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Luke runs a hand through his pale hair, making a mess out of already untamable strands.
Our maid serves everyone but me the perfectly sliced turkey and I slowly help myself to all the sides as my dad sits back down.
“I’m telling you I will get it fixed before the end of the year,” Luke grits. He murmurs a thank you to Samantha and she nods her head.
“Who was the OfEC agent on our case?”
The Organization for Ethical Coffee is familiar to me. We had agents over for dinner many times in the past. Otherwise, how would my dad bribe them into making us an ethically sourced coffee company?
“Matters,” Luke explains. “I’m seeing him on the twenty-sixth. Don’t worry, I know the process. You wanted ninety-one percent last year, didn’t you? I got it. You’ll get your fucking ninety-four percent ethically sourced.”
Dad takes a bite of turkey, chewing violently as he thinks. “His wife needs knee surgery. Did you know?”
Luke nods silently. His eyes dart to me. He can probably feel my accusing stare. My brother is a good person, and I hate my dad for dragging him down the slippery slope of bribery, threats, and everything else that makes a man a billionaire.
We live in Stoneview, a town in America that has the most concentration of billionaires per square meter. Every single one of them is a criminal. No one becomes that rich by keeping on the straight road. It’s impossible.
My brother’s mouth twists in a silent sorry to me, caught too quickly by my dad.
“Weareethical and environmentally friendly, Lucas,” he insists. When you tell a lie so often to keep everyone on your side, you probably start to believe it yourself. “OfEC simply has standards that we need a little help meeting. It’s not uncommon in our field of work.”
I can’t help the snort that escapes me as I chew on hot potatoes.
Oh no.
My father’s hard eyes land on me. “Something to add maybe?”
I swallow slowly, take a sip of wine—since I finished the champagne—to give me courage, and stare back. “Do you know what kind of Christmas tree is standing behind you?”
Cocking an eyebrow at me, he doesn’t bother even turning around, so I keep going. “It’s a Fraser fir. They’re an endangered species. That’s three stages away from extinction in case you didn’t know. Please, don’t bore us with yourethical and environmentally friendly companyat Christmas Eve dinner when you know your entire organization is a threat to our planet. Your coffee houses waste more plastic with their takeaway cups in an hour than the rest of America combined.”
From across the table, my brother kicks my shin, silently telling me to drop it. He doesn’t care about staying quiet for an entire evening because he never has to deal with dad anymore. I see him all the time.
I might have just started my second year of college, but Silver Falls University is a forty-minute drive from Stoneview at best if there’s a lot of traffic. I’m too close to my parents to truly feel independent, and that’s how it works for most Stoneview families.
We go from Stoneview Prep to SFU because that keeps us in elite education, and that way we don’t stray too far from our families and their expectations.
I see my dad at least one weekend a month. I don’t have any patience for his bullshit like Luke does.
“The actions I take in my personal life don’t reflect on the company,” my dad defends calmly.
“No?” I smile sweetly, and my mother tries to talk, but dad lifts a hand, keeping her silent. “It must be the other way around, then. The awful man you are at your company bleeds into your personal life.”
I take another sip of wine while we enter a staring contest. I’ve seen the worst my father can do. Nothing in this life can surprise me anymore. He truly is a monster, and I will never forgive him for the horrors he makes me take part of. We all have blood on our hands in this family. He makes sure of that so no one can ever escape. We’re all guilty in our own way, so we all shut up.
“Ella.” His business tone tells me something I don’t like is coming. “I’m glad you spoke up to defend your opinion.” I put my glass back on the table so he can’t see it shaking and bring my hands to my lap. “It brings me to my next order of business for the night.”
“Gerald,” my mother complains. “You promised you wouldn’t bring this up at dinner.”
“Bring what up?” The words slip past my numb lips. I lick the wine off them, cold sweat pearling at my lower back.
My father’s cold smile tells me he doesn’t care what he promised my mom. “You’re changing your major.”
“What?” I gasp.
“Gerald,” she pleads. “Please, not now.”
“What do you mean I’m changing my major? You can’t just—”
