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Prologue

Author: LINDA KAGE
last update Last Updated: 2021-11-24 20:14:42
“Watch it, Broderick! You’re spilling them everywhere.”

At my mother’s sharp voice, I lifted my attention from the Game Boy I’d been playing to find her swiping a super-sized bag of Skittles from my little brother.

“God, you are such a mess.”

Brick hung his head glumly, mumbling, “Sorry,” as she jerked him around until he was facing away from her so she could unzip the backpack he was wearing and cram the Skittles inside, out of his reach.

Then she huffed impatiently and started away from us, snapping, “Well, come on. At this rate, the shopping center will close by the time we get there.”

Brick dutifully shuffled after her, and I filed in behind him, returning my attention to my game. It was easy to keep track of him out of my peripheral vision; he wore a bright orange shirt and had Bart Simpson on his book bag. So I was able to beat a new record and advance a level without paying attention to where we were going, even though the foreign country we were in had some pretty cool sites.

Mother had decided to come to Monte Carlo to recuperate after breaking up with her last boyfriend. Turns out, he was already married, which hadn’t settled well with her.

The last thing she’d planned to do was bring Brick and me along on her recovery getaway. But Greta, our housekeeper, had also needed to take time off at the last minute because her husband had gotten into a car accident and was in the hospital, so she hadn’t been able to stay with Brick and me, which pretty much forced Mother into dragging us with her.

The city wasn’t exactly kid-friendly. I’d read the pamphlets they had sitting out at the place where we were staying. They were all about car racing, gambling, boxing, and Mother’s reason for coming: Le Metropole Shopping Center.

“Do they have a candy store at the mall?” Brick asked, shading his eyes from the setting sun so he could peer down into the lower courtyard that housed the entrance of the Metropole.

“No, they—” She turned to us, only to stop talking abruptly and blink as if she’d never laid eyes on her two sons before.

“What about a food court?” Brick persisted, rubbing his stomach.

I swear, all he ever thought about was food.

“You know what,” Mother murmured, her lips twitching with that fake smile she always flashed when she was about to lie. “I just remembered. You need to order tickets in advance to get into the Metropole, and I didn’t plan on bringing you boys along, so you’re going to have to wait out here.”

I’m not sure which part of that was the lie, but there was definitely one in there somewhere.

I narrowed my eyes at her stonily, not amused by this turn of events. Even if I did have a game to keep me occupied, Brick didn’t. He’d forgotten his Game Boy at home. He was going to be bored out of his mind sitting here waiting, and I’d be the one stuck listening to him whine.

I opened my mouth to argue my case, maybe even beg if necessary, but Mother was already waving her fingers at us over her shoulder. “I won’t be gone long. There’s a bench right over there. I’ll meet you at it when I’m done.”

And she hurried away, stepping onto an escalator that lowered her toward the entrance.

“Can you get me another bag of Skittles while you’re in there?” Brick called after her.

She made no sign of hearing him at all.

I rolled my eyes. “I doubt they have any Skittles in this country.”

I wasn’t even sure which country it was. Malta or Morocco or something. Maybe Monaco. I was almost positive it started with an M and that we’d had to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to get here. Whatever it was, it didn’t look like a Skittles kind of country.

Huffing out a depressed breath, Brick slumped his shoulders and mumbled, “I knew I should’ve brought my entire candy stash from home. I’ll probably finish this bag before she gets back.”

He slung his backpack off his shoulders as he moved toward the bench where we were supposed to wait.

I watched our mother disappear inside, wondering how long not-long-at-all was going to take. The battery light on my Game Boy was already red.

“Dammit,” Brick muttered as he dug inside his bag.

“Don’t cuss,” I said without any heat as I plopped onto the bench next to him and got comfortable.

He ignored me, wailing a panicked, “Nooo,” as he frantically searched his bag.

“What?” I asked as he pulled up a crumpled Skittles bag that looked a lot thinner than it’d been when Mother had shoved it in there.

“All my Skittles fell out of their bag, and fuck, there’s a hole in the bottom of my backpack.”

His snack was gone.

The horror on his face was so priceless I had to laugh. “Whoops,” I said. “Sucks to be you.” With a satisfied sigh, I leaned back against the bench’s backrest and logged back into my game.

