2

The answer ended up being simpler than I would have thought. Poseidon had made a comment that it was a shame I now had to waste power getting it all to the factory and too bad it couldn't all just go directly there.

I blinked at him and smiled. "Could we do that? Reroute it? Not where there are humans but what about New Jersey?"

"The deal is done in Huntsville, Alabama," Hades told me. "And there aren't humans currently there handling things. That would be a better place and we can adjust it." He stepped away and moved towards the piles of bags. "I wonder where you started? Is it always the kitchen or closest to the kitchen or closer to you?"

"You're saying I might start with the same room, and that is where we could put the wards," I muttered, nodding in agreement. "The twins are going to rig up cameras and security already. I'll ask for them even if not fully installed. That is smart, Brother." Then what else he said hit me. "You bought a factory in Alabama?"

He nodded. "It's a bit bigger than they had been discussing, but if you keep running out of room, it made sense. Plus, it was in good shape, and that means less downtime, and that huge system you have two of in your factory can be installed right away."

He made something appear and handed it to me. I smiled when it was the sale brochure.

"Well done, Brother," I praised as I looked it over. It had ten acres too and abutted a forest preserve, so that was great for the wolves if they ever needed it. Sixty-five thousand square feet was more than needed and five bay doors for trucks was perfect.

"Your Justina is very bright," he said. "She made it painless and even got a better price. She set up the subsidiary for me—truly on your team."

I snickered. "She better be for all the billable hours I give her and the power she now has at her firm landing such a big client." I smirked at him. "She thanks me all of the time for insisting she be my attorney because she's not getting the shit files others don't want. She's only mine now with some ‘newbie help' when she needs it."

"That explains why she asked what I needed next," he muttered. "Her soul is pure. A rough past, but she lights up when she speaks of protecting you."

Which meant Hades had talked to her about more than just the purchase. It didn't bother me.

It honestly touched me.

We talked about the mortgage contract going through and then the rental contract from it plus all the employee contracts. We bemoaned the days we could just be out in front of people and not have to jump through these hoops.

But none of us missed our temples and the problems that came with having them so… Nothing was perfect.

"That wasn't what you brought us here for," Poseidon interjected when Hades started talking about a property in Charleston, SC.

"Right, right," I sighed. I told them the truth and how I had been trying to get in touch with the head of AMC theaters and my idea to get around the issues we had on Valentine's Day.

"They could still lie and say they lost their confirmation," Poseidon hedged, but Hades figured out the rest.

"These companies would then be pissing off another big corporation," Hades said with a smirk. "These problems of yours are coming at you through the bakery, not your deal with Costco but you're bringing someone else in."

"Yes, especially because I suggested it could be extra hours for their employees to manage the tables and check people's confirmations," I told them. "That means now they're trying to pull this with another corporation's people."

"Smart, and you offered them something exclusive or they can brag about?" Poseidon surmised, nodding when I did.

"Once I finally just showed up and talked to the guy." I let out a slow breath. "It's Dionysus."

Poseidon's eyes flashed shock. "I tried to find him. He blocked everyone. Hera swears she killed him."

"He's alive, and apparently there is a group hiding in my domain as humans," I told them. "He thought I was contacting him to punish him. He was rather…"

"It's not your fault, but things got worse after you ran," Poseidon muttered. "Now we know it was Hera's anger that she didn't get to kill you, but she was on a warpath. She—I had to stop her from beating him and a few other of Zeus's bastards who are full gods. She was…" He shook his head and turned away from us. "I hate that she lives."

"You hate that you pretended not to see her insanity," Hades said coldly.

I swallowed loudly, thinking that was a bit pointed and could go badly.

"Yes," Poseidon whispered, accepting his failings.

"Well, I made it clear that I wasn't upset and what he did was fine if he wasn't hurting humans." I shrugged. "He's the god of wine, festivity, and theaters. It makes perfect sense."

"True," they both agreed.

"I invited him for lunch tomorrow to simply catch up and meet the twins. I wanted to tell you what happened and invite you to join us." I rubbed the back of my neck. "He's scared that Hera will now be more focused on my realm and it could get them caught."

"I hope it's Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes," Poseidon sighed.

My eyes went bug wide. "The twins? I thought Hera never thought they were his bastards. She believed the lie their mother told everyone and it was…" I forgot who she'd told people the father was.

She never told me that crap since I knew they were Zeus's.

"People started to say they were the most gorgeous after you were gone, and Hera lost it. She was jealous another woman gave Zeus twins and she didn't."

I shook my head. She really was insane.

So was Zeus for allowing this of his own damn creation and feeding into her insanity.

"I will be here tomorrow," Hades promised. "I knew he was alive since he never came to the underworld, but I couldn't find him either and it bothered me."

"You also don't like that gods can hide from you," Poseidon muttered. "You want to figure out how to stop that."

Hades turned away and looked out at the sprinkles. "Yes, it cost me too much."

Me. He meant all of the time we lost together. I felt the same but… I couldn't change the past.

He left before we could get a chance to respond.

And he took all of the bags with him. No, probably to Huntsville.

