"Yeah, but you don't know what Anke is like," Adrian said. "It was like she had me under a spell."
"You can't just use that as an excuse," Garrett snapped.
"It will never happen again," Adrian promised.
"It better not," Garrett told him. "Whatever the bank doesn't recover, you're going to work to pay back. Blood, sweat, and tears."
"Absolutely," Adrian said.
"You will start by getting lunch," Garrett said.
An hour later, Adrian was organizing the supply closet. He had ordered me a sandwich, but it sat untouched on my desk. The window was fixed. It was like Josie had never been there. I wondered if I had been too harsh. I was willing to give Adrian another chance, after all.
But Adrian is my brother. And he's not even twenty. He's just a kid. Josie should have known better.
I shook off the regret. It was 1:15, and I had a conference call.
I spent the rest of the day distracting myself with work. At 3:20 I left the office. My younger brothers would be back from school, and I wanted to spend time with them. It was unnerving that Anke had so easily found a couple to basically buy one of my brothers. I did have a lot of brothers, but I wouldn't trade a single one away.
I made Adrian come home with me. Payslee and Anke were still at large. The FBI hadn't found them, and Payslee's lawyer didn't know where either of them were. I had the whole house on lockdown. Several of my other brothers had come into town to make sure the kids didn't wander off. They were all cooped up inside and restless.
"Is Josie coming back?" Isaac asked when he saw me.
"No," I told him.
"Seriously? I need her to help me with a presentation!"
"She promised she would help me make a logo for my business," Otto whined.
"What business?" I asked him. "You're twelve."
"I'm making T-shirt designs to sell online," Otto boasted.
"What?"
Weston shrugged from his spot on the couch. "Kid's an entrepreneur."
"What's for dinner?" Theo whined. "I'm hungry."
"Josie was going to make pizza tonight. She promised," Billy said, looking at me, annoyed.
"Well she's not here, is she? And she's not coming back, so find something else to eat," I barked.
"I don't see why," Isaac persisted. "It was Adrian's fault."
"It wasn't Adrian's fault," I said.
"I mean, it kind of was Adrian's fault," Archer said. He was eating a muffin and sharing pieces of it with several of the kids.
"Did you bring that back from Chloe?" I asked.
"No, actually Josie made this," he said. "It's really good. She said they were from some health-food recipe someone had posted online. She modified it because she said applesauce was no substitute for butter. But hey, it's got fiber and like half a zucchini in a single muffin. You can't even taste it. You should try it. It's good," he said, holding out a piece.
I ignored my twin. "I don't want Adrian being blamed," I told my brothers. "Anke is the person at fault."
"Then why isn't Josie here?" Arlo shot back.
"I don't want to hear anything more about it!" I yelled at them. "We'll have baked chicken and steamed vegetables for dinner."
