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“No.”
“Confess, Scarlet.”
“I wanted nothing to do with you the instant you left.”
“So you haven’t thought of me? Wished for me?” His tone went low. Deep and velvety despite the plane gearing up and rolling across the tarmac, readying for takeoff.
“The only thing I’ve hoped for is your suffering.”
I slammed back into my seat, using my arms as a barricade for my heart. His words couldn’t wound me there. The meanings behind them wouldn’t slip through. Thekisswouldn’t be the dagger to wrench open my ribs.
“Then good for you. Part of your dreams came true.”
My attention skittered to his scar, then just as quickly found somewhere else. “Don’t make me feel sorry for you.”
“Pityme?” For once, Theo sounded surprised. No, that wasn’t the proper description. Deeply aggravated. Possessing enough ire to sound more emotional than in the entire few months I was with him before everything shattered.
His hand moved to his armrest, where he pressed a button. “Stop the plane.”
“Wait—what?” I lifted off the back of my seat.
“You’re getting off.”
“I’m … no, I’m not.”
“You damned well are.”
I frowned, then leaned over and pressed the same button. “Keep the plane going.”
Unfortunately, I felt the thing slow down, to which Theo inclined his head and eyed me blandly. “They listen to me, not you.”
“You’ll have to forcibly remove me, then.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
Half of my gusto disappeared. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” I gestured vaguely to his face. “It wasn’t my intention.”
“This was a mistake. You’re better off with Kai.”
“I haven’t come this far, risked this much, to go backward.” Against my better judgment, blunt curiosity crept in. “What happened?”
The directness fazed him. He blinked. “We’re not here to share our traumas.” Again, with the head-cock. “Or are we? Do you want to talk about things in our past? Your sister, perhaps?”
All organs, all bones making up my body, went rigid. “Don’t you dare,” I whispered. Wetness coated my bottom lashes, but I didn’t so much as swipe the damp away. Further response would only prove he hit his mark. “Don’t youdaremention her.”
“Then I suppose we’re in agreement,” he said with all the inflection of a stone. His index finger compressed the button. “False alarm. Continue on.”
Should I be feeling relief in this moment? Or was the offense of bringing up Cassie enough to make me depart this plane—this plan—on my own terms?
Theo answered my questions before I could. Not through more talk, since we were both done with that, but through unclipping his seatbelt, standing up, and moving away.
“I’ll be in my family’s quarters for the rest of the flight.” He wasn’t even directing his words at me. “Andrea will be able to meet any of your needs for the duration.”
“Not yours?” I sneered, though even for me, it was a low, unnecessary blow that I instantly regretted.
Theo didn’t bother with an answer. Instead, he said, “For the record, the reason we’re going to London is because of the information you downloaded off Neri’s phone. I knew Trace had spent time with him by speaking in the same circles you were, but that he’d since left the property. Neri was my dead-end on finding my brother. Until you surprised me by accessing data I didn’t have.” He bent down, close to my ear. “Over there, at the docks? I had nothing,” he repeated. “It wasn’t until you boarded this plane and Andrew accessed your bag that we had an additional clue. You fell for my bluff.”
Cold air swept against the side of my face as he strode to the back, through the door I thought was the bathroom, but instead was a private suite for the Saxons, and disappeared behind the expensive wood.
“Fucker,” I hissed. My shoulders pressed into the leather seat as the plane picked up speed and the engines grew in sound and power. The wheels lifted off the ground and sank into the plane with air and jet fuel replacing the need for rubber. We lifted off into the dark, cloudless sky. My windows went black as the cityscape shrunk in view and distance, and I played with the straw in my drink, allowing the circulating oxygen to dry anything wet on my face.
I didn’t see him for the rest of the flight.
