“That depends—on his level of resistance, his ability to put two and two together, and his ego.”
“Zero, low, and immense,” she said.
“Your mother might also be upset.”
“I just want the clothes.” Faraday gestured at herself. “Have you not noticed? I have a whole new look going on.”
I had noticed. Over a gray button-down, she wore a pinstriped blazer, navy blue and gray, right out of the Morton closets. Aunt Veronica’s aqua fountain pen was in the breast pocket. The lipstick she’d started wearing was very close to Grandmother Elizabeth’s oxblood.
“That’s just money,” I said.
“Marlow still uses checks, because Dad did. You think they’d call him to confirm a check for, say, five grand?”
I shook my head. If they did, we’d deal with it.
Faraday had given us the codes for the alarms at her Boston house. We were on our way to collecting the Wilbert-Lees’ banking passwords, the combinations to their safes, the keys to deposit boxes. A full audit of their finances was already underway.
With all that in hand, we could present ourselves to Marlow and explain the situation, and he would become a signatory as well. Eventually the whole family would be made to understand.
In the meantime, I had his signature from the contracts on Faraday’s phone. If Gertie was bored enough to do favors for Peter, she could do one for me.
“We’ll get you that check. Let’s save the rest for when we really need it.”
“Why wait though? We’re only going to need it once.”
I smiled. Faraday wanted the next stage to happen. She wanted to step into a shiny new world, a place she couldn’t come back from. But it was too soon.
Aunt Veronica had explained that pacing was everything. Like adding sugar to a meringue, slowly, evenly, giving the crystals time to dissolve into their new form—that was how to incorporate a new family into the Morton way.
“Listen, dear,” I began.
My phone lit up. A text from Garrett.
See you this summer.
Something uncoiled in my chest.
“Your face,” Faraday said. “Did you win the lottery?”
“New York is a go.”
She dropped her fork, reached across, and grabbed my injured hand. “A train ride from Boston! Thank god you didn’t wind up somewhere boring. I would have visited anyway, but this isperfect.”
“Yes,” I said. “Ouch.”
She released me. “I’ve never seen you smile like this.”
I brought order to my face. It was my only real weakness—the approval of my family, the rush of winning a prized assignment.
As far as I knew, Sebastian hadn’t even been considered.
Faraday leaned closer. “Such happiness. Is there something you’re not telling me, dear?”
I looked around. We were practically alone. This was an opportunity to bond, and to distract Faraday from wanting her brother brought to heel.
“There might be somebody in New York.”
Her eyes went wide. “Somebody? Since when is anybody a somebody?”
