Our father would ruin any meal.
“What did he do?”
The skin around Dash’s mouth turns white, and I start making plans to pay my father back for whatever wrongs I’m sure he committed.
“Tell me,” I push.
After a long exhale from his nose, Dash relents. “He talked about Paige like he does Mom. You know, like she was a pretty object I brought with me. Then he started talking about Uncle Mike and how I should come to work for the family business. And all the while, Mom was smiling like she was having the best time. Like it was a reunion. Neither one of them asked Paige a single question.” He shakes his head.
“I told Dad to stop bringing up Mike, that I’ll never work for him again. That the lunch was about Mom getting to meet Paige, not some criminal recruitment. He flipped. You know the way he does. One second, he was trying to charm me; the next, he was making threats and claiming—” Dash’s clenched jaw cuts off his explanation. After a stretch, he forces the rest of the words out. “Claiming the uppity bitch I’m dating has me by the balls if she won’t let me do real work.”
That seals it. Bill Lamont will get served a dish of piping hot revenge.
“We walked out. Haven’t seen either of them since.” My brother’s fingers lace together, so tight that his knuckles go white. “Mom doesn’t know about the wedding. Or the engagement.”
“Are you serious?”
Dash nods, untangling his fingers, only to shove them into his hair again. “If it were just her, then I’d tell her. Yeah, she wasn’t a great mom. I know that. But it’s not like she ever hurt any of us.”
Oh, little prince.Sometimes, I have a hard time remembering my brother is a grown man. Especially when he says anything in defense of the woman who gave birth to us.
Doesn’t he know? There are more ways to hurt a person than just by laying your hands on them.
Not that I’d ever want him to deal with that pain.
He continues to explain, unaware of my thoughts, “But it’s like she can’t do anything without Dad’s permission. Or presence. And can you imagine him showing up to anything with the Herberts? With Paige’s dad?”
“Judge Herbert, you mean?” The idea brings back a smile. If an evil one.
Mr. Herbert is an intimidating man, but not in the way my father always tries to be. Bill Lamont relies on his fists to inspire fear. That works fine enough when the person you’re going against is weaker than you. But Paige’s dad has a presence that leaves you wondering what you did wrong and if he can discover your fuckup just by looking at you. After getting over my initial defensiveness toward him, I realized I liked the man.
“You think Dad would have the balls to show up?”
Dash shrugs, and I reach over to rub a reassuring circle on his back, finding my own sense of comfort in taking on my classic role of big sister. Ever since we were kids, I’ve always been his protector.
Well, me and Leo.
Until my twin decided to join the dark side.
Doubt he’s in the will.
“But this isn’t about the wedding.” Dash brings my focus back to the current tragedy. “It’s about Wai Po. Mom needs to know.”
As much as I hate what will come of my next words, I force them out. “I’ll tell her.”
“Luna—”
“Shut up.” I soften the reprimand with a pat on his knee. “You cut off contact for a reason. Stick to that. I’ll tell her. I was going to anyway.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”No. But no way am I going to let my brother step back into the quicksand of our family if I can help it. “I’ll tell her. Youand Paige keep your distance for as long as you want.” Forever, if I have things my way.
Dash stares at me then, no doubt trying to figure out what’s going on in my mind.
Good luck.
“I love you,” he says. The intensity of his statement has me rearing back. But I can’t go far because, his long arms capture me in a tight hug. “I wish I’d said that more to Wai Po.”