A second later, Brick nudged my leg. “Hey. Did you bring anything to eat?”

“Nope.” I had a Snickers stashed in my pocket for later.

“Damn,” he breathed under his breath.

“Language,” I sang as I powered up with a mushroom.

I could feel my brother roll his eyes next to me.

A minute passed.

Brick sighed.

He shifted restlessly.

He plopped his hands into his lap.

“How long do you think she’s going to be?”

“A while,” was my guess.

“Damn,” he said again.

My thoughts exactly. Five minutes later, Brick had prowled around the bench and returned to me twice, both times when someone had tried to talk to him in a language neither of us understood.

“Hey, want to share your Game Boy?” he asked. “Take turns on it?”

I sent him a get-real glance. “No.”

“Come on. Please.”

Brick had said please. Shocking, but not shocking enough to convince me.

“They have, like, car races or something here, right? You think we could go watch a race while we wait?”

“No.” First of all, I didn’t know this city. I wasn’t about to go wandering around it with no one but my little brother, and besides, they weren’t having any races today. I’d already checked.

When I told my brother so, he plopped back down beside me and mumbled a depressed, “Oh.”

Ten minutes later, he’d driven me crazy enough that I handed over my Game Boy just to shut him up.

Too soon after that, its battery died.

We both glanced toward the opening of the shopping center, watching people leave and enter.

“Maybe she forgot about us,” Brick finally said.

I huffed impatiently and rolled my eyes. “How could she forget about us? We’re her sons.”

Brick shrugged.

More time passed. Both Brick and I had gotten up from the bench by this point and stretched our legs, though neither of us had strayed far from our meeting spot.

Brick slumped down next to me after one short stroll. His stomach growled. He looked absolutely miserable.

Rolling my eyes, I pulled my Snickers bar from my pocket. After unwrapping it and breaking it in two, I handed him the bigger portion. “Here.”

He glanced over dolefully, only for his eyes to brighten at the sight of chocolate. “You did have food,” he accused happily, snagging it from me.

We polished off the Snickers in seconds. But it didn’t appease much. Now both our stomachs were grumbling.

“Got any more?” Brick asked hopefully.

When I shook my head, he sighed and glanced toward the shopping center. “She sure is buying a lot. That guy must’ve really broken her heart.”

I doubted it; our mother would actually have to have a heart before it could break. But I glanced toward the Metropole as well, agreeing that she was definitely taking her sweet time inside. This wasn’t the first time she’d made us wait for her outside a store, so that wasn’t new. But this evening felt as if she were taking longer than usual.

“You think she’s okay?” Brick asked. “What if she got hurt? Or she’s, like, dead?”

I shot him a dry glance for such a ridiculous question, even though it caused a little leap of fear to gallop through my stomach.

“Grow up,” I said. “There’d be ambulances and police or something all over out here if someone inside got hurt.”

“Maybe she was kidnapped,” Brick guessed. “And no one saw the bad guy take her.”

I wrinkled my face in denial, even as the fear grew stronger. “Who’d want her?” I said.

She wasn’t exactly nice.

“Well, what if someone takes us?” Brick countered. Shivering, he huddled closer to me.

I shoved him away with a scowl. “What’re you doing? Get back.”

He hugged his chest and began to rub his arms vigorously. “I’m cold.”

I was too, come to think of it. I glanced up, growing aware of the time. The sun had set, and with it, it had taken any warmth that had been in the air. Brick was right; the temperature was dropping. Fast.

“She’ll probably be out soon,” I murmured, even though my eyebrows bunched with concern. I hoped she came out soon. I didn’t want to stick around out here too much longer in the dark.

Brick’s comment about someone stealing us kept running through my head. I’d just seen a bit on the news last week about a rise in human trafficking, specifically more boys being kidnapped as sex slaves.

Brick was younger and prettier; they’d probably go for him first. But over my dead body would anyone take my little brother anywhere.

“Hey, I think the mall closed,” Brick said abruptly.

I made a face and tsking sound, because that was just crazy. “The mall didn’t…” But when I glanced down into the entrance’s courtyard, no one was going in or coming out. And did it look darker in there? It definitely looked darker.

