Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(70)

His response was almost immediate, which I found encouraging.





JR: Yes! Anytime. I have a two hour lunch that I can take whenever I want. Just tell me when and where.





I started to text him back then decided to call him. Hearing his kind voice again would bolster my confidence.

He answered on the third ring.

"Hi!" Sven said. "How are you, Bianca?" His voice was as warm as I remembered.

"I'm good. I was wondering if you wanted to meet for coffee sooner rather than later. Like now."

He didn't miss a beat. "That's perfect. Where at?"

I named off a place that I could walk to, one of the major chain coffee joints, so the place would be very public and likely crowded.

He agreed without hesitation.

"I work no more than five minutes away from there," he told me.

I found some conservative, cuffed navy shorts, with a blue and white striped boatneck shirt. I didn't want to dress up to meet my half-brother, but I didn't want to look like a slob either. I completely ignored Jackie's shoe suggestions, finding a pair of plain navy sandals with no heel to speak of.

I left my phone in the bedroom, and my purse. I only had my debit card with me when I boarded the elevator. That was a nerve-wracking endeavor, since I could hear Blake and Marion talking in another room as I waited impatiently for the elevator to arrive.

I didn't want security with me for what was already bound to be an awkward meeting, and I didn't think I was in any real danger, going out to a very public place, in broad daylight, for a brief meeting. If I could just slip away unnoticed, I could be there and back before anyone even realized that I wasn't asleep in bed. 

I had another brief moment of panic as I passed through the lobby. Johnny was there, presumably to guard me. He was leaning over the lobby desk, chatting up a receptionist, and didn't even twitch as I walked briskly out the front door.

The doorman nodded to me, and I nodded back.

"Have a pleasant day, Ms. Karlsson," he said as I strode away.

Well, he had recognized me, but perhaps it didn't matter. James had posted security. Maybe the building's staff wouldn't be notifying anyone about my activities. Either way, I was planning to be too quick to garner attention.

Still, I took a sharp turn, walking fast, just in case. I would go the roundabout way to my destination, losing any potential tails. As far as I could tell, I was successful.

It was only as I approached the entrance to the café that I realized that I had no idea who to look for. It seemed like such a ridiculous thing to overlook. Why had I thought that I would just know what he looked like? Because we shared a tainted bloodline?

I was regretting not bringing my phone as I walked through the door. It turned out that I didn't need to sweat it. I knew Sven at a glance, as he did me.

I froze at the sight of him.

He would have been devastatingly handsome, if he didn't look so much like our father.

He had pale, beige blond hair, pin straight and clean cut. His eyes were ice blue, but not cold, not like those same eyes were on that other face. His features were even and attractive, with a Nordic cast to them. He had a perfect, clear complexion.

I don't know how long I stood there, just taking him in, struck profoundly by the recognition.

He had already secured us a table, and he stood as I approached.

He was tall. Taller than Stephan, taller than James, possibly as tall as our father, though more slender than all three of them.

He was the spitting image of the monster that haunted my nightmares, and he was giving me an open, friendly smile.

"Bianca," he said by way of greeting.

We sat at the same time, just staring at each other, taking it all in.

"Sven," I said finally.

We went back to staring.

"We could be twins," he said.

That made me blink, but as I processed his words, I realized that he wasn't wrong. It was just a conclusion that my mind hadn't wanted to make on its own.

"We look like him," I told him.

He nodded, pursing his lips. "Yes."

And we did. I'd always had a hope tucked away in some distant part of my brain that I somehow resembled my mother. She'd shared my coloring, at least. Though so had my father …

All of those hopes were dashed as I stared at my half-brother, who looked so much like me and my father that I couldn't deny it anymore.

Sven seemed to read my thoughts, which was beyond disconcerting. "We may take after him in looks, but at least we didn't inherit his crazy, violent, homicidal tendencies."

Oddly, that made me smile. "You don't know me that well," I told him.

He smiled.

It was my smile, not my father's. It was a kind but sad sort of smile, and Jr.'s was less reserved than my own. "Bianca, you and I would know at a glance. We're too familiar with monsters not to recognize them on sight."