When we got back to our hotel suite, we found my identical, twin brother lounging on the couch in his sweatpants. I heard the telltale music of that stupid game he liked to place and rolled my eyes. Whether he’d admit or not (he definitely wouldn’t), Asher could be a huge dork sometimes. Still, I liked having him with me, especially when we went out on the town. The twin thing just worked when it came to picking up women, and it was even better when we could find a woman who was willing to take us both on at the same time.
“Hey,” Asher said, sitting up to make room for us.
Dante ignored his greeting and, without preamble, said, “Get dressed. I have work for you.”
Asher raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. He stood and walked off to his room to put his clothes back on.
I snatched my laptop from the coffee table and started it up. With the technology Dante provided us with, it didn’t take long to find her. I discovered that Sadie had an equally gorgeous sister who worked as a veterinarian. That was mighty interesting.
“Found her,” I said, memorizing her address.
“Good,” Dante said. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. He usually avoided crossing his arms while wearing a suit because it made wrinkles in his clothes. That’s how I knew he was distracted.
While we waited for Asher to emerge, I turned to my cousin and asked, “So what’s the plan, boss?”
He looked startled, clearly lost in his thoughts. Clearing his throat, he said, “You and your brother are going to Ms. Hartville’s residence and are going to persuade her to accompany you back here.”
Ugh, of course that’s what he wanted us to do. I just knew this was not going to go well. Shit like this never did.
“And if she refuses?” I asked. Because Sadie was totally going to refuse.
A dark look crossed Dante’s face. “Then you will use any means necessary to bring her back with you.”
Inwardly, I groaned. You didn’t say no to a guy like Dante no matter who you were to him. At least you didn’t say no to him twice, not if you wanted to keep your fingers and toes.
Great. This was just great.
We parked the car right outside Sadie’s brownstone. When things went South like I knew they would, we needed to be able to get her into our car as quickly and quietly as possible. We couldn’t risk her neighbors seeing and calling the cops on us because it would make everything all the more difficult for us.
I knew Sadie Hartville was a pretty prominent gal in the modeling community, so I wouldn’t have expected her to live in a brownstone in this part of town. A condo seemed more fitting for someone of her caliber, but what did I know? Maybe she didn’t like sharing walls with her neighbors.
“Well, this is it,” Asher said, scoping out the layout of the house.
At this time of night, Sadie was probably in her bedroom. There only appeared to be one light on inside the house, indicating her bedroom was on the left and the living room was on the right. Bedrooms and bathrooms were places someone could lock themselves in. If she managed to get into one of them, we’d have to break the door down, making enough noise that the neighbors might hear it. In my experience, most people kept their guns in their bedroom so if she made it into her room, she could bring a gun into the mix.
I really didn’t want to get shot just so Dante could try to get his rocks off.
Maybe I was overanalyzing everything and Sadie would come with us, but I’ve found you could never be too prepared in these situations. I’d even checked her social media to see if she had a boyfriend who’d cause trouble for us, but I didn’t see any evidence of one. Thank God.
“I really don’t wanna do this, Ash,” I whined.
My brother looked at me and gave me a wet smile. “Let’s just hope it goes better than we both think it will and get it over with.”
“Roger,” I said, opening my door and getting out of the car.
I waited for Asher to round the car and together, we walked to the front door.
Asher curled his hand into a fist and knocked.
It took a few moments before we heard the lock turn. The door opened, revealing Sadie. She wore yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt, her hair curly and falling around her shoulders. Sadie’s face was free of any makeup and I thought she looked a lot hotter than her overdone look from the show.
Sadie frowned when she saw us, looking between us like she was trying to figure out who we were.
“Hi,” she said with uncertainty. “Do we know each other?”