Page 106 of Hostile Takeover

With that, I kept moving, stepping into my room to finish gathering my things for work so I could get out of there.

Before I said something ugly.

* * *

I took a deep,deepinhale of the pleasant aroma that hit me as soon as I walked intoSweet Ambrosia, soaking it all in. The satellite bakery atNectaralways smelled good too, but stepping into the real thing just seemed to hit a little different.

I smiled at the cashier and servers who greeted me, returning the niceties before I headed to the back, where I knew I’d find my aunt.

She had some explaining to do.

Any other time, she was more than accommodating for me, making sure our communication was open, a normal thing since we were close. Lately—or rather, since I told her about the email from Hailey Freeman and the accompanying pictures—she’d been hard to pin down.

Making it way past obvious that she was hiding something.

Why?

“Auntie,” I sang, rapping my fist on the open doorway to her office.

She looked up from what she was doing, eyes wide as she looked around.

I shook my head as I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. “It’s just me and you, sis,” I told her. “Nowhere to run.”

“What are you talking about, crazy girl?” she scoffed, standing to give me a hug. “Ain’t nobody running from you.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” I countered, returning her embrace. “It seemed like I started asking tough questions and got ghosted. Something you’ve never, ever done to me before.”

“Exactly, so why would I start now?”

I shrugged. “Again… you letmeknow,” I told her. “Why are you so reticent to talk about those times? Everybody looked so happy, like good friends.EspeciallyMama and Stanford Reese.”

There was a noticeable shift in energy at the mention of that name, and she took a step back, looking me in the face.

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Nala.”

I sighed. “I… want you to just be frank with me. I know she was your sister, but I really need to understand what the hell is going on,” I explained. “A few weeks ago, William was ranting and raving, calling my mother a whore. Then last week, I see pictures of her with a man—Stanford Reese—who looksjust likeSoren.” I clasped my hands together, pleading with her. “Please, Aunt Lucy, tell me what this is about.”

She sighed, then took a seat back at her desk. “I… okay. Okay. Did you know there was a little while that me and your mother didn't really talk?”

I raised an eyebrow, ’cause this was something I most certainly didn't remember. “No, not at all,” I answered, taking a seat too. “When?”

“I’d say… roughly around the time of those pictures.”

I nodded. “Did you guys have some sort of falling out?”

She gave a dry chuckle. “That we did,” she agreed, suddenly finding something very interesting about her hands.

“Okay…what was the falling out about?”

She blew out a sigh, taking a little breath before she answered the question. “It was about Stanford Reese,” she admitted. “Let me beveryclear. I won't claim to be proud of the things I did and I'm sure Larena wouldn't either. But… I was more in the wrong than she was. She knew Stanford first, liked him. Problem was… I liked him too once I met him. And he was closer to my age anyway.”

My eyes narrowed. “So…are you telling me you took mama's boyfriend from her?”

Aunt Lucy shrugged. “Boyfriendis a generous way to put it,” she said. “It was sort of wild times. She definitely had him first, and based on the things she told me… I decided to have him too. And I did.”

“Oh you were…”

“A skeezer? Yes, maybe a bit,” she conceded. “Or… a lot.”

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