AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m hungry. I’m getting a pizza.”
“You don’t want to help me write this song?”
“Nah, letting you do the work is more fun. Keep fighting the good fight, Harper.”
Off-camera, a door opened and closed.
Harper shook her head and turned to her keyboard. Unaware that the device was still recording, she pulled out a highlighter, ran it across a page of sheet music, then proceeded to sing “Every Time You Break My Heart” just as she’d sung it during the first challenge.
“Look at the picture, Uncle Landy. The sheet music in the video has the same highlighter marks on it,” Aria, the supersleuth, explained. “Then me, Lolo, and Lala checked the internet. That mean old Vance Vibe came out with the song five years ago. He didn’t write it. He took it and pretended it was his.”
There was no disputing it. Aria had cracked the case.
“You’re one smart cookie, Aria Paige-Grant,” he said, smiling at this powerhouse of a kid.
She tapped her forehead. “It’s my neurodivergent brain. It’s like a secret weapon. Sometimes, it makes letters and numbers wiggle around, but it also helps me play music, write songs, and connect pieces of information.”
Her secret weapon. He liked that.
Mrs. Luxe crossed her arms. “I had a bad feeling about that Vance Vibe.”
“Can we borrow the video recorder and the photograph, young lady?” Mr. Luxe asked.
Aria eyed the glittery pair. “This stuff belongs to my Aunt Harper. She trusted me with it. Do you promise to give it back, sparkle people?” She pressed, giving them a slice of side-eye.
Mr. Luxe suppressed a grin and shared a look with his wife. “You have our word, Aria.”
“Here,” Barbie said, pulling a zip drive from her cleavage. “I almost forgot. There’s more proof on this.”
The Luxes thanked Barbie, then waved DeeDee, May, and Kai over. “Could we talk privately? We’d like to hear more about Vance Vibe.”
The group migrated to the side of the stage and spoke in hushed tones.
It gave him a second to catch his breath and take in his incredible niece. “You did something really kind for Harper.”
A coy grin stretched across her lips. “You meanAuntHarper.”
He looked into her blue eyes, and his stomach dropped. “About that—”
“Oh, I know, Uncle Landy,” she said, waving him off.
He frowned. “What do you think you know?”
“My friends told me to watch out because you were gonna mess up real bad with Aunt Harper.”
“What?” he eked out.
“Yep, I was waiting for it. And then, in Italy, on the day you said Aunt Harper had to go back to Denver early, Phoebe emailed me a bunch of pictures of Harper hiding in the bathroom looking like she’d been crying a bunch—and not the happy kind of crying. I figured it was your fault,” she finished rather brightly.
“Um…”
She narrowed her gaze. “Was it your fault, Uncle Landy?”
He couldn’t lie to the kid. “Yes.”
“Were you a…?” Aria asked and tapped three times for douche nozzle.
“Yeah.”
