I Have Five Kick-Ass Brothers – Episode 07
Before sunrise, the Lincoln kitchen was already alive with steam, clattering pans, and the smell of Mrs. Lincoln’s best dishes. Raina moved between the counters with her hair tied back and determination brightening her tired face. The Smiths had employed a household staff for every inconvenience, but she found unexpected satisfaction in packing each lunch herself.
By late morning, a folding table stood beside the construction site beneath a cheerful handmade sign. Raina adjusted her apron, surveyed the neatly stacked boxes, and called to the passing workers. “Hot lunches! Best food in Brookfield, and priced for people who actually work for a living!” Several heads turned toward the aroma drifting from the containers.
The food was not her only marketing plan. Noah and his brothers stood beside the stall in plain work clothes, all looking as though they would rather negotiate hostile takeovers than endure their sister’s next instruction. “Smile,” Raina ordered. “If people aren’t hungry yet, you can attract them long enough for the food to do the rest.”
Noah stared at her. As chief executive of Lincoln Group, he had faced ruthless boards without blinking, but his little sister asking him to serve as “eye candy” defeated him completely. Henry recovered fastest, flashing the famous smile Raina still failed to recognize. Joshua folded his arms and announced that he did not smile on command.
“You don’t want to disappoint me on our first day, do you?” Raina asked. Five powerful men surrendered at once. Noah rolled up his sleeves, Henry greeted customers with theatrical charm, Joshua attempted a grim expression that somehow attracted even more attention, while Luke and Mathew managed orders and change.
Laughter rippled through the site. Workers gathered first to tease Noah, whom they believed had somehow recruited a beautiful sister and four suspiciously polished helpers. Then Mrs. Lincoln’s cooking won them over. One bite became three orders for coworkers, and within minutes a line curved around the edge of the lot.
Raina barely had time to celebrate. She took payments, remembered preferences, and tucked extra napkins into every bag. When a worker admitted he was short on cash, she quietly reduced the price rather than send him away hungry. Noah witnessed the exchange and understood that her generosity was instinctive, not performed for approval.
“Twenty lunches for the west crew!” someone shouted. Another foreman ordered thirty. Luke tried to track inventory while Henry entertained the growing crowd, and even Joshua accepted the task of handing out drinks without frightening anyone.
When the final container left the table, Raina stared at the empty warmers in disbelief. “Sold out,” she whispered, then lifted the cash box with a laugh. “We’re going to be rich!” Her brothers exchanged affectionate glances. The day’s earnings meant nothing beside their fortunes, but her happiness made the handful of bills priceless.
A black sedan slowed on the road beside the site. Theo sat in the back, still scanning the area where he had glimpsed the familiar young woman the previous evening. He had told himself he sought a rational explanation. The urgency that had brought him back suggested otherwise.
Then he saw her behind the food stall, flushed from work and laughing with customers. Recognition stirred again, sharper in daylight. She carried none of Coco’s polished calculation. Every gesture was open, from the way she thanked each buyer to the pride with which she watched an exhausted laborer enjoy her mother’s cooking.
Theo should have looked away. Instead, he studied the sunlight in her eyes and remembered a child kneeling beside him amid chaos, terrified but determined to keep him alive. Time had blurred the face in his memory, yet the warmth remained. The woman at the stall possessed it.
“Do I know her?” he murmured. His assistant followed his gaze but saw only an attractive street vendor surrounded by men. Theo saw a question that had haunted him for years. He opened the door before caution could intervene.
Noah noticed him first and groaned. The two men moved through the same elite circles, and Theo knew perfectly well that Noah Lincoln did not work construction. If Theo spoke carelessly, the family’s entire test could collapse in front of Raina.
“Theo,” Noah called, forcing a warning into the greeting. “Shouldn’t you be eating at a restaurant with too many forks instead of bothering hardworking people?” Theo caught the message. Whatever game the Lincolns were playing, Raina was not supposed to know.
Raina approached with the last lunch box, pleased to find one serving she had set aside. The handsome stranger’s suit looked absurdly expensive beside the dusty site. “Hello, sir. Are you here for lunch, or did my shameless advertising work better than expected?”
Her teasing smile struck Theo with another pulse of memory. For a moment he forgot the prepared excuse, Noah’s warning, and the traffic moving behind him. Up close, the familiarity was almost painful. He accepted the lunch simply to keep her near.
“I’m Raina,” she said, offering her hand. The name did not match the one attached to his old search, but her grip was warm and steady. Theo repeated it silently, certain he had just recovered an important piece of something lost.
Noah moved closer, protective suspicion plain on his face. Raina looked between the men and asked whether they knew each other. Theo understood that an honest answer would expose Noah’s secret before he knew why the Lincolns were keeping it.
“Actually,” Theo said, shifting his gaze toward Noah while every instinct remained fixed on Raina, “I came to see him.” The excuse satisfied no one, least of all Theo. Fate had finally placed the mysterious woman within reach, and he intended to discover why Raina’s smile felt more familiar than the fiancée he had nearly chosen.