pensive perfume, a scent I never got used to. I stood in the back of the crowd, invisi

ersized check, the kind y

ratitude, goes to a true visionary, ou

forward, all white teeth and Napa Valley charm. He took the che

numental distribution deal with a luxury hotel chain

recipe I' d spent six months perfecting, the one that would have made the Jap

an urgent barrel leak at the rickhouse! One of the top-tier ba

warehouse, my heart pounding, only to find everythin

saw the check, the hug, the lie. It wasn't a mistake. It was

ed it with my family's secret, a wild yeast strain passed down through generations in my Appalachian hollow. I developed a

ed my own parents to mortgage their small farm, the only t

d distiller, the hired help, the "backwoods hillbilly" who married above his station. Mr. H

f love I had for her curdle and die. It was a ten-year-

ather and Ryan, a triumphant little grou

g here? I thought you wer

ed with some duct tape and spit. What do

ng he' d scraped off his shoe. "Don't be so hard on him, sir

too... un-ambitious. You're holding the company back. I'm putting Ryan in charge of the entire Ja

They weren't just taking the credit;

ger. A decade of disrespect, of being treated like a step

calm washe

," I

surprised by my

clearly the genius here. You should have the title to go with it." I looked direct

t look. Ryan' s smirk widened. They thought they

were

cked on an encrypted hard drive in my pocket. They had no idea that the wild yeast culture, th

an wouldn't be award-winning Hewitt Reserve

victory. It was a ticking time bomb. A