AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Give me a knife. I’m gonna slide it between his ribs.” I spin on my heels and burst through the door in a rage I’m not entirely sure I know how to contain. I’m mad… why? Because he’s not poor like me? Because he owns things? Because he lives in a tiny, four-floor walk-up apartment whose bathroom ceilingstillshows damage from last December’s storm, and a bedroom that has one teeny tiny window, too sticky to even climb through in the event of a fire?
Why does it make me so angry that he lives in squalor when he doesn’t have to?
With balled fists and a temper to match, I stomp my way along the deck and search for stairs. Because there would bestairs, right? I’m no rich-person expert, but surely if there’s an upper deck, then there must be a way to get there.
“Archer!” I shout above the din of the wind. My voice, cutting despite the fact I’m surrounded by paradise. Beautiful blue skies, and an ocean made for lazing in. Gentle waves lap at the… hull? The rudder? The fricken bow? I don’t know! Because I wasn’t raised rich and with pet boats. “Archer!”
“Minka?”
I snap my head back and stare straight upward to find my husband leaning over the railing, his phone in one hand and his perfect, green eyes gawking back down.
“How do you get up there? And why are you up there?”
“Um…”
“Are you spending time with your helicopter?”
His cheeks pale. “Uh…”
“I’m coming up.” I spot the stairs like the heavens have opened up and shone a light straight on my target, then I stomp toward them and grab the rails. I make as much noise as I possibly can, like it’ll somehow help defuse the irrational anger coursing through my veins. “Stay right there,” I growl. “Show me the damn helicopter you didn’t tell me about.”
“Babe?” He skids across to stop at the top of the stairs, his phone no longer in his hand, but a dark hat perched on his head to shadow his eyes. “Why are you mad?”
“I didn’t know there was a helipad on this boat!” I clomp up each step, my knees and thighs protesting how heavily I slam down on them. “I didn’t know there was another deck!”
“Minnnka?” He leans closer and takes my hand to help me up the last steps, then he moves out of my way to reveal… nothing. No helicopter. No fifty-thousand pounds of steel and blades and expensive machinery. Coming up behind me, he wraps me close and presses his chest to my back. “What the hell is wrong?”
“You own a helicopter!”And yet, where the frick is it? Spinning in his arms, I take a step back and force his hands to fall away. “You own a helicopter.”
“Well…” He looks over my shoulder. Straight past me, as thoughnotstaring into my eyes when he tells a lie makes it more acceptable. “The family owns one?—”
“Like the family owns the boat! And the family owns a jet. And the family owns a mansion in New York. And the family owns dozens of town cars. Oh! And the family owns a basketball team.”
“They don’t own the team. Felix is just business-friendly with the guy who owns the team.”
“Archer! You spent a million dollars on a helicopter this year!? You! Five singular, separate brothers spent a million dollarseachto buy a helicopter!”
His eyes turn to dangerous, dark slits. “Who told you that?”
“I see the giant H!” I throw my hand out and point toward theFelix didn’t paint this himselfH taking up eighty percent of the deck. “Where is it, huh? Did you lend it to the Queen of Nairobi for the day?”
“Wow!” He chokes out a laugh that only sets my temper ablaze. “The Queen of Nairobi? This is a new level of drama, even for you.”
“You own a helicopter! And a boat. And a jet. And all these other things.”
“Thefamilyowns those things.” He steps forward and takes my balled fist in his. “Timothy is dead, Mayet. He has sons, and one of those sons is now the fucking don of New York City. Even after tossing away half his trade and slashing his income, that means he has money. Felix likes tospendmoney, too. So fucking what?”
“It’s not just Felix! It’s Cato, a rich kid whochoosesto sleep on our couch. It’s Micah, whochoosesto live at home with hisbig brother. It’s Tim, who runs a dingy bar and feeds us for free most nights. I’m not sure I’ve ever paid my tab more than once or twice. He’s running that place at a loss, I bet, and living in a shitty apartment above, but he’s rich!”
“So you’re mad because they have money, but theydon’tspend it? Their financial status is none of your business, Minka. So why are you losing your shit over it?”
“Because you’re one of the five! You were estranged, but so was Tim. You’re one of them, and you dropped a million dollars recently so you could buy a helicopter with your brothers. A million dollars! And even with all that cash gone, I didn’t notice so much as a glitch in how you behave.”
“I don’t…” He shakes his head. “What?”
“Some people spend a million dollars on a home, fine, but they’re paying it off over thirty years, and they’re budgeting like normal, regular human beings.Youspend a million and nothing changes at all! Which means it was easy. It means you have money to burn, and you never told me about it.”
“Youwantme to tell you?” He steps forward, gripping my arms and forcing me to look up into his eyes. “You want to know?”
