Page 17 of Bitter Arrangement

“You seem fine.” He glances over his shoulder. “Feels weird being back here. I know I was only gone a couple of months, but that job—” He trails off, shaking his head.

“It went okay?”

“All according to plan, except the plan was shit and so were everyone I was working with. Still, I’m alive, the family’s richer, and everything ends well, I guess.” But there’s something haunted in his eyes.

“You want to tell me about it?”

He shakes his head. “Another time. After I’ve processed.” But then he smiles slightly, crooked and boyish. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to tell you. I got to use this new crazy device. It unlocks almost any car using this burst of radio frequencies.”

“Seriously? And it works?”

“Sure, on most models anyway. That thing wasfun.”

I try to tamp down my jealousy. Brenden gets to go work long, complicated heist jobs all across the country and play with fun toys while I’m stuck at home marrying a stranger.

On a whim, I tell him about my meeting with Jeremy Fong. “You should’ve seen it. Slipped the watch without him feeling a thing right in front of Dad. Nobody had any clue.”

Brenden’s frown deepens. “Jeremy Fong? Young Asian guy with dark hair?”

“Yeah, he seemed nice enough. Very salesy, you know? But Dad seemed to like him.”

Brenden leans toward me. I don’t like the hard look he gives, like he’s trying to lecture a little kid. “Whatever you took, destroy it.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, laughing awkwardly.

“Fong’s not who he seems. I don’t know what Dad’s doing working with that guy, but stay far away from those people, okay? Whatever you took, destroy it, get rid of it, and pretend like that never happened. Do you hear me?”

I hesitate, tilting my head to the side. Brenden’s usually a bright and chipper guy, but it’s almost like I don’t know the person sitting across from me. He’s serious and dark, worn down to a shadow.

“Yeah, okay, sure.” I drink some coffee, trying to mask my discomfort. “I’m gonna go for a run. Interested?”

He snorts, the frown fading away. “Nah, I’ve had enough running to last a lifetime this last week. You go on ahead without me.”

We finish eating together and talk about family gossip. When we’re done, he heads into his old room to get some sleep, and I put on my running gear.

I’m thinking about my safe of treasures when I hit the pavement.

All these years, I’ve been messing around with thieving. Brenden teaches me what he can, and I’ve gotten pretty good at it even though I don’t really get to practice. I’m quick and physically gifted thanks to gymnastics, and I’m clever enough to pick up on new techniques whenever he comes back with something to show me. If the family ever gave me a chance, I could be really good.

But they never will.

That’s not how women help the organization. Girls my age end up going to college, learning something useful like business or marketing, and they work for one of the various McGrath-related legitimate fronts.

Or they get married and start pumping out new Irish babies.

I could’ve lived with the first option. Sitting in advertising classes only to end up designing logos for garbage collection companies that aren’t even real doesn’t sound like the dream career, but it’s better than what I am now.

A human sacrifice.

And after all that, Brenden wants me to get rid of my watch. The more I run, the more I’m sure that’s not going to happen. Screw him and screw whoever Jeremy Fong is. I stole that watch, fair and square, right in front of my freaking father, and got away with it. That was one of my best lifts ever.

There’s no way I’m going to toss it.

As I head into a park, down a long path, and toward a pedestrian bridge, I slow down to catch my breath. Nearby, I catch someone moving behind some bushes. I stare in that direction, and I swear whoever was over there had a pair of binoculars.

But no, I’m being paranoid. It’s probably just some birdwatcher getting horny over Blue Jays or whatever.

I’ve given up enough to the McGrath family. I’m ending the war with the Brotherhood. They’re getting my body, my soul, and my freaking future. The least my family can do is let me keep my dumb little treasure collection as a reminder that I’m not just a pawn for alliances and a breeding womb.

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