Oh crap, had the mall closed?

I sprang to my feet, more uneasy than I wanted Brick to see. But he could tell I was freaking out. He surged up beside me. “It’s closed, isn’t it?”

I glanced around us, wanting to ask someone when the shopping center closed. Except none of the signs were in English. And no one around us was speaking English. Whatever they were saying to each other sounded—I don’t know—French?

This was all wrong. I just wanted to go home. I was starting to get scared. And where the fuck was our mother?

“I’m going to go see if the doors are locked,” Brick announced.

But I grabbed his arm, staying him. “No. I don’t want you going that far away by yourself.”

He rolled his eyes. “Then come with me.”

“But what if she comes back, and we’re not here?”

He flung his hands in the air, fingers stretched wide with aggravation. “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do? Just sit here all night and freeze to death?”

I chewed on my lip, indecisive. Wherever she was, Mother definitely should’ve come back for us by now.

“Maybe she forgot where she was supposed to meet us and she’s waiting back at the hotel.”

Brick nodded. “Okay. Cool. Let’s walk back to the hotel then.”

My stomach plummeted with worry. I hadn’t paid attention on our walk here. And it had taken us a good ten to fifteen minutes to arrive. Our hotel could be anywhere.

I glanced at my brother, wincing because I already knew what his answer was going to be even as I asked, “Do you know how to get back?”

“What do you mean?” he cried, his eyes growing big with instant worry. “Don’t you?”

“I wasn’t paying attention,” I admitted defensively, trying to remain calm. I didn’t want to scare him as much as I was scaring myself. Besides, I was the big brother. I had to be the fearless one.

“Hey, do you know where our hotel is?” Brick asked a passing woman. He glanced at me. “What’s the name of it?”

I didn’t know if we should tell just anyone the name of the place where we were staying, but I wasn’t sure what else to do. So I said, “Eden Rock.” Or maybe that was just the name of the single suite, not the entire resort where we were staying. It had a lot of windows and really fancy, old furniture. That’s all I remembered.

Brick repeated the name, and the woman frowned as if confused before she babbled out a bunch of French. We both shied away from her, not sure if she was offering to give us a million dollars or explaining how she wanted to chop us up into little pieces and feed us to her dog.

“Yeah, thanks anyway,” Brick told her with a wave and uneasy smile.

I took his arm, pulling him away and keeping him tightly against my side as I turned so we could walk in a different direction.

“Where are we going?” he asked, rushing his steps to keep up with me.

“I don’t know,” I confessed. “Away.”

Breathing out a settled breath, he glanced back at the still babbling woman who was now making big, sweeping hand gestures before he faced forward again. “Good idea.”

I rolled my eyes. “Are you sure you don’t remember how we got here?”

“We could see the ocean,” he offered with a wince.

We could see the ocean now, so I wasn’t exactly reassured.

Fear chilled my bones as the reality of what was happening took root in my brain. We were lost. We were lost in a foreign country, and we didn’t even know how to start looking for our mother or even ask for help.

“Holy fuck,” I said under my breath.

Brick snickered. “Language, Hayden.”

“Shut it,” I muttered, even though I had to smile and shake my head as I spoke, already calming down. It didn’t matter what was happening; Brick was here. I had my brother beside me, and he was unhurt. I could deal with everything else.

“No. You—hey, look.”

For some reason, I hadn’t let go of his arm yet, unreasonably afraid I’d lose him too. So when he plowed to a stop and pointed at something on the ground, it jerked me to a halt right next to him.

“One of my Skittles. Sweet.”

When he bent and reached for it as if he were actually going to pick the piece of candy up from the ground and eat it, I yanked him back.

“What’re you doing! Don’t eat that, you idiot. It’s been on the ground all day. You want to go back home with some kind of foreign disease?”

Brick sighed longingly at the abandoned Skittle. “But I’m hungry.”

“Oh my God, you’re hopeless.” I slapped my hand to my forehead, only for a thought to strike. Suddenly, I was crying, “Oh my God, you’re a genius,” as I leapt forward and snagged the bright green piece of candy off the ground as if it were a lucky penny, which it might’ve just become.

