“Shows how much you know. I would never do the Bahamas. The Swiss are the way to go.” Connor held up his hand when he caught Jacob’s frown. “I kid. Of course Mei didn’t give us anything. Though we didn’t visit her nearly as much as you and Kati did. I think she thought I was an asshole.”
“Smart lady.” Ben poked over the chicken wings and selected one laden with barbecue sauce. “Yeah, she didn’t give me anything either. Except for what was in the will, that is.”
“Which is doing pretty well, if I may say so,” Connor interjected.
Jacob only nodded. Connor was a whiz with numbers, so it had made sense to entrust him with investing the bequest. Jacob had no plans to touch his portion. He only wanted it to do well so his siblings could enjoy it.
Ben cleared his throat. “You know, you said Mei told Kati to sell off the box to pay for her education. But Connor and I have been talking, and with the scholarships Kati has, there’s enough in the principal Mei willed to us to cover a lot of expenses.”
Jacob was already shaking his head before Ben could finish speaking. “That money will come in handy for your business.” A refrain he had been repeating since he had heard of the bequest.
“We’re on track to breaking even this year, and maybe being in the black,” Connor said. “We save a ton by living together. We were planning on talking to you about this before we got the bequest. It’s dumb for you to shoulder her whole expense when we’re finally in a position to pitch in.”
“Kati’s our sister too, Jacob. Taking care of her shouldn’t only be on your plate.”
Jacob peeled the label off his bottle. “Guys. Really. This is sweet, but I have this.”
Connor’s lips compressed. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. For God’s sake, Jacob—”
Ben rested his hand on his brother’s arm. “Not now.” To Jacob, he said, “Is Kati sulking ’cause you took the box away? That doesn’t seem like her. She’s a reasonable kid.”
Jacob winced at Ben’s question. He didn’t think his reaction or the punishment he’d meted out to Kati had been out of line, but he didn’t particularly enjoy being a hard-ass. “She’s sulking because I yelled at her and took her phone away last week. And haven’t given it back.” He wouldn’t give it back until Kati was able to comprehend what she had done and said was wrong. Since they were currently not speaking to one another, that might take a while.
Connor gave a soundless whistle and helped himself to another portion of sliders and mozzarella sticks. “Her phone? Harsh.”
“Not to question your parenting skills, big brother, but I think you could have calmly explained about the box not belonging to us, and she probably would have gotten it,” Ben pointed out.
“I didn’t yell at her about the box. I mean, I expressed disappointment she kept it from me. But I wouldn’t have punished her for that alone.”
“What else then?”
Jacob toyed with a French fry. “She called Akira a slut.”
Connor winced. Ben’s eyes grew big. “To your face?”
Jacob dipped the French fry in ketchup and took a bite, though he wasn’t hungry. “Yeah.”
Connor pursed his lips. “She’s lucky all you did was take her phone away. If that had been either of us, you would have kicked our asses.”
“Deservedly,” Ben said, in a rare moment of seriousness.
Jacob warmed at their instant agreement.
Hypocrite. You didn’t storm out when Remy called Akira a slut.
That had been…different. Completely different. Still, Jacob internally squirmed, immediately throwing up a mental block on last night’s events. If he thought about it at all, he would be utterly useless.
“She said Mei called Akira names often enough.” He hesitated. “Did either of you hear her talk about her daughter like that?”
He was gratified when Ben and Connor instantly responded in the negative. “But, you know, they had a contentious relationship. You could tell Mei wasn’t very fond of her,” Ben mused. “Mei tried to keep up appearances, but she was so cold to her in public, I can’t imagine she was much kinder to her in private.”
Connor’s eyes warmed with appreciation. “At least Akira didn’t take any shit. I kind of loved how she would bait Mei.”
“What do you mean?”
“The act she would put on. Mei would walk into a room, and Akira would just slip into it. Like every word she uttered was designed to annoy the woman.” Connor shrugged. “Hell, it’s kind of how she treats you, right?”
Jacob dropped his half-eaten French fry, struck by the words. “What do you mean?” he repeated.
