“Tell him to stand down. I already have a plan in motion.”
“Oh really?” Walker asked. “Let’s hear it.”
“Are you out of your mind?”Mike said later that afternoon. We were all assembled in my condo.
“Greg is going to put us in a trash can and sink us in the Hudson,” my brother stated.
“Shh!” Liam hissed, clapping a hand over Mike’s mouth. “He’ll hear you!”
“He’s not even in the building,” I argued.
“He has ears everywhere,” Liam said, wiggling his fingers. We all looked over to Carl, who was on his phone.
“Who are you texting?” Walker asked, suspicious.
“No one!” Carl yelled.
“Get him!” I said.
We all jumped our youngest brother.
“Bullying!” Carl yelled as Mike pinned him down and I wrestled the phone from him.
“What the hell?” I said, swiping through it. “It’s a bunch of emojis.”
“I’m texting a girl,” Carl said proudly as Mike shoved his head down.
I scrolled through the text messages on the chat app.
“Hey, those are private!” Carl complained, trying to twist out from under Mike.
“I think you’re chatting with a bot,” I said. I handed the phone to Walker.
“She keeps trying to get you to Venmo her money. You asked her about pets, and she responded that she likes to travel,” I added. “You didn’t send the bot any money, did you?”
“It’s a real person,” Carl insisted.
Walker typed on the phone.
“Say potato.”
I peered over Walker’s shoulder. The chat bot asked if Carl liked Indian food.
“Say potato if you’re real.”
The chat bot asked Carl what he was doing that weekend.
Walker shook his head.
“You and Beck are the worst with women.”
“I didn’t fire the love of my life,” Carl retorted, snatching the phone back.
“It was a business issue,” I said, frowning, “and I just need to make a grand gesture and also give back the five-million-dollar painting of hers that I stole, then I’m golden.”
“What’s your grand gesture?” Liam asked.
I blanked. “One step at a time. I need the painting first, and you all are going to help me.”
