Though Thorne didn't tell Kate, this was only the second time that Thorne had flown somewhere to be with a client. This flight was better than the one with Blakely, because it was shorter and Blakely wasn't with him. It was a little strange to meet Kate for the first time in Philadelphia, rather than fly with her, but it gave him an uneventful few hours to get his mind in the game.

The woman sitting next to him was attractive, and he considered asking her a few times if her final destination was Philadelphia. He had booked his ticket through the following weekend, after all, and might enjoy some company.

But every time she looked up at him, giving her a smile that made him believe she welcomed the idea, he thought of Cress. He wondered how she was doing. If she liked New York. If her job was turning out to be worth it. If there was some guy on Broadway that she was already in love with.

So he just smiled back politely at the woman but didn't engage, closing his eyes and telling himself to forget Cress. He had made sure that all of his travel plans included locations south of New York City. After the weekend in Philadelphia, he had booked a hotel for himself in Baltimore, and then later, in D.C. He hadn't spent much time on the East Coast, and luckily he had already been to New York City. Then there was no temptation to take a little drive to see a certain someone, because he would be too far away for a little drive.

It also eliminated the possibility of sending a message to her phone number, which he, of course, still had, saying something stupid like, "Hey! I'm only two hours away. Want to get a drink?"

That was exactly the type of thing one of his clients would do when she was missing her ex-boyfriend, crush, or whoever Thorne was being hired to replace.

He had practically invented the 'do not contact' rule for exes.

Would Cress really be considered an ex, though?

He thanked the stars when they landed and all of his attention had to pool into how to put his new client at ease. He stopped in the bathroom to double check his appearance. He had packed everything he needed in his carry-on in case there was any luggage mishap. Not having the right clothes for a wedding could certainly make Kate uncomfortable. He ran a comb through his hair and splashed an extra dash of Lady Luck on his collar.

With his jacket slung over his arm, he strolled out of the bathroom with renewed purpose. This was a dream job. Weddings were a piece of cake, literally. There was some dancing, alcohol, good food, a few annoying relatives, and a nice hotel room.

And this time, he wouldn't have to be in the same bed as anyone.

He wouldn't fall for anyone.

He would barely even need to kiss anyone.

Unless he wanted to kiss someone.

And then he was free to explore two awesome cities and make some new memories that didn't include Cress.

Aces and spades and stars! He was still thinking about her!

Thorne caught a glimpse of the woman who had been sitting next to him on the plane. She was bending over to drink from a water fountain ahead of him, and the view wasn't bad. He waited until she had straightened before he approached her.

"We meet again."

"Must be destiny," she said, grinning as though it were exactly that.

He let the line slip by with a gesture for them to keep walking. After all, he just wanted some company until he made it to Kate.

"I was actually hoping we would talk on the plane," she said.

Thorne nodded. "I was tired."

"Big plans?"

"I'm going to a wedding."

"A wedding? How lovely!"

Thorne gave her a charming grin.

He immediately regretted it when she added, "Need a date?"

"I'm actually meeting my date here. She's picking me up."

"Oh! I'm sorry."

Feeling a guilt that normally didn't befall him, he said, "My fault. I should have been more clear."

Looking hurt, she nodded and disappeared into the next women's bathroom. Luckily, she had accompanied him to the baggage claim, where Kate had said to meet at Exit 3. So he waited, taking a strategic seat near the exit where he couldn't be snuck up on.

He took in each woman that had "brown hair and brown eyes" and was around twenty-five years old. He was expecting someone who either looked a little too put together, or not put together at all. He also took out his contract and placed it face down on the seat next to him. It accomplished two tasks: one, reserve a seat for her so they could have a chat comfortably, and second, to make sure he didn't forget to go over the rules one more time and get her signature right away.

He forgot that he was waiting for Kate entirely when he recognized someone.

Two someones.

He turned in his chair discreetly, looking in the opposite direction of the exit. A bead of sweat rolled down his neck. What was this? The universe's way of telling him that Cress would haunt him forever? Or was it supposed to be a sign that he should call her after all?

And what the stars were Cinder and Iko doing in Philadelphia?

"Carswell!"

Aces, they had spotted him. He called up a surprised smile. "Ladies! Fancy meeting you here."

Iko grinned and threw her arms around him. "You came! And you look fantastic. This is perfect. Perfect."

