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“Sorry,” I whispered to Scarlett and patted her shoulder.

She seemed completely frozen.

Axel kissed her cheek and whispered something in her ear.

Probably that he’d be back in a bit. To sneak into her room. If Uncle James found out about that he’d probably kill Axel.

My trench coat had been trampled. It was muddy and covered in squished berries. I just walked past it. I’d come help Natalivanka clean up in the morning.

My dad closed the door of the apartment.

I could hear Uncle James start yelling again through the door. Poor Scarlett and Liam.

“You kids really blew up my brother’s brain. But tell me the truth. You guys planned this, am I right?” He looked so proud.

“Yeah we did,” RJ said.

My dad high fived him. But then he turned toward me. “Your outfit isn’t on theme though, baby girl. What’s up with that? Let me guess...party foul? We’ve all spilled beer on ourselves before. Been there, done that.”

“Oh,” I laughed. “No, it wasn’t a party foul. My teacher skeeted all over my bikini so I had to change.”

Axel choked on nothing but air.

RJ bumped his shoulder against mine.

And my dad laughed. “You’re hilarious.” He put his arm around my shoulders. “Let’s get home.”

“I don’t know if I should leave Scarlett alone with Uncle James right now,” Axel said.

“It would be a lot worse if you stayed I think,” my dad said. “My brother needs a minute. But I don’t have to drop you home, if you’d prefer to stay. So you can sneak up to her room to check on her after they leave Natalivanka’s.”

I really hoped Uncle James didn’t go exploring in Natalivanka’s apartment. Or else he’d find our secret lair. And that would be so so terrible. Not just because of the fact that the secret lair existed. But because I’d left that note from Mr. Halifax on the desk. I pressed my lips together. They’d never let Uncle James down that hallway, right?

Axel nodded. “Yeah, I’ll just wait in my car for a bit.”

“Good lad.” We all stepped onto the elevator. “But did Tanner help you with this? Because he’s always bringing monkeys to stuff. You didn’t go to him instead of me, did you?”

I didn’t want to hurt my dad’s feelings. “No, someone else brought the monkeys.”

He smiled. “Good. Or else I would have had to ground you guys.” Then he laughed. “Just kidding.”

“Is Christmas really going to be cancelled?” RJ asked.

We always got together on Christmas morning for this big celebration. It was one of my favorite days of the year.

My dad laughed. “No, mini me. James can’t cancel Christmas.”

***

He was wrong. My Uncle James did cancel Christmas.

Well, not really. But it wasn’t the same. Because he was still super angry. And Scarlett and Liam didn’t receive any presents under the tree. Which seemed harsh.

Especially since RJ and I still got ours.

And everyone was way more tense than usual. My dad only tried to dick-in-the-box all my aunts twice each. He usually did it like five times.

I sat down next to Scarlett on the couch and gave her a piece of chocolate from my stocking. Hers had been full of coal.