Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself.
The serving boy turned a corner and stopped in front of a nondescript door. Everything was dim and damp back here, looking like it hadn’t been cleaned in years, never mind used to serve customers.
“If you need anything, I’ll be outside.” The serving boy opened the door.
Lord Cai walked in promptly, Juliette close on his heels. A part of her had already decided that this was going to be a quaint teaching lesson. Perhaps a sparse meal laid out to show how quickly they could lose everything they had.
The last thing she had expected to find inside the room, seated at a round table, was Lord Montagov and Roma.
Juliette’s eyes bugged, her hand fumbling at her sleeve for a weapon, more out of shock and automatic instinct than any real preparation for a fight. While she clutched at air, however, Roma bolted to his feet and actually drew his pistol, ready to shoot.
Until his father said, “Hold on, boy.”
Roma blinked, his arm receding back an inch. The gray light streaming in from the filmy windows gave him an eerie appearance, or perhaps that was just him now, his mouth an angry slash, his jaw tight enough to resemble stone. “What—”
“I sent an invitation to meet,” Lord Montagov said. Then he switched from Russian to Chinese. “Sit, Roma.”
Slowly, Roma sat.
“Bàba,” Juliette hissed. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Sit, Juliette,” Lord Cai simply echoed. When Juliette didn’t move, he closed a hand over her elbow and gently guided her to the table, leaning close to his daughter and whispering, “The perimeter is secure. It is not an ambush.”
“If it were, it is not like they would declare it,” Juliette whispered back. She plopped ungraciously into a seat, resting only half her thigh so she could leap up at a moment’s notice.
“Yes, you mustn’t worry, Miss Cai,” Lord Montagov declared. “There are only so many times you can ambush someone before they come to expect it.”
Juliette felt her chest go cold. Lord Montagov, meanwhile, was smiling, and the sight itself would have been terrible enough, but it was rendered even more abhorrent because . . . it looked so much like Roma’s smile.
How dare he.
“You—”
Juliette lunged over the table, knife out, but Roma was quicker. His pistol pressed into her forehead, and Juliette froze, her breath escaping in a quick sound through her clenched teeth.
When Juliette dared meet Roma’s eyes, she found only loathing. It shouldn’t have hurt so badly when this was her fault. The image was only right, only fitting. Who else would he hold a gun to but his enemy? Who else should he defend save his own father?
It shouldn’t have hurt so badly, and yet it did.
I did this, Juliette thought numbly. You told me you would choose me above all else, and then I did this to us.
She had put him back on the side of his own father, who had caused Nurse’s death, who had threatened to kill him if Roma couldn’t kill her. It almost didn’t seem worth it. Almost, almost—but Juliette was making the exact same choice Roma had. At least he would be alive, whatever the consequences she had to swallow.
“Juliette,” Lord Cai warned again, though his command was soft. “Knife away, please.”
With her teeth gritted even harder, Juliette pushed the blade back into her sleeve. Roma, in courteous response, set the pistol down on the table within reaching distance.
“It is much nicer to be civil, is it not?” Lord Montagov said. “I have a proposition. And it involves you, Miss Cai.”
Juliette narrowed her eyes. She didn’t prompt him to go ahead. She only waited.
“I would like you to cooperate with my son.”
Juliette immediately jerked against her seat, her head snapping in Roma’s direction. He did not react. He had known already—had agreed.
“I do beg your pardon,” Juliette managed. “Why would I do that?”
“Don’t you wish to find who is sending the threats?” Lord Montagov asked. “The two of you have the foreign language skills to socialize into the French Concession. Sending a gangster in alone is asking for trouble, but pairing enemies together . . . oh, the foreigners would not know what to do.”
What game is he playing at? Juliette remained quiet. Something was afoot here, and she didn’t like it.
“It is a good idea, Juliette,” Lord Cai said, finally speaking up. His voice was even, almost bored. “If both gangs are receiving threats, then nothing will scare the blackmailer more than us teaming up, however momentarily. Both Scarlet Gang and White Flowers walk out of this with a third enemy defeated.”