“So what you’re saying is you were an international drug dealer?” Kellen said, unable to feign disinterest anymore.
“Well, I mean, if you want to ignore all the subtleties,” Sesame said.
Her brother got to his feet. “I don’t want to hear another word.”
“This is why I didn’t tell you, Kelly. You’re such a stickler for the law you can’t even see that we were doing something good.”
“You were importing illegal prescription drugs!”
“No, we were illegally importing prescription drugs,” she countered.
“It’s an important distinction,” Tommy agreed.
“Sit down, Weber,” Nick said. “Hear them out.”
Sesame smiled at him. “Thank you, Nicky. Things were going great. We had millions of elderly Americans who could now afford their medicine. The companies who couldn’t legally distribute their drugs in the US now had a channel to do so. And, of course, our income also increased.”
Kellen scoffed. “Yeah, to private planes and limo drivers. How charitable of you.”
“Shut up and eat some pizza,” Nick ordered.
“No, he’s right,” Sesame admitted. “I’ve never lied about my desire for wealth, and this was the first time in my life that I was actually climbing that ladder. It felt good to be able to afford whatever I wanted. Being able to splurge on a new pair of shoes or boobs made me feel so…powerful. So secure. And Tommy’s aunt and uncle liked their newfound financial security too.”
“Uncle Royce gave up collecting golf balls and bought himself two golf courses,” Tommy said. “Aunt Lurlene went from scrubbing toilets at a country club so she could steal wallets to being a board member.”
“How did it start to go wrong?” Riley asked Sesame.
She looked down at the table. “I saw the potential for another move. A big one. We’d been importing prescription drugs that had been approved in other countries for a few years when one of our South American representatives brought us a brand-new drug that they were excited about.”
“This is ridiculous,” Kellen muttered. “My sister faked her own death to run a cartel.”
“This particular company wanted our help getting their new drug approved. It was all-natural, worked better than other existing medications, and, best of all, there was a huge market for it. I’ll admit, I was blinded by dollar signs,” Sesame said.
Tommy squeezed her hand. “We all were.”
“I convinced Tommy’s aunt and uncle to form a pharmaceutical company, and thanks to our previous criminal resources, we were able to identify a Food and Drug official who was, shall we say, comfortable being influenced to help us fast-track our clinical trials.”
Kellen covered his ears. “I shouldn’t be listening to this. We should be calling the authorities.”
“What was the drug for?” Jasmine asked.
Tommy cleared his throat. “It was a, um…male enhancement drug.”
“But there are already medications for that,” Brian said. “Not that I’m familiar with them or ever took one once in college.”
“That was a fun night,” Josie said fondly.
“So you found a new little blue pill. What was the problem besides bribing government officials and running a domestic prescription drug cartel?” Kellen asked.
“In addition to the product branding and launch, I was also in charge of monitoring the trials,” Sesame explained. “It soon became clear that there was one problem.”
“Tell me you didn’t accidentally kill a bunch of patients,” Kellen said.
“No! I swear. No one was harmed. But you know those drug commercials where there’s a list of side effects?”
“Like anal leakage and sudden death?” Josie asked. “Tell me your sex drug caused anal leakage.”
“I wish,” Tommy said, shifting in his seat.
