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Bram watches me closely.What are you going to do next?
My knees go weak. I turn my back on him and slide down the door, sniffing to stop a tear from rolling down my cheek.
The truth is, I don’t know. I really don’t know.
CHAPTER31
SEB
“Where are we going?” I ask, quickening my pace to keep up with Freddie’s long strides. “This doesn’t seem like the right time for a walk.”
He ignores me and crosses the road to the high-rise offices. They’re home to start-up companies. It’s a depressing block but in an excellent location with reasonable rent, which makes it a great budget option. I expect us to keep walking, but Freddie stops and holds the door. “This way.”
There’s no reception desk, so we walk in without being questioned.
“Here?” I look around the empty, bleak foyer aside from a sad fake plant in the corner. “Why?”
“You’ll see,” Freddie replies, speeding across the foyer and slamming the lift button with his palm.
I scowl. “Don’t you think we have enough mystery in our life?”
He grins. It’s the first time I’ve seen my friend smile since the night of the Collingsbrook Ball. While it’s nice to see him happy, I don’t know what’s coming when he’s in a strange mood like this.
The lift doors open, and he steps in first. “Age before royalty.”
“Fuck you,” I mutter.
Once inside, Freddie’s fingers hover over the buttons while selecting the floor, opting for the fifteenth. “That should be about right.”
“You know we get the same view from our flat,” I say sarcastically, crossing my arms and wrinkling my nose at the faint smell of piss. “What’s up here?
“You’ll see,” Freddie replies cryptically.
As if we don’t have enough mystery in our life with finding out the woman we fell for is a ruthless assassin.
“Fucking hell!” My hands fly to cover my ears to protect them from the sudden cry of a fire alarm.
Freddie’s smile twists into a grimace as the lift halts on the tenth floor. “It looks like we’re taking the stairs from here.”
“Shouldn’t we be leaving?” I ask, gesturing upward at the wailing siren.
“No.” He frowns. “We need to hurry.”
We rush to the nearest stairwell alongside other people spilling out of their offices. From their sense of urgency and hurried footsteps, this isn’t a scheduled alarm.
We fight past the flood of bodies moving in the opposite direction. Some whisper my name as they pass us. After my recent publicity, it’s hard to go anywhere without being recognised. I hate it—the whispers, the stares, the constant judgement, as if they know what it’s like to live in my fucking shoes. I’ll wear sunglasses the next time we venture out, even if it’s raining. Maybe I’ll even start wearing a mask like the men in the metal band Callen likes.
“Come on,” Freddie yells. After peering into the fifteenth floor, Freddie waves his arm and points upwards. “It must be the next floor!”
“Are you—”
“Fucking move, Seb!” he barks, cutting me short of asking him whether he’s having a mental breakdown.
There are no people coming down from above, so the upper floors appear to be deserted. We exit and burst onto the sixteenth floor.
Freddie leads the way through an open door into an abandoned office floor.
I frown, looking around. “There’s nothing here.”
