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I’d bet my fencing hand that whatever will Vera had summoned at the reading was fake. Too bad I didn’t have the money to hire representation to fight her.
Until then, I planned on playing nice and lowering her guard.
“Mrs. Ballantine.” I recognized Zach’s husky, concise tenor. He dripped authority. The kind of person you’d trust, even if he told you to dip your head in lava. “I hope I’m not intruding.”
“Intruding?” I pictured Vera literally waving the idea away. “Absolutely not. Come on in, please. My daughter was just making dinner. How do you like lasagna?”
However he felt toward the dish as a concept, he sure wasn’t going to enjoy licking scraps off the floor. Tabitha had been shocked to discover the dish’s handles were hot and dropped the entire thing.
A horde of footsteps stampeded down the hall.
“I’m not here for long.” Zach’s voice—confident, bored, and formidable—grew closer. “In fact, I have an unconventional ask of you.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as if it’d make a difference.
Please, don’t stop in the kitchen.
Please, don’t stop in the kitchen.
Please, don’t?—
Bright white light crept past the shutters on the pantry door.
I held my breath, inching my entire spine as tight against the shelves of canned goods as possible. Chairs scraped the tiles, not even a dozen feet from me.
Shit, shit, shit.
If the bastard wanted sugar for his coffee, they’d open this pantry and I’d be busted.
My fingers itched to stab his beautiful face with the spatula in my hand.
Why’d he come here?
It wasn’t like I’d actually managed to steal the pendant.
Yet.
From the horizontal slats, I saw Vera lean toward Zach.
“Anything.” She edged nearer when he sloped back. “These are my daughters, by the way. I don’t think you had the chance to properly meet them at the party—thank you so much for the invite, by the way.” No answer. “This is Tabitha, and this one is Regina. Tabitha is an acclaimed food vlogger, and Regina is the marketing director of our housekeeping company.”
Tell me your children are jobless without telling me they’re jobless.
Tabby and Reggie stopped fighting for the seat beside Zach to wave.
“Heeey,” Reggie screeched in a fake voice. “Ohmigod, thanks so much for inviting us to your party. Like, grateful doesn’t begin to cover it.”
Ha.
If Grateful met Reggie in a dark alley, it would run screaming. I wasn’t sure she could spell the word, let alone feel it.
“No need to thank me. Your mother included it as a clause in the pendant sale.”
Ouch.
He was extra arctic today. I already felt the frostbite.
Tabby hip-checked Reggie out of the way. “I’m so happy we finally get to meet one-on-one.” She offered a hand. “You and I have hungout in the same circles forever. Seems like we always miss one another.”