Behind her, Cinder refused to look at him. She had a certain air about her — it reminded him of how he had felt when he'd tricked the woman on the plane into walking with him.

Iko's words also sank in.

He pulled away. "Wait a minute. 'You came'?"

Iko beamed. "We took bets. And then our own flight was delayed, so we were worried we wouldn't make it before you did. But you're here, we're here, and I win the bet." She held her hand out to Cinder. "Pay up."

Thorne was still trying to catch up with her words. His eyes went from Iko, who was so excited she was now bouncing back and forth on her heels, to Cinder, who still refused to look at him. His eyes narrowed. "When you say, 'we were worried we wouldn't make it before you did'…"

"That's right," said Iko, almost giddy. "There's no Kate."

Thorne got to his feet.

Cinder groaned. "Great subtlety, Iko."

"How else were we supposed to get you out here?"

"Ohhh, no. No way." He set his jaw. Gripped the handlebar of his suitcase. Spun on his heels. "No effin' way."

He made it about ten steps before Iko was in front of him. "Wait! You haven't even heard us out."

"Told you," Cinder said.

"Heard you out? I had plenty of time to hear you out on the phone while you were pretending to be Kate. This is…" He didn't even know what it was. No wonder he had recognized Kate's voice. It had clearly been Iko.

"We have a contract," Cinder called behind him, but there was no conviction in her voice.

Thorne paused, and not only because he was almost crashing into Iko. Cinder held up the stack of papers he had placed on the seat next to him while waiting for "Kate."

He let go of his suitcase and snatched the contract out of her hands.

"I created a contract for someone named Kate. You two"—he pointed between Cinder and Iko—"are not Kate."

"I can if you want me to be," said Iko.

Thorne ripped up the contract. Iko gasped.

"There. Null and void."

He straightened his blazer, took a deep breath, and reclaimed his suitcase.

"You don't even know why we brought you here," said Cinder. "Aren't you even the least bit curious?"

"If you think that I'm going to go to Winter's wedding as someone's fake date just so Cress and I will 'coincidentally' show up in the same room again, you're delusional." He let out a laugh. "But you pretended to be a different person and flew me to Philadelphia. So, clearly, you're both on the delusional side."

Iko fisted her hands on her hips. "Excuse me? You pretend to be someone else for a living. We're just beating you at your own game."

"Well—"

"Wait a minute." Cinder made the time-out sign. "We're not going to Winter's wedding."

"We're—we're not?"

"Winter isn't getting married for months. And why would she get married in Philadelphia when both her and Jacin's families are in Minnesota?"

"I don't know!" Thorne said, rubbing his temple. "I'm the one who's being played for a fool here!"

"We're sorry," said Cinder.

Iko snorted. "We are not. It was a genius plan crafted by me. I have no problem owning up to that because this is going to work."

"And what is 'this' exactly?" Thorne said. "What are we doing in Philadelphia?"

"Well, we were originally going to get a ticket to New York…"

Thorne crossed his arms. "Mhm."

"But it turns out that on short notice, it's really hard to get a ticket to New York. Especially on Valentine's Day weekend. Newark was booked too, so Philadelphia was the closest major airport. Turns out Upstate New York can be as far as seven hours away from New York City. Who would've thought?" She shrugged as Thorne glared at her. "Anyway, not that many people wanted to go to Philadelphia this weekend. Maybe because it's called the City of Brotherly Love. Who wants to hang out with their brother on Valentine's Day, right?"

Cinder cleared her throat. "We're taking you to New York to see Cress, Thorne. By rental car."

"And she knows that I'm here with you? Cress? She knows you tricked me into coming to Philadelphia so that I can drive to New York with you to see her?"

"Um…"

"That's what I thought."

Thorne grabbed his suitcase and took off. He didn't know where to go, and found the Philadelphia airport one of the stupidest airports in the world. Several random hallways later, he was outside in the blistering cold. Granted, nothing was as blisteringly cold as Minnesota, but it was not a great day to be stuck outside.

His hands shook, but he didn't think it was from the cold.

He got in line for a cab. He didn't have anywhere to go, but the cab driver could probably recommend hotel. Then he could sightsee in Philadelphia this weekend and continue on his way to Baltimore and D.C. as scheduled.

He felt like such an idiot.

"Carswell."

