From Secret Desire for My Stepbrother to Reality novel · Chapter 30 of 32
Chapter 30: The Key
The old brass cylinder went missing from the loft windowsill the week before Christmas.
Kath blamed the cactus.
Then Pete said the word key at the sink, and I thought about nothing else for three days.
On the Monday after Christmas, I was at my door desk at ten in the morning, pretending to work.
Both had four million users, and I'd read the same line of code a dozen times.
"Lindy," Jem called from the front. "Can you come out here a second?"
His voice was perfectly normal.
That was how I knew.
I went through the workshop.
The old key-cutter had stopped his grinder.
He was standing in the doorway in his apron with his arms folded.
The apprentice was behind the register, not ringing anything up.
Kath was on the stool by the lollipops with her phone held very low, filming, badly hiding it.
Two customers stood at the counter, a man with a padlock and a woman with a mailbox key, and neither of them was being served.
The bakery woman was outside the window with her dog, pretending to look at the sign.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of From Secret Desire for My Stepbrother to Reality are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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