Buttons and Grace (Buttons 6)

“Yes, he mentioned that. Seemed pretty stubborn about it. But that’s where you come in. Are you going to make this happen, Cane? Are you going to let your brother be tortured to death? I already started the process. Haven’t heard him scream once.”

The blood drained from my limbs. Torture, violence, and blood didn’t faze me. But picturing my brother as the victim made me sway as I sat upright. “My brother would be angry if he knew I was doing this. But I have a problem.”

“Make it go away,” he said simply.

“You don’t understand. I don’t know where Pearl is.” I did my best to sound convincing. I was lying through my teeth, but I’d never lied so convincingly before. There was a lot at stake here. If Tristan suspected this was all a ploy, he would kill Crow to spite me.

“You don’t know?”

“He never told me. He didn’t tell anyone.”

“And you can’t call her?”

“She won’t tell me where she is. She destroyed her phone, so I can’t trace her location.”

Tristan fell silent.

He knew how close we were. He might not go for it.

“Then I’ll have to kill him. That’s too bad.”

“If you let me talk to him, I can get him to tell me where she is.”

“Doubtful. He’s held up pretty well under torture.”

I swallowed the bile back down my throat. “It’s different with us. I can persuade him. If you’ve already exhausted him, he might be more likely to tell me. If you really want Pearl, this is the only way it’s going to happen. I have to get my brother out of there, so I’m not gonna stop until I get that location.”

Tristan considered what I said during a long pause. “And this isn’t some tactic to speak to him?”

He wasn’t as dumb as I hoped. “I’m sure you’ll monitor the conversation, Tristan. I’d expect nothing less.”

Tristan fell into a lengthy silence, his breathing hardly noticeable over the line. He was considering what I said, going over it from every possible angle. It wasn’t impossible to believe Crow wouldn’t tell me where Pearl was. Crow thought of every possibility, and he could have anticipated this situation. “Alright. I’ll let you speak to him. But if I get the slightest suspicion you’re up to something, I’ll shoot him in the back of the head. You understand?”

I’d have to be even more careful. “Got it. Put him on the phone.”

* * *

“Wake him up.” Tristan’s voice sounded in the background. “He’s got a phone call.”

I doubted he was asleep. He’d probably been knocked out sometime today. Hopefully, he would be coherent enough to understand what I was trying to do. Crow was much more intelligent than I was. If anyone could pick up on the plan, it was him.

“It’s your brother,” Tristan announced. “Do anything stupid, and you’re dead.” The phone became muffled, and sounds were heard as it was adjusted and placed on a flat surface. The speakerphone must have been initiated because it sounded different.

Here went nothing. “Crow, it’s Cane.”

“What?” Crow barked in annoyance, probably because Tristan told him what I wanted. Maybe he was angry because he actually thought I was trying to swap him for Pearl. Or maybe he was just in a lot of pain.

“Tristan told me the only way I can get you out of there is if Pearl takes your place.” I did all the talking right in the beginning so Crow would pick up on what I was trying to do. “I didn’t want to do it at first, but I realize you’re the only other Barsetti I’ve got in the world. I’ve got to get you out of there—”

“Fuck you, Cane. I’d rather die a million times than let her take my place.”

I pressed on so he wouldn’t say anything else. “You need to tell me where she’s at. You’re the only person who knows where she is, and I know you won’t tell Tristan. But you need to tell me. I know you love her, but she wouldn’t want this. Pearl wouldn’t want you to suffer. I don’t want you to suffer. Just because Pearl would belong to Tristan doesn’t mean she would die. It just means…”

“Don’t say it,” Crow said in a terrifying voice.

“It’s not worth dying over, Crow.” I hoped he understood the relevance of my statement. I knew exactly where she was. I knew what island she was on, and I knew the address to the place if I needed to go get her. There was no way I could have simply forgotten, not when he put it on a flash drive for me.

“No.”

“Crow—”

“No.”

Hopefully, he wasn’t so delirious with pain that he couldn’t think straight. Hopefully, they didn’t hit his head too hard. Otherwise, he was extremely convincing.

“I can’t live without you, man. You’re my brother. I need you…”