it from me forever.
“That won’t work,” he said. “Even if you recover it, he’ll have a way of overriding it.”
“You think?”
“Definitely. Crewe always covers his tracks. He’s not a guy you fuck with.”
But yet, you did. “So you’re saying there’s nothing we can do? We aren’t even going to try?”
“There’s only one way out of this. And it’s not a plan either of us will like.”
He was going to ask me to kill Crewe. There was no other way. But the idea of ending his life, stabbing a knife through his heart, brought me nothing but pain. I had every right to do whatever was necessary to save both myself and my brother, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Despite what he’d done to both of us, I didn’t want to hurt Crewe.
“You have to get him to fall in love with you.”
I stared at him blankly, unsure if he really said those words. “Are you insane? That’s never going to happen. I thought you were going to ask me to kill him.”
“That would never work,” he said. “Crewe is too smart for that.”
“And he’s too hollow to feel anything real for anyone—especially me.” Crewe had a line of beautiful women at his beck and call. He could be with princesses and foreign diplomats. He could go to Milan and find a model. There was no way I would ever be enough to keep him around.
“I don’t believe that. He took you to one of the biggest social events of the year. He could have taken anyone, but he chose you.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.” I had to admit it was odd to bring some boring American girl. But I couldn’t read too much into it.
“We both know you’re smart, witty, and beautiful.” It was the first time Joseph paid me a real compliment. “The guy would be an idiot not to feel something for you. You’re charming and a smartass—in a good way.”
Since we were in a rush, I didn’t have time to even crack a smile. “I seriously don’t think that’s going to work. We have to think of something else.”
“Just be whatever he wants you to be. Be whatever fantasy he likes. Say the things he wants to hear.”