"I want things."
"Na one thing you’ve wanted just for you in the last year. Sothing that wasn’t for or for our future or for so practical reason."
Isaiah opened his mouth, then closed it.
"Exactly." Iris poked his arm triumphantly. "This is the first ti I’ve seen you actually want sothing just because you want it. It’s weird, but also kind of nice."
"It doesn’t matter what I want," Isaiah said quietly. "The reality is, I work for them. Getting involved with an employer—any employer—crosses professional lines I can’t afford to cross."
"Even if she kissed you first?"
"Even then."
Iris studied her brother. He looked so tired, shoulders curving inward, face pale except for the dark circles under his eyes. Always carrying too much. Always putting everyone else first.
"You need to figure out which one it was," she said finally.
"And how exactly would I go about doing that?"
"Process of elimination." Iris counted on her fingers, ticking them off one by one with the practiced authority of soone who had clearly thought about this for longer than she should have. "You’ve got Harlow, who sounds like she was genetically engineered to be everyone’s best friend. Cassidy, who you’re supposed to be tutoring when she’s not driving you insane. Sabrina, who apparently has you making ran at midnight like so kind of live-in chef. And Vivienne, who frankly sounds like soone designed her in a lab specifically to run a fashion empire and strike fear into the hearts of underclassn."
"That’s not fair. Vivienne’s not a robot."
There was a half-second of silence.
Iris’s eyebrow climbed toward her hairline, slow and deliberate, the way it always did when she knew she’d caught him at sothing. "Interesting. Out of everything I just said, that’s the one you felt the need to defend."
Isaiah said nothing.
"Is she the one you’re hoping it was?"
His ears went red. The tips of them, a deep, embarrassing scarlet that he could feel radiating heat like he was seventeen instead of eighteen. "I didn’t say that."
"You really didn’t have to." Iris’s grin spread wide across her face, the kind she got when she had winning cards and knew it. "Your ears are doing the thing."
"My ears aren’t doing any—" Isaiah stopped himself. He exhaled slowly through his nose and looked at the ceiling like it might offer him so relief. It didn’t. "Can we drop this, please? It has been a very long day, and I have to be up at four-thirty tomorrow."
"Fine, but this conversation isn’t over." Iris stood up. "I need to know which one of these girls is trying to steal my brother away with her feminine wiles."
"Nobody is stealing away with any wiles, feminine or otherwise."
"That’s what they all say until BAM!" Iris clapped her hands together. "You’re married with two kids and a house in Beverly Hills, and you only visit your poor abandoned sister on holidays."
Isaiah actually laughed at that. "I promise, no matter what happens with the Valentine sisters, I will never abandon you."
"Not even for billion-dollar heiresses with their fancy dresses and mansions and whatever else rich people have?"
"Not even for them." Isaiah’s face softened. "You’re stuck with , gremlin. Forever."
"Good." Iris yawned. "Because soone needs to make sure these Valentine girls are worthy of you."
"I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be the other way around."
"Nope. You’re the prize here." Iris headed for her bedroom door. "And I need to approve anyone who thinks they deserve you."
"That’s not how real life works."
"It is in this apartnt." Iris stopped in the doorway and turned back. "Hey, Zay?"
"Yeah?"
"If you had to guess which one kissed you, who would it be?"
Isaiah was quiet for so long that Iris thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then, so softly she almost didn’t hear it:
"Vivienne."
Iris nodded slowly. "The robot?"
"She’s not a robot."
"But you want it to be her?"
Another long pause. "I don’t know what I want."
Iris recognized the lie imdiately. Her brother knew exactly what he wanted. He just wouldn’t let himself admit it.
"Well, figure it out," she said. "Because I’m not letting so random Valentine sister take you away unless she’s absolutely perfect."
"Nobody’s taking away."
"We’ll see." Iris closed her bedroom door behind her, mind already racing.
Tomorrow. She’d skip her last class—not English, she couldn’t afford another absence there, but definitely PE—and take the train to Manhattan. She knew where Hartwell Academy was located. She could casually hang out near the entrance until school let out, spot the four identical sisters, and then...
Well, she’d figure that part out when she got there. The important thing was to see these Valentine girls for herself. Judge whether any of them were worthy of her brother.
Because Isaiah might think he could hide his feelings behind practicality and professionalism, but Iris knew better. She’d seen his face when he said Vivienne’s na. The softening around his eyes. The slight catch in his voice.
He was falling for her. Maybe had already fallen.
And Iris needed to know if Vivienne Valentine—or whichever sister had actually kissed him—deserved soone as good as Isaiah.
She pulled out her phone and opened the notes app, creating a new docunt titled "Valentine Sister Investigation." At the top, she typed:
MISSION: Determine which Valentine kissed Zay and if she’s worthy
SUSPECTS:
Harlow - friendly, fashion girl, hugs a lot???
Cassidy - tutor student, angry but probably secretly nice
Sabrina - midnight ran girl, mysterious
Vivienne - robot boss lady, Zay’s favorite apparently
Iris stared at the list, feeling a strange mix of excitent and worry. Her brother never did anything for himself. Always putting her first, making sure she had everything she needed. Working himself to exhaustion, giving up his own dreams.
Maybe, just maybe, one of these Valentine girls would be good for him. Soone who could take care of him for a change.
"But she better be perfect," Iris muttered, closing the notes app. "Absolutely perfect."
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