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“Well, it must’ve been a small intimate affair with just your closest friends. That’s the à la mode thing these days. I’m not hurt.”
“We had hundreds of people there, as well as Dad,” my brother adds, finding as much salt to pour on the wound as he can.
She turns, a scowl flashing across her face before she resets the mask. “And you didn’t tell him to invite me, Jeremy? Always bad-mouthing me.”
Dad just takes another sip from his whiskey glass, not rising to her bait. He doesn’t need to. He knows where he stands with all of us and exactly how we feel about our mother.
“Dad didn’t say anything. We just didn’t want to invite you.” Damien’s words invite no room for misunderstanding.
She tsks. “Well, as your mother, I should meet My-Linh, don’t you think? Welcome her to the family. Show her how a real woman should act if she wants to be an asset to her husband.”
Damien squares up, finally staring her directly in the face, unblinking. “You stay away from her. Do you hear me, Mother? You will never regret anything like you’ll regret coming near her.”
“Hey, bro. It’s cool,” Matthias says, coming up behind him and pulling on the back of Damien’s jacket. “Told you we should’ve sent Kylian.”
Our mother turns her bright, albeit slightly dulled, smile on her second born. “Matthias. Come give your mother a hug.”
“No, thank you. Believe it or not, I’d rather saw my own arms off with a plastic knife,” he says with no small amount of sarcasm. “I’m just here so that Damien doesn’t cause a scene. You better go, Mother.”
She scoffs and waves a dismissive hand in the air. “Your brother has always been so sensitive. All I said was if My-Linh is going to be a society wife and be useful to him, she’s going to need to know how to act. Learn some manners.”
Matthias snorts. “She said that about Damien’s wife?”
I nod, confirming, and Matthias shakes his head at our mother.
“Well, then, you’re lucky Damien hasn’t burned this whole funeral home down, with you in it. Come on, guys. Dad, they just opened another bottle.”
My brothers follow Matthias back to the bar without another word to our mother, but she grabs onto my wrist as I try to walk away, her nails digging into my skin.
“Kingsley,” she hisses, “you’re going to have to learn to make these types of decisions without your brothers. They don’t understand. They’ve never understood and they never will. You’re the one who is going to be CEO, and you have to make the right decisions that are good for Baxter Enterprises. That means you’re going to have to play the social game. I know you don’t like that, but you don’t have a choice. You think I got where I did by doing what I want all the time?”
“You mean having four boys to secure yourself a divorce settlement worth tens of millions of pounds that you still managed to burn through within months?”
She visibly recoils, letting go of my arm. “Kingsley. I—” Before she can continue, she’s interrupted by a woman pulling her into a hug.
“Elise! Fancy seeing you here!”
“Corinne, of course,” she greets her, giving me a pointed look over the woman’s shoulder.
I take the opportunity to escape and join my family at the bar.
Matthias pats my back and hands me his glass. “To Ernest.”
I clink my glass with theirs and wonder what he would think about everything that’s happening here in the name of celebrating his life.
“Where to now?” Kylian asks.
I finish my drink, suddenly glad that my brothers are here. “Where else?”
Five
Luna
Why. Is. Someone. Drying. Their. Hair. At. One. Fucking. A.M.??
I bury my head under two blankets, two pillows, and as many of my clothes as I can, trying to drown out the sound. After almost two months at this hostel, I’ve created a little home for myself out of my nook in the corner. Most of the time, my fellow dorm roommates are well versed enough in hostel life to follow the written and unwritten rules, but now and then, you get some Chatty Cathy.
Who. Fucking. Dries. Her. Fucking. Hair. At. One. FUCKING. A.M.!!!