Cinder and Iko had followed him.

Of course they had.

"Carswell, please," said Cinder. "We'll take you to lunch and explain. And we're obviously still going to pay you, even if you ripped up our contract." She pulled out a thick envelope. "$6,000, as you requested."

Thorne jumped out of line, nearly tripping over the rope. "What are you doing?" he hissed, putting his arms up and around Cinder and Iko. "You can't just announce that you have six grand. Someone's going to mug you out here!"

"Let them try," said Cinder with an eye roll, stuffing the envelope back in her jacket. "Now come on, let us buy you lunch."

"It's on Kai," Iko added.

Thorne looked at the cab line, which had filled up in his brief absence. He hadn't eaten on the plane because he hadn't felt like paying for food. He was supposed to be going to family get together in a few hours.

While it wasn't the family that he'd expected, there was no harm in going to lunch with Cinder and Iko, he supposed. He could get his bearings and figure out what he would do after that. He had enjoyed both Cinder and Iko's presence at the cabin, after all.

This didn't have to be about Cress.

"It's Thorne," he said, pushing his suitcase at them. "Let's eat."

Cinder reluctantly took his suitcase and led the way, taking them to a parking lot. As she loaded his suitcase into the trunk, she said, "Do you have a preference for the type of food?"

"Anywhere I can get a drink.' He tried to get into shotgun but took a seat in the back when Iko wagged a threatening finger at him.

It was silent as Cinder drove, with Thorne slumping in his seat and Iko taking directions from their rented GPS. He couldn't believe that he had talked himself into going out to lunch with Cress's cousins. This was exactly why he didn't want to hang out with Kai and Ze'ev, even if they were cool guys. Being in a car with Cinder and Iko brought up too many memories of being in a car with Sage and Cress, and then Winter, Jacin, and Cress. It was like the empty seat next to him had her name on it.

When they got on a highway with arrows that pointed in the direction of NEW YORK CITY, Thorne bolted up in his seat. "Wait!"

Cinder locked the car.

Iko turned around in her seat. "This is an intervention. Cinder and I flew all the way here from Minneapolis. We flew you all the way from Minneapolis. Do you really think we're going to waste our money taking you to lunch and then letting you get away? Consider yourself kidnapped and on the way to New York."

Thorne scowled and sank back in his seat. "You have to stop eventually. And when you do, I will inevitably overpower you and get out of this car."

"Look," Cinder said, "Iko is a drama queen. Don't listen to her. We just want to talk to you, and if you still decide you don't want $6,000 after that, we'll let you go. But according to the GPS, it's going to take us more than two hours to get to New York City because it's Friday and it's rush hour and as you can see"—she gestured around them—"this highway is a parking lot and we haven't even left Philadelphia yet. Iko and I are going to New York City no matter what, so we might as well talk to you while we drive."

"You're paying for my trip back to Philadelphia," Thorne said.

Iko shook her head at him, her blue braids bouncing against the seat. "You're not as hot when you're mad."

"Thanks."

She blew him a kiss. "I'm single now, you know."

"Iko," said Cinder.

"What happened to Liam?" asked Thorne.

"I dumped his sorry ass."

"Good for you."

"Iko, focus on Cress," said Cinder, then pressed on her horn. "Get in your lane!" she yelled at a car.

Iko grinned, still looking back at him. "As you know from some of the men in our family, we took care of Levana and Sybil. Cress' parents don't know that she hired you, and it's going to stay that way. But by the time we orchestrated that, it was too late. Cress was moving to New York the next day."

"So what part of 'too late' do the two of you not get?" Thorne grumbled. After a moment, he added, "Thanks for taking care of the evil aunts. I've been worried about Cress."

"So have we," said Cinder.

"Yes…," said Iko, frowning for the first time. "We didn't know that Cress felt so ostracized by our family. Winter filled us in on what happened with you and—"

"That bitch."

"Cress?" said Iko.

"No," said Thorne. "Winter. If Cress confided in Winter, why did she have to tell all of you?"

"Because it concerns all of us," said Iko defensively. "And I'm the one who figured out how to take down Sybil and Levana. Winter wanted to help her sister but couldn't figure out a plan on her own."

"She's still on my—" Thorne bit his tongue. "Where is she, anyway? Winter?"

Iko and Cinder exchanged a look. "Things didn't end on the best note between them. Winter thought it best if we came alone."

