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Cranking my head around, I find a face I never expected to see before. He stands at the end of a passenger van parked haphazardly half on the sidewalk.

“You?”

The burglar who was shot.

His face lights up in amusement. “It must be my lucky day.”

And then, before I can react or run, two men rush from the back of the van scooping up not only me but Beanie in the process.

And all I can do is allow the regret and terror to fill me that Beanie has managed to get sucked into the whirlwind of my misfortune.

I don’t have time to process before a rag covers my face, and a chemical scent floods my lungs.

The last I see is Orzo sprinting down the sidewalk, the van’s doors shut, and unconsciousness takes me under.

60

The Lid is Off the Cookie Jar

Reuben

“Let me leave,” Orzo clips into my ear.

He is buzzing in his chair, bouncing on his heels, and appears to be one single minute away from levitating.

“You need to stay while we sort this out,” Benedict snaps, interjecting, his fist pounding down like a gavel.

We are in the meeting room that is next to my office. We all sit at a large oval metal table. The most important figureheads of both the Barleys and Rouxs are in this room.

Every seat is taken.

Benedict, his two sisters, myself, Orzo, Colby, and...

Kale stands behind me, I don’t have to turn to see that his arms are crossed. His energy is palpable.

Deservedly so. It had been over a decade since an Aldente was in the same room with the other families.

“Why is he here? You still haven’t answered the question.” Benedict’s eyes cut to the man behind me.

“There’s been a…development.”

Benedict’s eyes narrow in anger, but beside him his more elusive sister rests a hand on his shoulder. “Let him explain. We need to recycle our anger. Utilize it to better ourselves,” she advises sagely.

Benedict places his hand on top of hers. “You always were the voice of reason. But you haven’t been a part of our lives for years. Not since your daughter…”

His sister jolts, narrowing her eyes. Her rusty hair is sewn in with a tapestry of grays, but her eyes are sharp and piercing. A rainbow spectrum.

I had never met this woman in person before, only knew about her from Brandy and Benedict. She had decided to stay far outside the families as her blood would allow her.

“Daughter?” I ask.

I was not aware of any more Barleys. It was my understanding Maple was the last daughter.

“Tell them.” Kale is the one to speak from behind me, moving forward until he stares down Benedict’s sister. “Tell him who your daughter was.”

Benedict’s sister, Sherry, gets to her feet, returning Kale’s intensity. “Honey was a misguided woman. But it was her choice not to marry your father. Just as it was my choice to allow my grandchild to stay outside of the family.”

“Honey’s daughter? Your grandchild? Cinnamon?”