“No,” he said, seeing where I was staring. “Every hour is essential right now.”
I pouted. “I know that, but I just want to see it so much…”
I knew by the way he shook his head that it was a pointless argument. The London Eye would have to wait until another day.
I sighed and shrugged and took back hold of his fingers.
“Sure,” I said, still pouting. “I guess I’ll have to wait.”
I was only half serious, and my tone was nothing more than a joke, so I wasn’t expecting it when he stopped me in my tracks and tipped my face up to his.
His expression was so damn serious. So damn sure.
“I promise you, Elaine,” he said to me, like he was declaring the truth of a lifetime. “We’ll be getting on the London Eye together and doing it soon. Only we won’t be lining up and stepping onto it like some pathetic little tourists in these pathetic fucking clothes.”
My eyes must have widened in their usual shocked way, because his smirk was magnificent as he kept on talking.
“I’m going to take you on that wheel, baby, and it’s going to be everything you dreamed it would be. Only when I take you on it, we’ll have the whole fucking thing to ourselves. I’ll be taking over the whole damn lot of it, all for you.”
I could have cried as we carried on walking back to the underground. Only these weren’t sad tears waiting to fall, like I’d been crying all the way through my life.
These were happy ones.
Lucian Morelli made me so damn happy I could cry.
18
Lucian
We put the new cell phones on to charge as soon as we got back to the hotel. The room had cheap crappy coffee in sachets next to a crappy kettle, but we made the most of them anyway. Sipping away on liquid shit while I ploughed through my black book some more, scribbling down some more notes on my strategy.
Elaine lay on the bed and watched me, seemingly fascinated by everything I did. I adored that about her. Her fascination, so innocent and addictive. It was truly wondrous.
“You have amazing handwriting, you know that?” she asked me.
I shrugged, my pen poised over the page. “Nobody has really commented on my handwriting since my school days, I can’t say I’ve given it much thought.”
“It is,” she said. “It’s like calligraphy. I noticed it in your dream journal.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You really were a nosey little bitch in Kington Peak, weren’t you? Going through my bedside drawers.”
She nodded, proud of it. “Yeah, I was. I wanted to know just who you were. All of your secrets.”
I put my pen down.
“You know a whole damn bigger a secret than you’ll ever find in a dream journal. You know you can stab me through the hand and I won’t feel a thing. That’s a much bigger slice of knowledge than what happens when I’m sleeping.”
“True.” She laughed. “Maybe I’ll see you writing in that dream journal again soon, hey? Maybe I’ll start keeping one too. We can share dream stories in the mornings.”
The hopeful glint in her eyes was delicious.
I laughed back at her. “I’d be considerably happier about you seeing me writing in my dream journal again than I would about you seeing me stabbed through the hand again.”
“Same,” she said, and she was sparkling. Glowing. Happy. Even with the crazy world hunting us down across the Atlantic.
I checked the cell phones on the bedside table. They were charged and ready to go.
I handed Elaine hers and she swiped the screen, setting up the Wi-Fi. I had much more important things to be doing than browsing the internet. I got to my feet and began pacing as I made my very first phone call.
The words were a relief as soon as they rolled off my tongue.
“This is Lucian Morelli calling.”
My introduction was met with every scrap of respect I expected. Yes. The London world was ready for me. Ready and waiting.
Every contact that I reached out to was keen to meet up with me. The highest echelons of the underworld and the shiny businessmen standing tall over them were eager to hear my news and my proposals for partnerships. Or at least they seemed to be.
Elaine was staring at me when I put my cell down after my first round of calls. Her own cell was still in her hands, and she was playing some cute little game on there that made me smile. Yet again, there was an enthusiastic innocence shining out of her.
“Sounded like it went well,” she commented, and I nodded.
“Very well,” I confirmed. “My first meeting is later today, in just a few hours. A very important one.”
Her innocence turned to nervousness.
“You’re meeting up with people today? These people… are they safe?”