There was the usual stuff in the cellar. You know, like the couch, the Monopoly board game underneath the coffee table, a whole bunch of boxes of extra cups and silverware by the corner and the little cat figurine standing on one of them (his name was Oreo and he guarded the stuff), some crayon drawings on the brick walls I once did because I was bored, two metric tons of plastic wrapped crystal meth near the tunnels, and a cute heart-shaped trash bin from Walmart. 

Dan, Jasper, and Brice were coming in and out of the tunnels, carrying more of the packages.

"Okay." I uttered, because I could find nothing else to say in that moment. You ever experience something so surprising and unexpected that you just stand there and stare at it open-mouthed for a few seconds? Like when you accidentally drop that new eyeshadow palette and it breaks into a million pieces, just like your heart? That's kinda how I was feeling. Except this was magnified on a much worse platform.

"Huh." Ade had the same monotone voice as I did, out of shock.

I felt numb. "One of these things is not like the others."

"Huh." Ade said again. His eyes were wide and pinned to the enormous pile of drugs sitting across the room. "Maybe it's the trashcan. The red doesn't really color coordinate with the rest of the room."

"Right." I nodded, my eyes wide. I was afraid to blink because I thought my eyes would start filling up with tears. A mere affiliation with the Brooklyn Crowns was enough to put someone away for a lifetime. But to aide and assist (no matter how unwillingly) on one of the biggest drug smuggles in US history was horrifyingly dangerous. It was even more dangerous than being attracted to Wolfe Sterling. Not that I was attracted to him. I didn't mean it like that. Terrible analogy. 

No. Attraction. No. Feelings. None. Squat. Zero.

Once again, the deflated feeling tightened my chest. At this point, I felt the need to let out a long, deep breath that ended in a soft whistle to complete my whole 'sad balloon' appearance. I felt defeated. And cheated. And mistreated. And pleated. Okay, now I'm just adding words that rhyme. I don't know, I felt very sad. Brice seemed like such a nice dude. So did Jasper and Dan. Wolfe, not so much. I knew he was a terrible person from the start. The capacity of what they did and were actually capable of didn't really settle in with me until now. Because now, I was staring at a pile of crystal meth taller than I was and I was at a loss of what to do anymore. I was stuck. Yeah, that's the word. 

Stuck.

I didn't even have the energy to throw a temper tantrum. Sighing deeply again, I walked up to Brice.

He was writing something down on a clipboard. It looked like a log sheet with lots of numbers on it. The word 'ninety million' was written near the bottom margin and was circled in red ink. I didn't even want to think about what they'd do with the money. Wolfe Sterling was a billionaire. No, actually, he was like a trillionaire. A gazillionaire. And infinitionaire. It's not like he actually needed the money. 

Oh, they were so pretentious.

"Hello, Brice. " I reached up and began absentmindedly running my fingers through his beard. It was coarse and almost ginger in color. Totally braidable, too. Not to stereotype on lumberjacks, but he looked like a lumberjack. A pretty cute one, too. But that's not important. "You want to explain what's going on here? Please tell me all of that is just rock candy."

"If it helps you to think it's rock candy-" Brice politely grabbed my wrists and pulled my hands off his face. "-then sure, it's rock candy. The best there is. Got it shipped from Willy Wonka's."

"You're a real hoot, Brice." I said dryly.

"Thanks!" He grinned. "You know, I thought about trying stand-up comedy once, but then I saw my face on a Wanted poster and I was like, nah. Not really my thing."

"Oh. Because that's definitely  the deal breaker, huh." I couldn't keep the aggression out of my voice. Oh God, maybe I was more violent than I thought. No unicorns and rainbows for this girl. Not since the Crowns forced their way into our lives, anyways. Passive-aggressive statements wasn't really my thing but damn, was I good at them or what? If Brice picked up on them, he didn't show it. "Because everyone would love to come to the comedy show of a wanted felon. Especially the Feds."

"Woah!" Brice chuckled, nudging my shoulder with his. "Kitty's got claws. What's gotten into you, Florence?"

"Oh, I don't know." I shrugged nonchalantly. And then I grabbed the clipboard from his hands and started hitting him with it. "Maybe it's the fact that you smuggled in ninety million dollars worth of crystal meth on my parent's property!" I shouted. "Maybe that's the problem, you dry noodle! Have you ever thought of that? No, of course you haven't! You know why? Because you were too busy committing terrible crimes! Do you realize how dangerous methamphetamine is? You know how hard law enforcement cracks down on drugs? Maybe I should start saying my goodbyes to everyone since I'll be spending the rest of my life in prison."