I followed his power and found the facility matching the brochure. It looked great. I put everything on pallets and realized we couldn't have Amazon pick up like normal for this because then they would know about it.

And we didn't want that. There were too many drivers with Amazon and too many loose lips. No, there had to be a better way.

I called Renee while I inspected and cleaned the whole facility and told her what was going on. She moved to the office and told me to bring her there. I did and then explained the situation.

She was going to be the manager of the truck drivers and shipping aspect going forward since she knew the most about trucks having been a bus driver. She'd also been with me the longest, and I trusted her to tell me when it was too much or she needed more support.

"They're really hurting here," she told me. "Like serious debt and in trouble. They're crammed in like sardines—it's bad."

"So they could use work right away. The truckers?"

"Already quit their jobs and signed contracts with Justina," she told me. "We're ready for this part. They're going to take over cookie dough production."

"That's not enough for as many people as they were discussing," I muttered. "I know they wanted simple, but I'm not going through all of this for just that."

"To start," she clarified. "Jamie is putting in a huge Auto-Bake line in here and it will be cookies. Just cookies. All the cookies that won't be decorated."

"Good." I glanced around and then at the map. "But they can do like chocolate-covered if we need, so get an enrober and whatever else added to the diagram here."

"Good, yes." She nodded and made notes on her phone. "For now, if you get forklifts here and load up the factory, I can let them know to get everything loaded and to Amazon."

Done and done. I filled the entire industrial area with sprinkle blends for St. Patrick's Day.

Inspecting the facility more, there was a lot of office space that I hadn't realized. "Let's make this the order-taking place for the bakeries. A few can handle that with customer service or whatever. This can be the hub for it since there isn't this huge office for you guys or even in New Jersey. Also, for all of the packaging and whatnot. Storage of it here and we can just bring it over."

"I suggest two of these bigger office spaces be converted into apartments for on-site security."

"Good. Do it."

Once we finished there, I went back to the bakery to handle the finalization of the Easter specials… Which I didn't want to do before I knew we could handle the orders, but we were running out of time.

Just like always. If we didn't have the help of AMC and that plan, then we would have to cap orders. It was that simple.

I ordered a lot of food and had everything set out on the second floor, ready to make all the plans and looked a bit like I was going into battle.

The list of what we were going to offer for Easter was long, but to start, I went over what Costco would have too. We were giving two options for cookie dough in tubs this time—carrot cake cookies and cake mix cookies with our sprinkle blend that would be a Costco exclusive that they would sell in their stores.

They were very excited about that.

There was the carrot cake cheesecake with Brazil nuts, the vegan carrot cake trifle, and the break-apart cinnamon roll "monkey bread" that was shaped like an Easter egg and topped with pretty. And the sugar cookie kit to build a bunny house instead of a gingerbread house was one of Mary's better ideas. I had thought it silly, but when she drew it out… We were all in.

The one thing Costco wanted more of was cross-promotion or us using its ingredients. They saw a rise in sales of their bacon and more when people learned they were in our meat buns. People raved about their filling in the dinner cakes we kept providing.

And what was Easter known for?

Candy. All the candy.

So, there was a peanut butter cheesecake covered in chocolate and Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, a chocolate cake with malted frosting with a Lindt Chocolate bunny and Whoppers Malted Milk Balls on it, and a vanilla cake with a bunny butt decorated on it and decorated with Starbursts Jellybeans… Which were a personal favorite of mine.

We were also going to have vanilla naked cakes with green "grass" frosting on top that were right next to a display of candy. So they could decorate their own bunny garden how they wanted. We were going to do the same at the bakery, and even the online orders could have some options like meringue bunny butt or simple chick cookies or a variety pack with both.

And lastly—for cakes—we were offering a gluten-free pineapple banana cake that came with three options for decorations.

For cupcakes, we were having vanilla ones decorated like bunnies with marshmallow ears, carrot cake with a meringue carrot cookie on each one, and chocolate with chocolate egg candies on top. We were also offering frozen cut-out sugar cookies again in egg and bunny shapes.

And of course, meringue bunny butts, carrots, and chicks. They were too cute for words.

The rest included a mojito pie, rhubarb crisp, and strawberry papaya loaf in an egg-shaped tin.

Then, just for the bakery, we were having a variety of cookie sandwiches that were enrobed and decorated like chicks or bunnies. The strawberry pavlova, mango cheesecake, blueberry pineapple coconut dessert loaf, Easter candy brownies, egg tart, and an array of slab pies with Easter cutouts.

Oh, and fruit parfaits with whatever fruit we had leftover or in bulk from Heitor's next shipment. Those couldn't be ordered but were always sold out the moment we made any.

Also, some of the items we planned to have for all of spring and started selling like the blueberry acai bars, strawberry icebox cake, lemon lavender cupcakes, and such that I would have to get into later.

But like tomorrow later since it was almost spring and we would also sell these during Easter and figure out what to offer Costco for the whole season.

So there was a lot. There was always a lot.

Too much even.

