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“Since when? I would never tell you to keep your opinions to yourself unless it was something I didn’t feel like hearing.” It gets a chuckle out of him, anyway. “I hope you’re not saying this to ease my conscience.”
“Since when do I do that?” He shakes his head, then waves a hand. “Anyway, you’re not going to want to hear this, but I think the two of you should work it out.”
“This is the time for me to tell you to keep your opinions to yourself.”
“I’m serious. Yes, he was reckless. Throwing his attitude around. We’ll never know exactly what started the fight.” His jaw tightens. “He can say all he wants that some mouthy prick was insulting Sera, but it’s obvious he was doing it to get a rise out of the family hothead.”
“And he did, didn’t he?” I can’t help but bark out a laugh. “He got a bullet to the head, too.”
He doesn’t laugh with me. “At times like this, what’s more important than anything? Keeping your family close. You need to keep him close, no matter what still lies between you. Whatever it is, you have to work it out. You know that’s what your father would say if he was here.”
“Don’t—”
Once again, he cuts me off. “I know. You don’t want me quoting him to you. But you know he was like a father to me as much as he was to you. You, me, Jimmy. It was the three of us, all the time.”
I can’t help but bristle at the mention of the traitor’s name. “Why would you bring him up?”
“To remind you of how important it is to keep the people close to you as close as you can. I’m not saying what happened with Jimmy was your fault. There’s no excuse for what he did. Like you told him, you would have taken care of his mama, no questions asked.”
“I would have.”
“But…” He speaks slowly, like he’s choosing every word with care. “What if he felt shut out? Everything changed overnight, and that’s not your fault. All of a sudden, you had the entire family to manage. Some things slipped through the cracks.”
“You’re saying I let Jimmy slip through the cracks.”
“I’m saying, keep everybody close at a time like this. No, Vincent would never do with Jimmy did. There’s absolutely no reason for that to ever happen. He’s not Jimmy. He’s blood. And after what he set in motion, he’s going to want to prove himself to you.”
All that does is make me laugh. “He’s doing a great job so far.”
“You know how he is. He puts on an act. Mr. Personality.” He looks over my shoulder, out the window, and I watch as his gaze softens. “She used to call him that. She knew how to handle him.”
“My mother?”
“Sera.” His eyes go wide like he’s had a shock, and he stands up straighter before coming back to reality. That’s the only way I can describe it. It’s like he went away for a second.
I can’t believe I missed it. I missed so many things about my own life, things going on in front of me. I was busy being the big deal, my father’s oldest son, the heir apparent. Spending days at the old man’s side, learning everything I could about the business, about the history between families, between our associates. Who we could trust, who to always keep an eye on, who was a useful idiot.
I didn’t see what was in front of me then. Now, countless moments come back to me. Walking into the library, finding the two of them standing together. The way they would suddenly separate when I appeared. Finding Jock in the hallway once or twice in the middle of the night, accepting his excuses—a noise he heard, or checking the windows one last time to make sure they were secure. I was always half-drunk or on my way back from a woman’s apartment and ready to pass out from exhaustion, so I never gave it much thought.
“Did Dad know?” I ask Jock now, finally seeing things clearly.
He hits me with a sharp look but doesn’t waste time pretending not to understand what I mean. “I don’t think so. I’m sure he would’ve told me if he did.”
“Yes. You would have known. She was always supposed to marry the son of one of his friends.”
“I’m aware,” he sighs. “And so was she. But there was no telling her anything.”
“No shit.” We share a quiet laugh. “I can’t believe you never told me.”
His jaw works, nostrils flaring, but he suppresses the emotion threatening to surface. “She was your little sister. She didn’t want you to know. She was afraid you would go to your father, and he would send me away. You know he would have.”
He’s probably right. Dad loved Jock like a son and trusted him implicitly, but that wasn’t the same as accepting him as a son-in-law. Like it or not, Sera was never going to be allowed to make her own choice. That’s the way it goes, one of the hard rules he drilled into my head. Certain things just aren’t done. Marriage is for cementing alliances, since passion fades. Sometimes a couple gets lucky and falls in love after they’ve been matched, the way my parents did. But it’s rare. Often impossible.
Jock pulls out his phone, scanning a new message, and I know the subject has officially been dropped. I’m glad of it. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a few phone calls to make. Think about smoothing things over with Vincent.”
“I will.” I wonder if we’ll ever talk about this again. It only took a year for him to finally confess he loved my sister. Maybe it will take another year to hear anything else. I watch as he leaves and wonder how many other things I’ve been unaware of. How many stories took place under this roof while I walked its halls like the Crown Prince?
Why have I never thought of any of this before? What’s different now?