Brick’s eyes went huge as soon as I palmed it. “Hey, I saw it first,” he cried, trying to take it from me.

I groaned and held it away. “I’m not trying to eat it, you moron. Just look at it.” I held it up between two fingers. “If this really fell out of your bag, that means we’re going in the right direction to get back to our villa.”

Brick gasped and took the Skittle from me, holding it up triumphantly. “You’re right. Yes! We just need to follow the trail.”

I glanced around us, looking for more Skittles, but it had gotten so dark we couldn’t see very far. “We’re going to need a light.”

“I have a flashlight in my bag,” Brick offered, already slinging the pack off his shoulders.

Yes! Thank you, God, for my junk-hoarding little brother.

“Give it here,” I said, holding out my hand.

Once he passed it over, I turned on the light, and we scanned the ground together, spreading away from the site of the first Skittle in a circular pattern, until Brick cried, “There! There’s another.”

“Don’t eat it,” I instructed even as I hurried to him, and we started over again looking for the next Skittle.

And that’s how we found our way back to the hotel, one beacon of Skittle-colored hope at a time. It took us nearly an hour, my skin was ice cold, and it had to be way past bedtime, but we made it.

“There,” I said as soon as I saw something recognizable to me. “Isn’t that the villa where we’re staying?”

“Yes!” Brick raced forward to reach the door first. “We made it!”

I hung back though. Maybe I was worried Mother wouldn’t be around and the horror of our night would just be beginning. Or maybe something in me already knew what I’d see when I paused to look in through the large glass window.

Because there sat the woman who’d given birth to us, lounging on a claw-footed sofa with her feet kicked up and crossed at the ankles as she sipped from a glass of wine, laughing at something she was watching on the television. It looked like a soap opera. She lifted a round chocolate bonbon to her mouth and took a bite as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

Because she didn’t.

She didn’t have a single, fucking care on the entire planet, certainly not a smidgeon of concern for her two missing sons, anyway.

I stared in disbelief.

We had waited on her for hours, growing hungry and cold and scared, worried if she was okay, worried if we were going to be okay, and wondering if we’d ever see her again or if we’d make it home alive. And she’d been here, watching television in warmth and comfort, laughing while she dined on chocolate and wine?

No fucking way.

She’d never been a warm, caring person, but this seemed like a new low. It was heartless and cruel. And unforgivable.

In the next instant, Brick pounded on the door, and the woman inside jumped, cursing when she spilled a splash of wine on her lap.

“Mom!” Brick cried, knocking more vigorously. “Are you there? Mom! It’s us.” He jiggled the handle, but it was locked. “We found our way back.”

When she glanced toward the door, she met my gaze through the glass.

A second later, she perfected the appearance of a fretful mother and pressed a hand to her heart before springing from the couch and hurrying forward to let us in.

“Oh my God! Where have you two been?” she accused as soon as she flung the door open.

Grabbing Brick’s arm, she yanked him rudely inside and shook her newly manicured finger at him.

“I looked everywhere for you. I even called the authorities, and they have men out searching for you right now. Are you two trying to give me a heart attack?”

“But we were right where you left us,” Brick swore, “waiting for you to come back and meet us. It was so scary. No one talked English. We ran out of food. And it got dark and cold. I think one lady wanted to eat us.”

He went in for a hug, but she sniffed and held up a hand. “Honestly, Broderick, this blouse is silk. You’ll wrinkle it. You already ruined my slacks.”

When she pointed out the wine spill, Brick mumbled, “Sorry,” and moved closer to me. I took his frozen fingers and squeezed supportively. “I just didn’t know if I was ever going to see you again.”

With a harassed sigh, she rolled her eyes. “God, you’re so dramatic. Of course you’d see me again. Do you think I’d just leave Monte Carlo without my children? Don’t be stupid.”

But she had that look, that look she always got when she lied. Her lips were pursing in the funny way again.

I stared at her as a deep, cold clarity settled into my bones.

I wasn’t sure if she’d planned on leaving us there forever to fend for ourselves or if she’d just wanted one evening away from us, but whatever the case, she had definitely left us at the Metropole on purpose.

