AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Where should we go?” Richard asked. “Back to Vegas? Europe? I know a guy who runs a game outside of Paris.”
I looked up at him, Richard’s face so familiar it might as well have been my own.
“I’m not going with you,” I said. “I’m done.”
Richard looked confused. “With what?”
“With that life. With gambling and stolen gems. I’m done with the Notorious O’Neills. I want something better.”
“Done with it?” his dad asked, laughing. “Oh, so you’re just going to be someone else now? Like it’s that easy? You never graduated high school and you have no skills besides cards.”
“I think you’re getting us confused,” I bit out.
“Yeah, well, you and me, we ain’t that different. You think you can just walk away from who you are, but trust me. Blood always wins out. I don’t know shit about that Notorious crap—but you are who you are and you can’t run from that.”
Dad left the attic, slamming doors behind him.
Part of me wanted to follow him, insist that he was wrong. That my life was a choice, not a legacy. But there wouldn’t be any point.
I was starting a brand-new life. Right now. This moment.
Tucking my niece’s artifacts back in the box, my knuckles brushed something hard in the corner. I tilted the box to see.
At the bottom was a red velvet bag, shiny and worn with age and handling. An unraveling gold string kept the top pulled tight. A little girl’s treasure bag, I thought fondly, wondering if I should pry into it.
Curiosity won out and I scooped it up, surprised at its heft. I loosened the string, tipped it into my palm, and the red bag burped out a giant thirty-karat diamond.
15
Dumb and deaf, I stared at the gem refracting rainbows across the dim attic.
Is this a joke? I wondered through the buzzing in my head.
The notorious part of your blood will always find you.
If this wasn’t some kind of cosmic proof, I didn’t know what was and it turned my stomach to lead. The hope that had been powering me since this afternoon sputtered and died.
I quickly ran over my options. I could hide the gem back in the box and pretend I’d never found it, but there was no guarantee that Dad wouldn’t come hunting up here tomorrow.
Dad could not have this gem.
This can of worms could not be opened. Ever. Not if I wanted to keep Juliette.
How did this even get here? I wondered, not sure which of my family members put it here. My mother? She was the most likely. She might have hidden the gem here when she broke in last month, but the attic was nearly impossible to get to.
Margot? I wondered. But that didn’t make any sense—she’d been paying Mom stay-away money for years. If she really wanted Vanessa to stay away, Margot could have just given her the diamond.
Either way, word could not break that this gem had been found in The Manor. My family would be torn apart.
I tucked it into my pocket, the weight like a fiery coal in my pants. Downstairs, I paused, waiting for sounds from my father making dinner, but the house was quiet.
Good.
I went into my room and tucked the gem into a pair of black socks and then into my duffel bag. It would be safe there until I figured out what to do.
The next day, three weeks after starting the porch project, it was finished. I put my paintbrush back in the can just as Miguel tossed his roller into the tray.
We’d painted it white, bright new-tooth white, which actually only made the rest of the house look more shabby. Worn down.
“Wow,” Miguel said, tilting his head. “I guess we should start on the house next, huh?”
“I didn’t think a new porch would be such a big deal,” I answered. “But you’ve done a great job. You’ve got real talent as a carpenter.”
Miguel shrugged as if it was no big deal, but I could see the boy preening under the praise. “You know, those houses we’re building are starting up pretty soon.” Miguel’s stillness was complete and I got this wild sense of satisfaction, a total sureness that I was doing the right thing. “I could use you on a crew.”
“A job?”
“Yup.”
“A raise?”
“Probably not.”
Miguel blinked and blinked again. “You don’t have to be so nice to me.”
Ah, kid, you’re gonna break my heart. “I don’t?” I joked.
“I tried to steal your car and I’ve been coming—”
“Stop, Miguel. It’s been fun having you here. You’re clearly a good kid and frankly, it’s just a job,” I said. “A hard one. Do you want it?”
Miguel kicked at the edge of the porch, his hands wrapped up in the extra baggy edge of his shirt. “Yeah,” he said. “Of course.”
“Great! Now, I feel like we should celebrate.”
“You want to play cards?” Miguel asked. “Whenever I feel like celebrating I play a little hold ’em.”
