“Who else could it be except Catherine? She married me—well, she thought she married me—for money. Everyone knows that!”
Ethan shook his head. She might have been a gold-digger, but accusing her of something as serious as embezzlement without any proof was low, even for a drunken fool like Jacob. “Shut up and just go!”
“You can’t order me to go. This isn’t your par—”
“Mom doesn’t want you here.”
Jacob swallowed. Ethan might have felt bad if it weren’t for the fact that his brother had ruined everything with his overblown ego.
Jacob turned, his shoulders slumped, and started walking off in the direction Gavin had taken his wife.
“Jacob.”
“What?”
Ethan couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Why did you do it to Catherine?”
“Do what?”
“The bigamy.”
Still half-turned away, Jacob shrugged. “Wasn’t on purpose, but I didn’t feel like making things right either by getting rid of Rachel.” His lips twisted. “Catherine never loved me, and I never loved her. She wouldn’t even give me the child I wanted. Who gives a shit if she gets hurt?”
He started walking away again. This time, Ethan didn’t stop him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
ETHAN FINALLY CAME INSIDE, looking displeased. Some of the windows had been open, and the whole family had heard his and Jacob’s argument, the horrible indictment of what Jacob thought of Meredith and the awful things he said about his wife Catherine.
Kerri pressed her lips together. Only if the ground would just open up, or some angel would swoop in and spirit her away!
She felt so out of place, her skin prickly and hot. She just wasn’t used to this kind of family drama. Her people were more…somber. And
if the house she grew up in occasionally seemed like a mortuary, at least there had been no shouting matches.
All the color from Meredith’s face had vanished, and she looked about ready to faint. Jacob’s words would’ve cut deeply even in private. But now, even the neighbors probably knew his opinion of his sister.
Ethan looked at Meredith, and his expression immediately changed. “Let me guess. Everyone heard what my asinine older brother said.”
Most of the people in the room looked everywhere but Ethan and Meredith. Kerri retreated half a step, not wanting to get further involved in the family conflict.
“Is Kerri going to take over TLD?” Meredith asked suddenly, her voice hoarse. Unshed tears stood in her eyes.
“We haven’t talked about anything like that,” Ethan said.
Kerri’s mouth dried, her hands suddenly clammy. She didn’t want to take over The Lloyds Development. The company was headquartered in Houston, and there was no way in hell she was moving to the city where her family lived. The whole point of her leaving Hong Kong and her investment banking career had been to avoid her family!
“One of our own always heads the company,” someone said.
“There’s that, too,” Ethan conceded.
Kerri let a breath out. Of course. TLD was a family business. Besides, if Ethan ever asked she could just say no. It was a free country.
“Then I want to do it,” Meredith said.
Gavin walked in just in time to hear this, and he and Ethan exchanged a quick look.
Meredith marched up to the two of them. She made a tiny figure next to Ethan’s bulk, but her voice rang through the room. “Don’t you dare! You think I’m stupid like Jacob?”