She’d betrayed us. She’d abandoned two underage boys, with no money or food or anything, in a foreign place to take care of ourselves without a thought for our safety.

Our own mother.

Anything could’ve happened to us. Brick could’ve gotten hurt.

In that moment, something shifted inside me. A feeling. A new life resolve. I didn’t know what to call it. But she hardened a place in me that felt as if it could never trust or soften again. I’d be stupid to let anyone in, to rely on them. To care. If my own mother could so easily discard me, then why should I bother counting on anyone else for anything?

From that point on, I never thought of the person in front of me as Mom again. To me, she’d only ever be Lana, the wicked. And terms like truth, honesty, and goodness? They were only for fairy tales.

Comments (1)
goodnovel comment avatar
Lauren Michelle Taylor
Wow Lana really sucks as a mom!!! Who would leave her babies like that ...‍♀️.........
VIEW ALL COMMENTS

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    Hansel and Gretel – B & E EVER AFTEROnce upon a time, there were two children named Hansel [Hayden] and Gretel [Brick].Their stepmother was very cruel.She took them deep into the forest [a foreign country] and left them there.But clever Hansel [Brick] had some breadcrumbs [Skittles] in his pocket [backpack] and had [accidentally] dropped them on the path so they could find their way back home [to their villa].[Twenty Years Later:]Alas! The birds ate all the crumbs and they couldn’t find the path that led back home. Hansel and Gretel [Gabby needed money. So she went to find some at Preston Estates where she] went deeper and deeper into the forest, hoping to find their way [building, searching for help]. They were hungry [She was desperate] and tired.Finally, after walking for a long time, they [she] saw a cottage [door] made of chocolate, candies, and cake [sparkly bling]. Gretel [Gabby] cried out in delight and ate [reached forward to touch] it hungrily [reverently].

  • B & E Ever After: A Hansel and Gretel Story   Epilogue

    I looked down at the ring on my finger and sighed happily.Married. I couldn’t believe I was freaking married. For a full twenty-four hours now. To the man who pissed me off as much as he made my heart pound in double time with love.“Your first book club meeting is today, right?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and kissed the top of my shoulder.“Yep,” I answered, smiling as I leaned back against him to feel more of him against me. “And yes, Kaitlynn will be there. So…” I turned to face him and fluttered my lashes dramatically as I silently asked for permission to—“You want to tell her,” he guessed. “Don’t you?”“I mean, if you want to tell her,” I started on a wince, “that’s fine by me. She’s your stepsister, but…?”I would let him decide, even though I kind of wanted to be the one to spill everything.It had been months since I’d met Hayden in Lana’s apartment on Halloween night. In that time, Camille had started an online group that she was calli

  • B & E Ever After: A Hansel and Gretel Story   30. Hayden

    I felt sick to my stomach.After the big reveal, where I’d gathered my brother, stepsister, Ezra, and a couple lawyers into a room and told them about Lana being a murderer, about how she’d changed the will, and how Kaitlynn actually owned half the company alongside Nash, they had each eventually gone their separate ways to absorb the shock of the news.I hadn’t been able to tell Brick about his true paternity though. That would have to wait for another time. I just didn’t have it in me to report any more shocking news today.It had been a tense enough scene earlier between Ezra’s lawyers and the ones I’d called in to support Kaitlynn. She looked so blindsided and overwhelmed. I had an awful, sinking feeling I’d handled it all wrong.Telling them my suspicions about Lana and the secret investigation I was conducting on her hadn’t seemed necessary at the time. But now that it was all out in the open, I felt like a shithead for not divulging any of it sooner.Sitting on my couch in

  • B & E Ever After: A Hansel and Gretel Story   29. Gabby

    We’d had it. We’d had the proof I’m sure we needed to put Lana away. It was in our very grasp. And we’d lost it.The blow hit Hayden the hardest.He took me directly home after we left Lana’s apartment, and he didn’t say a word the entire way there. When he parked at the curb, he just stared ahead, out the windshield, and methodically tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, his mind a million miles away.“You want to come in?” I asked softly, thinking I sounded like a clingy, insecure girlfriend, but not even caring. I wanted to help him so bad; I just didn’t know how.He glanced at me shortly. “No. Not today.”“Hayden,” I started on a sigh. “Don’t let this get to you. It was just one little setback. We can—”“I know.” He finally sent me the ghost of a smile, as if he was at least grateful for my attempt to cheer him up. “Don’t worry. It’s fine.”But it wasn’t. Not to him. And I didn’t know what to say to make it better.Seeing my concern, he tipped his head towards my b

