Links to the original post and the story so far (in order) can be found in the Tale of Two Pizza's Archive Post which has been updated as of this post (Week 20)

"Delilah, where on earth have you been?" her mother was sat in the highbacked armchair that Delilah was used to seeing occupied by her father.
"Mother, I..." She was quickly cut off. Mirabel continued to purr in her mothers lap as she spoke over Delilah. That hurt her more than the pointed questions and sharp tone.
"Who were the men you left on the road? And what were you rooting around in the attic for?" Clearly she had seen Delilah arriving and had her watched. But who had followed her around the house? Delilah had thought she was alone the entire time! I suppose I should have expected something like this, mother always did know everything that was going on around here! How many times did she manage to catch me just as I was about to steal a cookie or sneak out? I'm not 12 anymore though Mother Delilah gritted her teeth and took a deep breath, deciding to be honest with her.

"I snuck out to go to a secret Pizza Rave in Laketown, but got lost on the way. Henry found me. We stumbled upon a secret meeting to overthrow the Pizza Baron led by father! Mother did you know about this? We left with an escort to bring us home, father didn't realize how much we had heard and I decided to evade the escort warn Danny Rupert. I dragged Henry along with me." She paused, expecting more questions and was surprised when her mother remained silent, staring at her impassively. Delilah continued uncertainly.

"I... I went to see the Pizza Baron alone and Henry returned home. He said he wouldn't betray father like that! I waited what seemed like forever but then spoke with Danny Rupert and he told me that father was there already. I didn't get to see him but he must have been captured and brought there. I passed his cars on the road on my way home, I hope he wasn't hurt it looked like a battle! Danny sent me with a group of his guards to find something for him that could prove father was manipulated into taking action against Danny...." She slowly wound down, already wondering if she had said too much, if she should have lied and made something up. Her mother was watching with calculating eyes. Delilah realized Mirabel had stopped purring. She looked at her mothers lap. Mirabel was frozen, her mother's hand had stopped stroking and was gripping a handful of her fur. Her fingers clenched tighter and suddenly Mirabel hissed and began to struggle free. She released the poor cat, and Delilah quickly scooped her up and began to soothe her.

"So... Danny is it? You are more like her than you realize child. I tried. I tried so hard to protect you from your past. From your father's mistakes... And I have been trying to protect everyone from that man, from Danny Rupert and his deception." She spat his name as if it was poison. Then she sighed. "You have a lot to learn about the Pizza Baron, Delilah. You walked past the scene of your father's capture and thought nothing of it. Naive! Foolish!"

Delilah was shocked. What could her mother possibly mean by protecting her from her past. Or about her father's mistakes? "What about my past? What did father do? and what does any of this have to do with Danny Rupert?"

"I wont tell your father's secrets, nor the Pizza Baron's. I tried to be a good mother to you... but I am not. I am not your mother, Delilah... I am not your mother. But... that hardly matters anymore! You've already chosen a side. Here you are on a mission for Danny Rupert himself. You seem to have what you came for. Go... GO! Before I decide to show you which side I have chosen!" She seemed sad at first, but her voice rose as she spoke until Delilah could feel the cold fury pouring from her. She had never seen her mother so angry and she turned and practically fled, clutching Mirabel to her chest as she did. With her mind racing, confused, she left the house immediately. She knew that this was no longer her home. With tears in her eyes and half formed plans to get the truth out of Danny and her father racing through her mind she saddled Jet and left without saying good bye to anyone.

Selene Busk watched her adopted daughter rush out of the house from her favorite chair in her room. She had arranged for this to be her room on purpose. It occupied most of the third floor and had windows from which she could see in all directions. She had often watched Delilah get herself into mischief from these windows, and attempted to guide her out of the trouble that always followed. She had hoped it would never come to this, that she would be able to keep her husbands betrayal, Delilah's true parents, and her plans against Danny Rupert a secret. She cared for Delilah, but could never forgive Frederick, Danny, or Tolcetta for embroiling her in their love triangle. Frederick had never acknowledged that he knew Delilah wasn't his daughter. But Selene knew it was true. She resented the Pizza Baron and Tolcetta. She loathed them for the way they had left Delilah for Frederick and herself to care for. So she had laid plans... and now Delilah was going to be caught in the crossfire along with Frederick. If Frederick had been more careful perhaps... NO, I wont get caught up in maybe. These plans have been years in the making. They will walk their own path. Let them try to stand against me! I must contact the Preda's. They better have that damn tablet. Without it there will be no winners in the bloodshed to come!

The rules for this week remain the same as previous weeks!

I'd like to continue building on the story of the Pizza Baron and his post apocalyptic world. Each week I'll pick a winner that becomes the next piece of the story and wins 20 $PIZZA and a 5 SBI sponsorship from me. I may award additional prizes if I feel multiple entries expand the story well.

Each week I'll write a post announcing the winner and then I will write another chunk of the story and open it up again for the next weeks competition. I'll compile the winning entry for each week. If we reach a conclusion of the epic tale of the Pizza Baron I'll divide another TBD amount of PIZZA among all the winning entries throughout the whole story and publish the finished story here on Hive with all the contributors as beneficiaries. If this goes well we might have the first open source blockchain novella on our hands! 😂

The first weeks contest established a secondary storyline that may be tied back into the main plot if you so wish!

Bear in mind this is an experiment as well as a competition so we will see how many entries I get and how well it goes!

Rules:

Entries must be more than 200 words but less than 1000.

Entries must use the hivepizza tag

Entries must comment on this post with the link to their entry

Entries must fit in the world/scenario that has developed from the previous weeks contest(s). You are free to develop characters, introduce new ones, invite aliens to the feast, I don't care as long it makes some kind of sense in the context! The Pizza Baron should remain relevant to the plot!
(I've named it a Tale of TWO Pizza's for a reason HINT HINT)