I clunked him in the head with the clipboard before he grabbed it out of my hands. I could see the rest of the guys staring at me in shock, but I was too angry to care.

Brice rolled his eyes at my pessimism. "Florence, you're being dramatic."

"Is panic not an appropriate response to this situation?!" I shrieked. Oh yeah, I was definitely about to lose it.

"For you, maybe." He grinned. But just as quick as the smile came, his serious side replaced it. "This shipment came in under Wolfe's name. I promise you, there is no way anyone could ever trace it back to your property. Our buyers are foreign, I can guarantee you they've never heard of the Espresso House. We smuggle the drugs in through a network of underground passageways and sell it out of the country. This meth was created in West Virginia, and the tunnels that lead past your cellar connect to many other businesses. There is barely a chance your parents would be responsible for this should there be a bust. Too many other traces."

"Too many traces?!" I questioned angrily. That made no sense. Not to me, at least. They were completely at ease. Wolfe, the bastard! He acted so normally, I hadn't suspected a thing. "I'm going to kill him."

"Kill who?" Brice asked with slight alarm.

"Wolfe!"

"Please don't agitate Wolfe, Florence." Brice said. "Fight with dogs and you'll get scratched. Fight with a wolf and you'll get your throat ripped out. Literally." He flashed a grin. "It's our mantra, we live by it."

"Suppose the cops walk into the coffee shop and see you guys sitting at a table drinking lattes and eating egg-free muffins?" Despite his attempt at reassurance, I had my doubts. Who in their right mind would trust a mob member, anyways? As cute as Brice was, he was still a dangerous criminal. "Suppose they see me talking to one of you guys? What happens then? You guys escape, like you always do, and leave everyone else to fix up the mess."

"It's not as cut and dry as you're making it seem." Dan, overhearing the conversation, interrupted. He carefully placed another wrapped package of blue crystals and turned to me. "Florence, we can clean up our own messes. We have for the past three years. That's why no one's been able to catch us. We don't leave clues. We're not gonna leave you or your parents behind, either. They can't find anything unless we want them to be found. Blood makes you related. Loyalty makes you family."

"Family?" I repeated, absolutely appalled at the thought. "I'm pretty sure we didn't ask to be a part of this family. Who would want to be? Wolfe kills anyone he doesn't like, and I promise you, he doesn't like me."

"Agree to disagree." Jasper said as he passed by, heading into the tunnels again.

"You guys are going to get everyone killed, including yourselves." With three against one, my sad feeling of defeat came back. Man, I really should have punched Wolfe when I had the chance. And to think, I even wasted my time drawing smiley faces on his bandages. He didn't deserve those smiley faces. He deserved a big 'fuck you' written on those bandages by yours truly. "Why here, though?" I questioned. "Why would you conduct your business on the coffee shop property? You said it yourself, Brice. The tunnels lead to many other passageways. Why not operate on government-owned property rather than here?"

"We couldn't find any other place." Dan said. "Plus, Wolfe thinks you're cute."

I tried my best to smother my reaction to his last sentence but I don't think I covered it very well because Brice and Dan chuckled with amusement. My face was so hot, you could flick water on my cheek and it would sizzle. Okay, that's just plain weird. With a flustered heart, I said, "Why not conduct all your business in that amatuer wrestling warehouse Wolfe goes to? That's government-owned and there's so much extra space-"

"Wait, what?" Brice cut me off, looking confused. "What amatuer wrestling warehouse?"

"You know, that one in Prospect Heights. You- what?" Confused as well, I glanced between Brice and Dan. They were both staring at me like I had two heads. Well, maybe I'd be smarter with two heads because it took embarrassingly long for me to realize that Wolfe never told his boys about his illegal fighting hobby. They didn't know. Why would Wolfe keep something like that from them? Did it really matter, though? He was a mob boss, after all. God knows fighting isn't the worst thing he's done.

"What are you talking about?" Brice squinted suspiciously at me.

"Nothing." I stammered, trying to brush it off. "Forget it, sorry. I was thinking of someone else."

Dan was still giving me a suspicious look. Thankfully, Jasper walked into the cellar again, carrying another pack of blue crystals. Brice turned away to talk to him. I was about to wander back to Ade when I realized he wasn't there.

He abandoned me.

Again.