Page 16 of My Sister is Going to Kill Me

“You keep saying that. But you don’t know, do you?”

Charlie stared down the younger man.

“Our sister will find a way,” Devon said.

“All right,” Big Pete said. “But once we push off, there’s no turning back. The Colorado River isn’t an interstate. It only flows in one direction, and there are just a couple places people can hike down from the rim to the Colorado, with trails a lot steeper and more treacherous than what you just did. Let’s get to the boats.”

PK nodded, but he didn’t move. “You’re sure we shouldn’t wait for her a little longer?”

“Come now,” Charlie said. “What’s that brilliant CareFree tagline you and she have been working on all these weeks?”

“Let your worries wash away,” PK mumbled.

“Exactly,” Charlie said. “That’s what Babette wants for us. It’s what she wants for the world. Let’s go out there and grab it.”

Chapter Nine

The Colorado looked quiet, but Liv knew it held hidden dangers. She’d read about the speed with which the river could flip itself inside out in big rapids, swallowing boats and ill-prepared tourists like herself. While deaths on rafting trips were rare, injuries were not. They could smash into rocks. Get battered by waves. Tumble into a two-story hole of water. She cinched the bottom strap of her PFD tighter around her waist and tried to find something else to think about.

On the far side of the rafts, Charlie, PK, Devon, and Stefan were ignoring the river entirely. They were locked in intense conversation, presumably about their missing CEO. They all wore their white hats tightly fitted, brims straight, like a gang of golf caddies. They looked far from carefree.

“Your skin care cult,” Liv said. “They’re interesting.”

“I told you, it’s not a cult.”

Liv grazed a finger over the brim of her crystal-lined hat.

“Fine. They gave us swag. But you heard them. It’s a business.”

“How well do you know these people?” Liv asked her sister.

Mandy scrunched up her forehead. “I know what jobs they do. The siblings are at the top. Babette’s in charge. Charlie’s the finance and operations guy. And Devon runs scientific research.”

“Research?”

“All Babette skin care products are plant-derived. Devon was a botanist at Oxford before her siblings convinced her to join the family business. She goes all over the world discovering rare plants to use in their products.”

“And Stefan? Charlie called him their partner. What does he do?”

“No clue. But Babette isn’t about its executives. It’s about transforming wild plants into healing magic.” Mandy rambled on about Babette Botanique’s revolutionary serums that cured everything from eczema to chronic fatigue, but Liv kept her attention on the group by the second raft. Stefan looked somber; Charlie and PK, nervous. Devon’s face was flushed, her eyes dark blades as she spoke to the men. Maybe she was the one in charge now. Liv had a sudden vision of the tall scientist atop a tractor in the Amazon, clear-cutting rainforest to gain access to an endangered plant whose roots she would grind into antiaging fairy dust.

Liv didn’t particularly like these people, but she was intrigued by them. They were a puzzle she felt a growing itch to solve.

“Do you think they really want her to get here?” Liv said.

“Babette?” Mandy said. “Of course. This is her launch. And look at them—they’re lost without her.”

Liv wasn’t sure. Were they lost? Or were they jockeying for power in the absence of their dear leader?

“Charlie and Devon seemed quick to discount the idea that she might be in trouble,” Liv said. “Maybe they were just trying to keep everyone calm in a tough situation. Or there’s some benefit to them having a couple of days down here without her. Maybe life is easier when their glitter-bombing little sister isn’t around.”

Mandy flashed her an annoyed glance.

“I’m not talking about you,” Liv said quickly. “I’m glad we’re here. But could you imagine what it would be like if we worked together? If we had to make strategic decisions every single day? If one of us was the boss of the other?”

“Could be a blast,” Mandy said.

It would be a nightmare. But Liv was smart enough not to voice that out loud. “I’m just saying, it sounds challenging. Especially with a CEO as powerful as your Babette. The more I think about it, the more it seems possible that Charlie and Devon knew she wouldn’t be here. They argued about it, but every time PK brought up the prospect of going back, they found a way to shut him down.”