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Mark was seated at a long table, reading a text chain on his phone. He glanced up and broke into a smile that resembled his sister’s. “Hey, Sadie. Welcome to where the magic happens.”

“Thanks. It’s strange to be here.”

“How are you doing?”

“Much better.” She gazed appreciatively at Joan. “Joanie nursed me back to health.”

“I’ll bet she did,” he drawled.

The table held a disorganized mish-mash of fast-food napkins that had been written on. Ohhh, one had her and Joan’s initials inside a big red heart. “Aww, babe,” Sadie cooed, picking it up.

Joan drew their joined hands to her mouth and kissed Sadie’s knuckles.

Mark retched and said, “We’ll have none of that here. This is a serious place of business.”

“Setting ground rules for Hot and Cold?” Joan said.

A new text on Mark’s phone distracted him, causing him to grimace.

A handsome Latino man stepped out of a small washroom in glasses and a deep blue dress shirt and dark slacks. Wait, was this Perry? The gruff longtime Villain? He looked like a sexy TV doctor. Not at all what she’d imagined.

Joan tilted her head. Sadie blinked and opted not to tell the woman she loved that the guy who raised her was pretty darn hot. “Hi…Perry?”

Perry gave her a solid nod. “Are you feeling all right?”

“Mostly healed, thanks.”

“Let’s get to it.”

He sat across the table from Mark. Joan moved to sit beside her brother, then paused as her arm stretched from being attached at the end to Sadie. “Sorry,” she said. “I usually sit here.”

“Then sit there,” Sadie said. She squeezed Joan’s fingers.

Joan seemed reluctant to let go—a shared sentiment. But it would be good for them to focus on the conversation instead of how amazing it felt to touch one another. All over. Again and again.

She slid the sweet napkin into her coral-hued skirt pocket and walked around to occupy a chair next to Perry. Giving him a small smile, she asked, “Is there an agenda today?”

“No agenda,” Perry said.

“Topic of conversation…” Mark wiggled his phone. “How we’re gonna handle the fallout from our little betrayal.”

“How bad is it?”

“I’ve received a steady stream of insults from our criminal contacts. You should see the creative use of curse words. It’s actually quite impressive.”

He leaned over to show Joan his screen. Concern creased her forehead, though slight amusement toyed at her lips.

“I’ve gotten the same,” said Perry. “From Villains in other cities, too. We didn’t just break the code. We did it with the help of the Supers.”

“Gossip travels fast in our world,” Mark told Sadie. “Nobody wants to be on the wrong side of the wrong side of the law.”

Joan had said this would likely be the result. She’d acted like it didn’t matter, but villainy had been her life for so long. Even Greta had texted aWTF?and hadn’t responded to any of Joan’s replies. That had to hurt.

Sadie cleared her throat. “Is it okay if I say something?”

“Of course,” Joan said. “You’re a part of this.”

“To give you a different perspective… I mean, I can give you the viewpoint of what the norms are thinking and saying.”