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“Hotels are a big business, Alex,” said Jared. “It’s not like you can’t afford a minor competitor.”
“Only, that’s not all, is it Jared?”
I saw Jared’s throat as he swallowed a little.
“See Lena, there were strings attached to Mank’s little investment. I didn’t even put two and two when Jim Callahan came and told me. But my brother here—” I smiled, but not happily “—is about to launch another planning application. Where is it, Jared?”
Lena turned and looked at him.
Jared hung his head.
“Honolulu,” he said.
“What’s that?” I said, a little louder now. I hadn’t yelled yet. But I was suppressing every urge to.
“In Honolulu,” said Jared.
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s right. Your friend here,” I said, “is trying to muscle in on my business. And the worst part? He doesn’t even realize.”
“Realize what, Alex?” said Jared. “Come on, she doesn’t need to hear this.”
“Oh, I think you do, Lena,” I said to her. “I think you do. Because what Jared doesn’t realize is that Allen Mank? He’s been doing this all over the world. He picks spots where Honolulu Hotels Ltd builds, and he—” I clapped my hands together, so hard my palms stung “—buys up the land. And you, little brother,” I growled. “You were so greedy to get started that you didn’t even stop to think about the fact that you just allied yourself with the guy who’s willing to crush me, crush my business, to protect his own interests.”
Lena was trembling. I hadn’t noticed. I’d been too self-satisfied in explaining to them both just how badly they’d hurt me.
“So, you see, Lena,” I went on, “when Jared says he wants you to come and do some work for him in LA? He means he wants you to come and do some work for Allen Mank. A man who would happily see my business go under. Who’d happily see me lose everything if it only meant he could have a few more billion dollars in his pocket.”
“What could I do?”
I looked up at Jared, who was staring me down defiantly. “What could I do?” he repeated. “You keep making out like I’m in cahoots with Mank. Like I want to see you go under. Do you think it’s been easy for me, watching you succeed like this? You could have helped me. You could have been there for me when it counted.”
“And what about me?” I said, and I heard my voice, low and dangerous, seething. “You think it was easy for me? Moving out to Hawaii on nothing but an army pension? Working seventy, or eighty hours a week to keep a tiny bar afloat in Honolulu? I worked myassoff to get where I am, Jared. And all you’ve ever done is sponge off me and my success. You think Mank would lend you a cent if it weren’t for the fact that you’re my brother.”
“Hey!” said Jared. “I never sponged off you.”
“What about the money I give you, huh? What about it?”
“Money?” said Lena.
I looked at her, but I didn’t see her. Didn’t see her feelings anymore, didn’t see her as a person. I saw her as a resource. A resource to be used for my own benefit. And while some part of me was telling me to stop, another part, a part that felt betrayed, let down by the pair of them, was telling me to go on.
“Tell me, Lena,” I said snidely. “You ever wonder how your oldboyfriendhere kept up his fancy lifestyle in LA? Apartment in Venice? Out partying every weekend? It’s because I financed him. How much was it, Jared?”
He didn’t say anything.
“How much was it?” I repeated.
“Two million dollars,” said Jared quietly.
“That’s right,” I said. “Two million dollars. About two years ago I gave you two million dollars and told you to make your dream come true. See Lena, despite what Jared thinks, I haven’t abandoned him. Haven’t abandoned our parents. I bought their house for them with the profits from the Honolulu International. And I wanted to help Jared achieve something.”
“I didn’t need your money,” Jared said bitterly.
“You took it though, didn’t you?”
“Is that true?” moaned Lena, as she turned and looked at Jared. Lena looked devastated. Her hands were shaking, and I could see tears forming in her eyes. And I wanted to pull her to me, to comfort her and tell her that things were going to be okay. To stop now. But my crueler nature took a savage satisfaction in watching her realize that everything Jared could give her, had given her, had come through me. That the chain of events which had brought us together began long ago, and had led, inevitably, to this point.
“Lena,” said Jared. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I …”
