Page 74 of One Touch

I glanced down, and in his hand was an old, dusty liquor bottle. The label was faded and peeled, but the words stamped across it were clear as day:King Liquor.

TWENTY-SIX

BECKETT

In all myyears of renovating, I had never unearthed anything so valuable—so fucking cool—as what we uncovered at the Sullivan farmhouse.

While Kate was in awe and her mind spun with ideas of how to share our incredible find with herHome Againfollowers, I worried.

Tensions between the Sullivans and Kings were already high, and this discovery only added to the mystery behind the generations-long feud.

Did the Kings have ties to this house?

Would Kate be safe in the house if word got out about the hidden speakeasy?

What the hell do we do with it now?

Seemingly overnight, the tiny town of Outtatowner, Michigan, just got a hell of a lot more mysterious.

“There’s nothing in the house plans about this?” Duke rubbed a hand on his chin. He and Lee had explored the speakeasy. Wyatt was busy with football games and work, but we had filled him in on our discovery.

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“Makes sense if someone was trying to keep it a secret.” Kate ran a rag over the smooth bar top.

“Don’t they have old, local newspapers stored digitally at the library? I could look through those and see if I can find anything,” Lee offered.

“Not a bad idea,” I said.

“Especially about King Liquor,” Duke added. “That’s what’s not adding up for me. Far as I knew, Kings have always been businessmen, but bootleg liquor? I don’t know.”

Kate shrugged. “Would have been a good way to make some money in the early days.”

We all agreed.

“I don’t want this getting out and them causing us problems.” Duke was thinking the same thing I had—we needed our find to stay quiet until we knew what we were dealing with and what the family planned to do with the discovery, if anything.

I sighed. “We had a full crew working when we found it. Unfortunately, this really isn’t a secret.”

“Especially in our town,” Lee scoffed.

“Exactly.” Duke’s mouth turned down into a frown.

Kate’s chin lifted. “So we own the narrative.” Her brothers looked at her. Swallowing, she continued: “We need to control the rumor mill. I can post about it on the Instagram page. Document the whole thing. Information wewantto get out about it can be out there. If people hear about it and wearen’ttalking about it, that will definitely make people think we’re hiding something.”

I considered her plan—share our find, but only details the family didn’t mind getting out there.

“I think it’s a great idea.” Lee winked at his little sister.

Duke, still frowning, looked around the space, apparently considering our limited options. “I think so too.” He stepped toward her and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for a quick hug. “Good thinking, Katie.”

A smile bloomed across her face. So often I watched her brothers try to protect or coddle her, and here she was making plans and kicking ass. I loved that they were getting a chance to see Kate shine.

I smiled at her. “It’s settled then. Are you ready to blow the minds of yourHome Againfollowers?”

* * *

Holy.Fuck.

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