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Hope slunk back into the house through the backdoor, silently closing it behind her.
She huffed a quiet laugh to herself.
She’d done it.
She’d successfully snuck out.
Suddenly, one of the lamps in the living room turned on, and someone swiveled in the lazy boy recliner to look at her.
She exhaled sharply in relief when she saw it was just Harry. She expected one of her parents, not her stupid older brother.
“Where were you?” He asked calmly, caressing one of his old stuffed animals like a supervillain.
“Out.” Hope tried not to look suspicious. “With CJ.”
CJ abruptly sat up from where she was apparently lying prone on the couch, hidden from Hope’s view until now. “Try again.”
Hope groaned. “I just went to hang out with Gideon and PJ.”
A partial truth. Gideon and PJ were both at the party she’d snuck out to attend.
“Uh-huh. Is that why you’re dressed like that?” CJ raised an eyebrow, and despite the fact that she was not biologically related to their mother, she somehow looked exactly like her.
She glanced down at her party dress, knowing that she’d been got. “...please don’t Mom and Papa. Okay?”
Harry shot her a wicked grin. “Hey, Hope…remember when you spoiled Spider-Man for me?”
Hope launched herself at her brother and sister. “You piece of–do not tell them! I’ll kick both of your asses!”
CJ chuckled and shoved her off of them, letting her land in a heap on the floor. “Looks like we hold the cards now.”
Hope growled. “What do you even want? You’re both adults.”
“Money.” CJ pretended to look at her nails.
“CJ, you have a job.”
“Yeah, but blackmail money is so much sweeter.”
Harry, meanwhile, shrugged. “I just want you to owe me a favor.”
“Ughhhhh!” Hope pulled herself off of the floor, straightening her dress. “Fiiiiine. I’ll owe you a favor.”
“And twenty dollars.”
“And CJ gets twenty dollars.”
A different voice was suddenly behind them. “But what do I get for not telling Mama and Papa that you two are blackmailing Hope?”
Alice stood behind them on the stairs, hands on her hips, and a wild smirk on her face.
Harry paled. “Boy am I glad Harriet moved out. Or this would get really messy.”
As their youngest children argued quietly downstairs, Emma and Killian tried not to make their presence known.
“Should we intervene?” Killian asked, slightly worried that this could devolve into a full on brawl.
“Nah.” Emma was significantly less worried. “Let ‘em talk it out.”
“We’re still punishing Hope for sneaking out though, right?”
“We didn’t punish Harriet when she snuck out.”
“Harriet snuck out?!”