“Probably not, but I’m going to tell you anyway because it involves you.”
My eyes slammed shut. “Of course, it does.”
“I have a plan and it’s just a little bit brilliant, even if I do say so myself.”
“You’d better say it yourself because I’m sure as hell not going to.”
“Oh, relax,” he said, and I could practically see him waving me off. “This will fulfill Dad’s greatest wish and it secures a marriage that will be beneficial for both families. Everyone wins.”
“Everyone wins,’” I repeated flatly. “Let me guess, everyone except me, right?”
“Don’t be dramatic. All you need to do is pretend to beJesse for the time being. Just until I can convince him to return and do his duty to the family. It’s elegant.”
Elegant. Right. In the same way that stepping barefoot on Lego bricks is elegant.
“Do his duty to the family?” I scoffed. “You sounded exactly like Dad there.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
“Pretend all you want, but the fact of the matter is that I have zero interest in capturing the attention of a twenty-three-year-old with a single brain cell. I doubt I could even endure hercompany for more than an afternoon. Do not underestimate how little I care about keeping that girl happy.”
“You may not care, but you’ll survive,” he said firmly. “We’ll talk more at the office tomorrow.”
That was it. The next thing I knew, there was a click and the conversation was over. I just sat there for a moment after, trying to absorb the sheer weight of the situation.
Jesse had tried to do this in the beginning—switch places, switch lives. The wholelet’s confuse the worldstunt.
Now, somehow, in a cosmic joke only a Westwood could truly appreciate,Iwas boxed into a corner. With nowhere to run and, apparently, only my brother’s identity to hide in.
The next morning, after spending most of the evening venting to Nate, who had been deeply unsympathetic in that calm, rational way of his, I went to the office. Up to my own floor.
One of the perks of being the COO was the illusion of autonomy, but in practice, it just meant people came to me instead of the other way around. Unfortunately, Alex was already waiting when I arrived, proving that perhaps it wasn’t so much of a perk as I’d thought.
Because now, I couldn’t even fake an emergency and rush back to my own office.
He was leaning against the edge of my desk, looking rested, composed, and way too pleased with himself for seven in the morning. Without even uttering a word of greeting, he launched straight into the crisis of the day.
“I assume you’ve spoken to Jesse,” he said.
I shrugged out of my jacket and moved around my desk to my chair. “Nope. He’s not taking my calls.”
Alex’s lips twisted like this was a minor inconvenience instead of a major disaster. “We’ll bring him back.”
I sank into my chair and leaned back, crossing my arms loosely over my chest as I stared back at him. “You say that likehe’s a lost dog and not a fully grown man who’s actively avoiding all of us.”
“For now,” Alex said calmly, like he already knew how this was going to go. “He’ll come around. He has to. He’s family. This is where he belongs, Will. In this building with the rest of us.”
As much as I wanted to disagree purely out of principle, I couldn’t. Because Alex was right.As usual.
Jesse had always been the wild one. Even as a kid. Climbing things he couldn’t get down from, jumping off things that were too high, or charming teachers five minutes after getting in trouble with them.
All the while, I’d been right there behind him, trailing along like a shadow, cleaning up the aftermath. I’d been his protector as much as his twin.
If Jesse broke something, I helped fix it. If he got caught, I helped talk our way out of it. If he pushed too far, I stepped in before he fell.
Sometimes literally.
There had been a tree once, too high with branches that were too thin, but Jesse had insisted he could make it to the top. I’d followed him up, and naturally, he’d slipped on the way down. I’d caught him, hurting myself badly enough to leave a scar on my shoulder that still hadn’t quite faded.
