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It’s a little after six, and after a drive through Manhattan rush hour traffic to get to the police station, I’m already irritated, but this two-bit rent-a-cop rookie makes me want to punch someone.
Instead, I’m keeping my temperament cool to match the $8,000 suit I made sure to change into before leaving campus. I’m trying to ignore the cop and speak to the upset woman who’s waving her arms around like she’s a side-character in a Jane Austin novel, and that my sister’s behavior has caused her the greatest inconvenience in the world.
“I would hardly call putting a five-hundred-dollar, one-of-a-kind necklace into your purse and trying to walk out of the boutique without paying a misunderstanding,” the woman says. “I have it all in HD video if you need to take a look.”
“With all due respect, that’s a five-thousand-dollar purse my sister is using.” I know nothing about purses, but I know Virgo well enough to know that every inch of her is covered in designer brands, from her body lotion to her jacket.
I also know her well enough to know she sure as hell put the necklace into her purse…
“My sister has no reason to not pay for your jewelry,” I continue, pulling out my wallet. “However, as we’re clearly not at your store, I am happy to pay for that piece now, as well as an additional sum for the… inconvenience… of having to travel here and wait for my arrival.”
“It’s not about the money,” the woman says with an indignant sniff. Until I open my wallet, and she sees tips of the crisp hundred-dollar bills. “But considering this was amajorinconvenience, and I’ve had to miss a show…”
Three thousand dollars and a signed NDA later, I’m walking my sister out of the police precinct with no charges and a guarantee her actions will not make their way to social media.
Naturally, my car has a parking ticket on it, but I pluck it off the windshield and toss it to the ground before I open the door for Virgo. She refuses to look at me as she gets in and stares out into the distance.
I close the door gently and then walk around to get in myself. Only when I’ve pulled out into the traffic and started the journey to Eric and Elena’s apartment does she say anything.
“You didn’t have to come.”
“I should have let you get arrested? You can pull off orange, but you can’t pull off prison. They’ll have you file down your talons.” Today, Virgo’s nails are black, matching the lipstick and boots she’s wearing.
“Eric wouldn’t let me go to prison.” Virgo shrugs. “It wouldn’t look good for him.”
“No, but he’s five seconds away from sending you to boarding school in Italy, and we both know that’s the closest you’ll get to wearing anything from Milan, because school is code for convent.”
As I’m right, Virgo has nothing to say to that.
Regardless of what’s happening, once a month, I’m required to attend a family dinner at home. Honestly, I’m sure the only point of them is for Eric to remind me and Virgo that we’re lucky we were chosen to be adopted out of the destitute poverty we’d been living in before we were ‘rescued’.
There hasn’t been a single meal I can remember when I’ve not been reminded that it’s my obligation to repay them by taking over the family business. My first act will be to appoint my sister as my partner. Despite her current behavior, that’s what she wants.
And the reason she’s acting this way is because Eric doesn’t think she’s capable because of some sexist, racist bullshit, which is all in ourimaginationbecause how can he be sexist when he has two women on one of his boards, and how can he be racist when he adopted kids from Korea and Vietnam?
“Virg, you know I’m going to make sure you have your place in running all of his businesses, so why are you doing this? You’re smarter than me, and you could be in college programs now, but—”
“Why bother?” she asks. Her attention is on the barely moving traffic around us. “I graduate college early, and then what? You can’t do shit—”
“Language.”
She says something in Vietnamese, which I’m almost certain means shit. Putting her crazy smart brain to use, Virgo can speak French, Spanish and Vietnamese almost fluently, the latter, she learned specifically to annoy Eric.
I let out a long sigh and glance over at her, giving her an unimpressed look.
Virgo rolls her eyes. “You can’t do anything until you take over the company. Eric thinks I’m like Paris Hilton.”
Paris Hilton is a socialite from Eric’s days. She’s old, but she’s got hot MILF vibes. She’s Eric’s go-to when he wants to put Virgo down, and I had to do some research to figure out how it was an insult.
“Did you watch any of those TikToks I sent you? The joke’s going to be on him. He only ever saw the act. She’s smart as hell—not as smart as you, of course, which makes you deadlier.”
From the corner of my eye, I see the corner of her lip quirk upwards. And then it’s gone.
The traffic seems to be especially bad today, and it takes nearly an hour just to get to our apartment. Inside, we’re greeted by ‘Nanny’. Honestly, I have no idea what her name is. She’s not even the same woman who was acting as our nanny the last time I was here for dinner, and that was two weeks ago. I’ve had more nannies than I care to remember, because either Eric or Elena—or both of them—fucked them and got bored, or they couldn’t handle Elena’s temper.
Speaking of, the he and she demons aren’t here, so I make the easy decision to stay and have dinner with Virgo before I head back to campus.
Nanny works in silence, like a ghost, leaving me and Virgo alone to watch some trash show Virgo’s currently hooked on, until she announces dinner is ready.