"Why the two of you?"

"What?" said Iko. "We can't have a girls' weekend in NYC?"

"If I'm with you, it's not a girls' weekend."

Cinder sighed and switched lanes. "Scarlet and Ze'ev have an appointment for the baby on Monday and didn't want to risk getting delayed on the way back."

"Jacin's not going because Winter's not going," Iko continued, "and Kai…well, he wanted to come but Cinder and I decided to look for a wedding dress in New York!"

"You decided," Cinder corrected.

"So, of course, Kai isn't going to come!" Iko finished.

Thorne had to smile as Cinder grimaced in the rearview mirror.

"Plus, you're expensive, Carswell!"

"Thorne."

"Right, Thorne. So here we are, just the two of us in New York for the weekend."

"We love Cress, we really do," said Cinder. "We feel bad that we haven't shown her that."

"And since she's all the way out here, we thought we'd send the love to her!" Iko beamed. "In the form of you!"

Thorne groaned.

"And what a nice form you have, Captain." Iko giggled and covered her mouth.

Thorne looked away. It was too bizarre having people know what he did for a living and then calling him out on it. And while a compliment never hurt, he was still annoyed that they had tricked him into coming here.

"No, listen, Thorne," said Cinder, "it's all going to work out. Everyone thought you and Cress were great together."

"Because we were faking it."

"You were not! Not the whole time. We could tell. We can tell now."

Thorne didn't say anything.

"For you to earn your $6,000," Iko continued, "all we want you to do is meet with Cress. Talk. See how it goes. See what develops from there."

"Not happening."

He stared out the window.

Neither of the girls said anything for a while.

"Is that the problem, then?" Iko said, suddenly not so chirpy anymore. She stared at him with round, sad eyes. "You really don't love Cress after all? You don't even want to give it a shot?"

"The problem isn't me," he said to the window. Something heavy pressed against his chest but he ignored it. "Your surprise may come out of good intentions, but you clearly don't know Cress at all."

"Why not?" said Iko.

"Cress won't appreciate being surprised. She's going to act like she's excited to see you but really she'll want to disappear. And then, even worse, you're bringing me. What do you want me to say to her? I'm the one who wanted something more with Cress. She—" He shook his head. Cleared his throat. "She gave up. I'm over it."

"You don't sound over it."

"Yeah, well…you're holding me in a car against my will."

"So what you're saying is…," Iko said slowly, "maybe we should have flown Cress to you instead?"

Thorne finally looked at her. He shrugged and shifted, uncomfortable under her scrutiny. "All I'm saying is, a surprise plus the guy she doesn't want to be with? Who you're paying to visit her? I wish you would have consulted me first. I could have saved all of us a trip."

Iko drew back into her seat and sighed heavily. Thorne watched the red lights of the cars around them go on and off. They had barely moved at all. Maybe he should just jump out of the car here and hitch a ride back to the airport.

"Sorry we didn't ask you first," Cinder said. "We didn't know that you and Cress had already had a chance to talk things through."

"You weren't at the goodbye party we threw her, though," Iko said firmly. "We asked about you. I don't think Cress was being honest about her feelings."

"Yeah, not being honest seems to be Cress's specialty," he said bitterly, remembering how she'd dropped the New York bomb on him after a perfect night together.

Still, a little bit of hope tugged at his heart at Cinder's words.

But hope made him feel worse about the entire situation. He had allowed himself to hope twice with Cress already. He wouldn't give himself a third chance to get shot down again.

Cress had moved to New York to get away from it all.

That included him.

"I'm sorry that we pushed you," Cinder said.

"You could come dress shopping with us tomorrow," Iko added.

"I think I'll pass."

"At least come to New York with us. We already paid for a room and everything."

At that, Thorne perked up. "You mean, you weren't counting on me staying at Cress's?"

"A girl can hope," said Iko, "but that seemed a little too perfect, even for us. We got you a hotel room."

"A separate room?"

"Like we wanna share a room with you," Cinder said.

"For the record, I would," said Iko.

Thorne considered this development. He needed a place to spend the night anyway. He was stuck in this car until they at least got out of traffic. In a city of 8.5 million people, there was no way he'd run into Cress unless he made it happen himself. It was just one night, after all.

But one night could change everything.

He knew this far too well.