I sighed as I glanced around. At least everything was out and ready now for me to call PJ to come take pictures. She was the art student who was struggling to pay for her tuition and had taken the employee photos for us and done such a great job. We kept using her now for shots to help Mary out since she was so busy.

Plus, she did a much better job than the ones Costco took and used otherwise if we didn't provide them. They would still have some of their own, but I liked PJ and hoped she could do more to help out Mary and take things off her plate.

Luckily, she was available and excited for the work. I waited until she arrived, offering her some of the leftover takeout I'd ordered as well. Then I said I was stepping up to my apartment for a bit and decided to handle something else that had been on my plate too long.

Namely, another threat.

I appeared in front of the beady-eyed man who had shown up at my bakery full of lies and tried to sue me after and almost burst out laughing. "You are such a pissant useless asshole that I honestly do not know your name. We always just refer to you as the ‘coffee cart guy.'"

He jumped to his feet and stormed over to me. "I don't know how you got in here, but I'm glad you were finally stupid enough to come find me yourself and alone."

"Child, you are not the predator here," I chuckled darkly, smirking when his hand went right through my arm when he tried to grab it. "I tire of playing fair when no one else is and I have to hide. I will not allow you to hurt my employees. You had enough of your fun. It's now my turn."

I made him confess to his plans to beat up Isiah's guys working the food trucks and who he'd already paid, when it was going to happen—all of it. I recorded it all with my phone so it could be undone. Then I made him believe the police knew about it so he was desperate to undo it all, let those men know the police were watching, and go into hiding.

Oh, and that loan sharks were coming after him for money he owed. So he should sell his business and never, not ever return to the East Coast. Maybe even flee all the way to South America and take up swimming in deep waters recklessly.

That should work out well for him. I couldn't have someone else targeting me die suddenly and publicly so soon after Moran.

But if he did in a few months after running… That would work.

At the last minute, I remembered Colton had bugs in the man's apartment and said he should remove them before they were found by other parties when the man fled.

Then I returned to my apartment, sent the recording to Isiah and Gina so they were looped in, and returned back to PJ. I thought that was fair since they had people who covered the food trucks after all.

I felt accomplished when Jamie texted me that he was ready to come back and I was making us dinner. He was excited and had a lot to tell me, wanting to head back to the mansion after we ate and he filled me in.

It was when he joked about filling it with more treats that I frowned.

"I don't like being so selfish with you," I muttered, feeling awkward. "I… Things will blow up if I keep getting lost in you instead of handling what I should."

He cupped my cheek and made me look at him when I tried to turn away. "I'm not just some rebound for Cole that you will toss aside when you're done, Arabella. You cared for me before it all blew up. I also know what's going on and you're not hiding anything from me."

"No, I won't lie to you," I whispered, still feeling guilty.

"I talked with Demarcus," he admitted, nodding when my eyes went wide with shock. "He said he made his bed and fucked up, so he will sleep in it. Does he want things fixed and you guys be okay? Yes, but he fucked up. He understands that and how much you are overwhelmed with. So does Isiah. They can wait.

"You didn't break up with them, so they can have their time-out while you get a bit of peace and smiles." He brushed his lips over mine. "You are trying to give the world the karma it needs and help so many people it's ridiculous. You get to be selfish right now. I'm giving you permission to be selfish with me. Only I get that vote, okay?"

I searched his eyes. "What about what you need?"

"You're giving it to me," he immediately answered, nodding when I couldn't hide my shock. "Arabella, you are giving me so much that you don't even understand. You are trusting me with something huge that most would never at my age. You saw how much I wanted this and—you're giving me a lot. You're even giving me…"

"What?" I asked, moving my hand to his chest when he couldn't seem to get his mouth to work.

"The way I lost my virginity was a bit traumatic for me. Nothing like what you went through—I don't want you to think I'm remotely—"

"No, of course, you're not saying that," I quickly agreed. I felt his worry and immediately understood. "A stronger wolf pressured you."

He swallowed loudly. "Yes. She wanted—I thought she liked me, but she wanted to marry into the Kraft family because we have money. Barb actually protected me that time and never stopped humiliating me about it, but…"

"Our going slow is healing you too?" I hedged.

"In a way," he said after a moment. "I never got the cute touches and exploring." His cheeks heated, and he leaned in and ran his nose along my face. "I never felt safe enough to trust someone and know they would never take advantage of me. I want to explore more with the handcuffs, Arabella. I want to do a lot of things. I want to get lost in you too."

I shivered, liking how much it had excited me to put those on him even if I'd known he could break them. "Thank you, Jamie."

"Thank you for cooking me dinner." He kissed that spot under my ear. "How about you fill the house with my favorite tonight? I want the whole house filled with meringues."

Liar. Those weren't his favorite. He just knew those took the longest to make and people wanted more and more of them.

Still, it was a kind lie, and I appreciated him trying to focus me that way.

Apparently, he could too.

Oh, and luckily, Kary did set up some cameras, and we learned that I started putting the treats on what would be the dining room table. I went out from there.

So now I just had to figure out how to ward up my dining room to transfer anything I put there to another warehouse. Lovely.