She leaned back, took a sip of water, and let out a long sigh.
Wow.
I knew of the four of us, Bridget had the strongest feelings about men of power and influence. Her sister being affected by it was obviously a factor, but Bridget in general was a skeptic. Maybe being a therapist had actually hurt her ability to give the rich and powerful a chance.
Or… or maybe she was right, I was in denial, and she was also right about Sarah. Time would only tell on that one.
“Talia?” I said, at least certain that an employee of the Morrils was less likely to be as furious, if just as biased against Adrian.
“I agree that he’s manipulating you. He wants to sleep with you. But if you keep your wits about you, that’s something you can use to your advantage.”
True. But to what extent?
Then I thought about her statement more, especially since she didn’t seem to have more to say. Adrian hadn’t taken me the first chance he got; he seemed to be playing a slow-burn game, leaving me in the warming pot until it was too late for me to seeit was boiling over. I hadn’t seen Adrian in action before, but I couldn’t imagine a man as handsome, wealthy, and powerful as he played games of patience with many women. I didn’t want to know the details, but it wasn’t too far-fetched to imagine that he’d probably had a few women he’d slept with after hardly enough effort.
“And now here’s the experienced voice,” Bridget said, nodding over my shoulder.
I turned to see Sarah walking in. Truly, of all of us, she wore the biggest smile and had the most relaxed demeanor. She had the least stressful job, admittedly, but she’d been relaxed before she met Cassius. This was different, though.
This was the calm demeanor of someone riding the high of new love, of a new engagement, and who didn’t seem to have any second thoughts about the matter.
“The experienced voice?” Sarah said. “What’s going on?”
Once more, I found myself repeating what I’d said earlier, albeit in a slightly more condensed version. The only parts I added were to summarize what Talia and Bridget had said; Bridget added her own words at the end to say how bad of a situation she thought I was in, but Talia added nothing more.
“So,” I said, “your thoughts, Sarah?”
Sarah nodded, looked down at her hands in thought, and then nodded again.
“Adrian and Cassius are brothers, but they’re not as similar as you’d think,” she said. “Not to mention, we had history, and you don’t. Cassius was a man driven by control and power largely for its own sake; he didn’t get into games of comparison that much. Adrian—and this is coming from my perspective and Cassius’—is driven by comparison. He’s constantly measuring himself against his brother. I suspect a part of him wants you to prove to Cassius that he can seduce someone like he did.”
“So it’s just a dick measuring contest,” I said, though I wasn’t sure I entirely agreed. I got the idea that Adrian was annoyed with Cassius is some ways, but I didn’t think he was trying to fuck me just to prove a point to Cassius.
Not consciously, at least.
“I just think Adrian is much more control-oriented,” Sarah said. “I also think there’s no guarantee that your love story will end the same way mine did. In some ways, the odds are worse for you since you don’t have your previous memories to fall back on.”
But I also wasn’t in the car that killed their brother,I thought. For obvious reasons, I did not voice the thought.
“Just be careful, I guess is the big takeaway,” Talia said.
“And be aware this isn’t like what she has,” Bridget said, drawing a subdued but annoyed glare from Sarah.
Mercifully, the conversation shifted to art shows and events coming up atAllureand atThe Red Court, conversation topics I was happy to pretend to listen to while quietly processing everything that had just been said. Bridget clearly had her opinions, not invalid ones but biased ones. Yet other than that…
The advice was pretty consistent. Be careful, be aware, I was in a game of control, and the odds were not in my favor.
And.
I had leverage with Adrian too.
Adrian thought he could control me, and I’d let the heat of the moment get to me.
But why couldn’t I put some pressure and heat on myself? Why couldn’t I be the one to dictate how things went, not him?
Yes, I thought, that sounded much better than letting myself be dragged to his penthouse and pressed against the wall. I was doing the investigation into the Vales and the Morrils. I would do the digging.
I would be the one in control.
