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"No."
Kiara nods. "Yes. She told me when I was in high school. She was drunk and I'd annoyed her somehow. And she said that I wouldn't have been so rebellious if I were Dad's child."
"She was lying."
"Blood tests don't lie, Nathan."
The blood drains from his face as he processes the bombshell.
"Did Dad know?"
"I don’t know.”
"Who's the father?"
"It doesn’t matter,” he says, dismissively.
Kiara looks at me, her eyes filled with a sadness that I’ve never seen. "You don't get it, do you, Nathan? It does matter!! When we were growing up, all Dad used to talk about was how much I took after Mom and how much you inherited from him. How he loved that the business was staying in the family. Because that stuff mattered to him! Can you imagine what it must've been for him to think that part of his fortune and business was going to go to some other man's child?"
"But he loved you.”
"Yes. He loved me so much. And I felt that love even after I knew the truth. That doesn't stop me knowing that he took me in, and had to live with the knowledge that I was not his biological child. Bloodlines mattered a lot to him. You know they did."
"People change. Maybe after you came along. He was always trying to get you to work at Yin."
"Not Dad. He didn’t change. And he wanted me to work there to watch over me. He didn’t want me owning it. Those are two very different things. And if you don’t understand that then we can’t have this conversation."
"You’re wrong.”
“Then you didn’t know our father as well as you think you did. I don’t blame him. He loved me, he provided for me, but family is different to business. And he wanted his business to go to one person. You. So you might think it doesn’t matter. It mattered to me because I knew that it mattered to him even if he didn’t say it. I didn't want him to have to hurt like that."
Nathan sighs, conceding. "But, Kiara. It's... it's not his company anymore. You can work there now. We’ll find something, we’ll create something together that you can be proud of."
"Death doesn’t change a thing. You think I would disrespect him in death when I wouldn’t in life?”
"You’ll change your mind.”
I watch as she transforms in front of me, sad but calm. But her eyes harden, and she balls up her fists, rising up on her tip toes, ready to unload on her brother. "Stop it! Stop telling me what I should and shouldn't feel and what I should and shouldn’t do! Just let me live my life! You don't get to tell me what to feel about something you have no idea about. Look, I do not resent him even one iota. He gave me the best childhood I could have asked for. Just let me manage my relationship with him. And you worry about yours. And ours.”
A hard mask slides over Nathan’s face, one I’ve seen when he’s shutting down, what’s happening in reality getting to be too much for him. "Kiara, can we talk about this later?'
"Oh, so now you want to talk about it later. Is it because I'm not doing what you want?"
Nathan grabs her shoulder. "You’re purposely twisting everything I’m saying."
"Hey. Don't do that," I say, and push Nathan's hand off her. I don’t think he would hurt her, but I want to make it clear that even touching her roughly, will not be tolerated.
He grabs my hand and throws it back at me. "Don't fucking touch me. You're not a part of this."
I stand my ground, taking a step in front of her. "Kiara's a part of it, and that makes me a part of it."
He sniggers, his face an ugly mask I’ve never seen before. "Wow, when did you become such a knight in shining armor? I remember the way you fucked though half of our college class."
Reminding myself that he just lost his father and is not in his right mind, I don’t react. "You know that's not true, so stop pretending it is. But I know you're hurting so if you need to lash out, I'd prefer you did it to me and not your sister."
His spits at my feet. "You make me sick. Who do you think you are? You think this is going to make it okay that you're fucking my sister behind my back? Who do you think is going to have to pick up the pieces after you'd had enough to cast her aside?”
Behind me Kiara whimpers. Enduring more injuries from the only other person who understands what she’s going through today. And I hate him for that. Hate him with a searing fury. Fuck him. She doesn’t need him. "I'll be the one picking up the pieces after you've broken her heart worse than I ever could. So much for being the big brother. You're a fucking child. Look at what you’re doing to her."