  • B & E Ever After: A Hansel and Gretel Story   28. Gabby

    “Strange fact,” Hayden panted, slipping his hand over my hair as I began to climb off him, my legs as weak as jelly and heart still racing with a mixture of fear and panic.Because I loved him, I realized. Holy shit, I loved this aggravating pain in the ass. Dazed, I licked my dry lips and mumbled, “What’s that?” hoping he couldn’t tell what I was feeling.“I didn’t much like walking in the door to find my brother in bed with you,” he answered casually, seemingly unaware of the crisis that was happening inside me.But fuck me, I loved a man who drove me crazy, who had insane family issues, who could piss me off like no one else. And, holy hell, I think I liked loving someone who was so messed up.I lifted my face to peer into his eyes. At the moment, he didn’t seem too upset about seeing Brick and me stretched out on the bed together. But he’d also just come so hard he might’ve broken all the blood vessels in his medulla oblongata, preventing him from experiencing anger ever again.

  • B & E Ever After: A Hansel and Gretel Story   27. Gabby

    When I opened my eyes the next morning, I found myself staring at a stranger.As I blinked at him, trying to figure out if he was real or not, he grinned pleasantly. “Well, hello there, gorgeous.”“Oh my God!” I shrieked.He was definitely real.Lurching upright, only for the sheet that had been covering me to slip down, I gasped out another yelp and scrambled to catch it before I showed off all my bits.Who the hell was this guy?Once I had the covers firmly tucked up under my armpits and had shoved dark locks out of my face, I focused on the man who hadn’t moved a muscle, except maybe to widen his devilish, handsome grin as he watched me fumble about.Waving his fingers, he added, “Good morning to you too.”I glanced around the room. Hayden was nowhere to be found, but this guy had no qualms about being in his room apparently.“Who’re you?” I said, coming back around to blink at him.“What a coincidence.” With a delighted chuckle, he plopped onto the bed beside me, still fu

  • B & E Ever After: A Hansel and Gretel Story   26. Hayden

    When we finally made our way to my room, Gabby curled into me on the cool mattress and tucked her face under my chin before she stroked her hand up and down my arm.I banded an arm around her shoulders, holding her close, and kissed her hair.This was nice.I’d never felt this complete and satisfied before, as if I was a piece of a puzzle who’d just found its misplaced half.Gabby gave a contented sigh and glanced up at me, smiling lazily. I knew we should probably finish going through everything we’d found at Lana’s earlier. Or I should decide what to do about the Isaac-Brick situation. But for the life of me, I couldn’t muster a single care about any of that shit. I just wanted to keep lying here, looking at Gabriella.“I missed you today,” she murmured, walking her fingers up my bare chest.My eyebrows lifted. “You missed me?”“Yeah, you know, after work,” she went on. “I know getting picked up by you and driven home two days in a row doesn’t in any way qualify as a routine,

  • B & E Ever After: A Hansel and Gretel Story   25. Hayden

    Reluctantly tearing my mouth from Gabby’s, I peeled one of her hands from the front of my shirt, where she was holding me tight, and I jerked my gloves off before taking her fingers again to squeeze them warmly.Because seriously, if I let her keep kissing me the way she was, we’d never make it home.“Let’s go back to my place,” I said.Her eyes glittered with awareness, and the color in her cheeks heightened as she nodded eagerly. Jesus, she wanted me. She really wanted me. My body stirred and jeans grew tight.I began to forget about our original mission for the evening and all the evidence we had collected on our phones as I towed her down the hall toward the exit, pausing once at a trash receptacle to dispose of our gloves. Nothing seemed as important as getting inside this woman.Once we reached my car, I stopped completely, turning toward her before I opened her door. After kissing her hair, I pressed my brow to hers and simply breathed her in, enjoying this moment of simply

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