Page 103 of Harbor

Something he didn’t think was wrong?

God.

They were all hypocrites.

And hell no, she wasn’t going to talk to him at Christmas dinner when she had barely even managed to swallow her dinner without feeling like she was choking on every bite because of who else was in the room.

“Perhaps you should take a fucking hint, then,” Lucia snapped.

“Lucia.” His sharp tone did nothing for her. She refused to speak. Not that it mattered to her brother. He just opted to try a different direction again, asking, “What made you get mixed up with a guy like Renzo, anyway? Didn’t I tell you not to mess with boys like that?”

Lucia couldn’t help it.

She laughed at that.

A bitter, dark laugh that should have warned her brother. Those words were coming quicker than he was going to be able to handle them. Words that would cut him deep, and ones she wouldn’t be able to take back. Not that she was even sure she wanted to take back all the things she had said to him, or anyone else who pushed her just a little too far.

“Like him?” she asked, cocking a brow. “John, you and every other man in our family are no better than him. Except what? We’ve got money, and you guys wear nice suits and drive expensive cars. So, you’ve got a last name that gives you respect, and a family legacy that affords you privilege.”

Lucia shook her head, refusing to back off even a little bit as she added, “And guys like him? They come from the streets, and hustle every day of their lives just to survive. Did you know he was paying for his sister’s private schooling? Nobody else paid for it. He was trying to let her be something when they came from nothing. Where do you think that left her? Or his little brother—his parents fucked off years ago. Where does that leave the boy? Don’t worry, I’m sure his sister—who can’t go to school anymore—took him, or better yet, maybe a nice foster family picked him up.”

John blinked.

Fuck, yeah.

Even Lucia could hear the contempt burning in her voice. Her bitterness was bred so deep now, she was never going to be able to get it out.

Her brother didn’t seem to know what to say, and Lucia liked that just fine.

“Fuck you with your guys like him shit,” she said, fists balling into her lap so tight that her fingernails cut into her palms. Pain was something, though. It meant she was feeling something, and something was better than nothing at the moment. “So, you’ve got money and a suit, but that’s all you’ve fucking got, too.”

It took John entirely too long to come back with something to say.

Lucia wished he wouldn’t have bothered.

“You come from the same privilege I do,” John said quietly.

“Except I can own it now. Can you?”

“I’m sorry, Lucy. Really, I am. I didn’t think that it was all going to lead to him being put away for—”

“Shut up,” Lucia forced through her clenched teeth, not even wanting to go there with John. Like he honestly gave a fuck that Renzo had been locked away. Like her father, he probably looked at it like a blessing to them. “I bet Daddy had that planned, and you knew about it, too.”

“Dad didn’t plan anything. I just came after you to bring you home. The rest was circumstance, and shit.”

Whatever.

She was done with this conversation.

Lucia turned to stare at the TV again, refusing to give him even one more second of her attention. Problem was, she knew her brother … he was going to keep pushing until she broke, and she just wasn’t going to let him do that. There was really only one way to get her brother off a conversation, and that was to turn it on him. To make it about him.

There was nothing John hated more than someone asking about him—it was like being diagnosed with bipolar had made her brother defensive from the time his disorder was handed down. He always felt like people were inadvertently judging him just by asking about him. Lucia tried not to make her brother feel like that, but right now, she really just needed him to get the fuck away from her.

“Why don’t we talk about you, John?” Lucia asked.

The shift in the room was instant.

She could feel the discomfort radiating from John.