The Cody house never really slept.
Even at two in the morning, there was always something happening. A television blaring in the living room. J's footsteps crossing the hallway. Craig stumbling in after disappearing for two days. Deran arguing with someone over the phone. Baz pacing the backyard with a cigarette hanging from his lips while he planned the next score.
And Smurf? Smurf always knew everything.
Arianna Barnes learned that lesson ten years ago.
At seventeen, she'd arrived at the Cody house with a duffel bag, a black eye, and nowhere else to go. Smurf had looked her over once, handed her a house key, and told her to make herself useful.
That was that.
Now, at twenty-seven, Arianna couldn't imagine living anywhere else.
The house was chaos. Loud. Dangerous.
But it was home.
She stood at the kitchen counter early that morning, pouring coffee while the rest of the house slowly woke up.
Craig wandered in first.
"Coffee?" he asked.
"You know where the pot is."
Craig grinned.
"See, that's why you're my favorite."
"You say that every day."
"Because it's true every day."
He stole a piece of toast from her plate before she could stop him.
Arianna smacked his shoulder.
"Get your own."
"No."
Before she could argue, another figure appeared in the doorway.
Pope.
The room immediately felt smaller.
Not because he was intimidating.
Well...
Maybe a little.
Andrew Cody moved through the house differently than everyone else. Quieter. More observant.
He noticed things.
Everything.
His dark eyes flicked toward Arianna.
Toward the missing toast.
Toward Craig.
Then he grabbed a mug without saying a word.
Craig rolled his eyes.
"Morning to you too, sunshine."
Pope ignored him.
Arianna hid a smile.
That was normal.
Most mornings started exactly like this.
A few minutes later Deran arrived, already irritated about something.
"What idiot left the truck on empty?"
"Craig."
"It wasn't me."
"It was definitely you."
"Prove it."
The argument started immediately.
Arianna laughed into her coffee.
For a brief moment everything felt normal.
BINABASA MO ANG
The Cost of Lies
FanfictionArianna Barnes was seventeen when Janine "Smurf" Cody took her in. Ten years later, she's no longer an outsider-she's family. Living among the Codys means surviving a world built on loyalty, crime, and secrets. Arianna has spent years standing besid...
