Page 11 of Win Big

I swallow. “Yes. I have.” My spine tingles.

“Do you know what that’s about?”

This time I avoid his eyes. “No.”

He grunts.

Nobody else says anything. I look to my brothers, first Asher and Harrison. “You guys need to talk to Dad.”

Harrison purses his lips. Asher makes an unhappy face.

“Come on!” I press my hands to the table. “Harrison, you’re the one who started this! I can’t fix it all myself.”

Yes, I’m the oldest sibling, and yes, I tend to take charge. Some may have called me bossy. I feel like that’s a gendered term—boys don’t get called bossy. It’s totally unfair. Nonetheless, Ihaveworked on replacing orders with requests. As the head of the Foundation, I’m not bossy... I’mthe boss. And I’ve learned there are actually better ways to get results than by ordering people around and demanding results. I’ve learned the differences between a boss and a leader, and I want to inspire people, not piss them off. I want to coach them to be better, not criticize them (okay, most of the time). I’m not afraid to admit I don’t know everything and to involve my team to get results. Yet here I am with my family, falling back into old patterns.

I turn to Riley, who hasn’t said much. “What do you think about all this, Riley?”

She and I are both fiercely loyal to our families, so she’s been on Mark’s side while I’ve been defending Mom and Dad for years. It’s caused friction between us. Not that we see each other that much.

“I think Grandpa took money from Dad and Uncle Matthew. I’ve always believed it.” She lifts her chin. “But I don’t know why. I do believe there’s some kind of explanation for it. And...” She hesitates. “I used to think Chelsea was involved, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Same,” JP says immediately.

Wow. My throat tightens up briefly. Théo, JP, Riley, and her brother, Jackson, have always hated my mom. That’s been reallyhard, and has made me keep my distance from them throughout my life. Ha-ha—well, we’ve always beenphysicallydistant; my brothers and I grew up here in California, Mark moved all over but spent a bunch of time in Winnipeg, and Matthew lived in Quebec. But I’ve always known that Mark and Matthew were suspicious of my mom, thinking she married Dad for his money, which of course rubbed off on their children. Then when this issue of theft arose, they were quick to blame Mom. Are they finally getting it, that my mom’s a good person, and that Mom and Dad love each other?

I’ve never once doubted that.

“Thanks,” I say quietly, sliding glances to my brothers.

“I agree too,” Théo adds.

“Does anyone know anything about this money? Does Dad think it’s his?” I look around.

Théo’s jaw tightens. “The money is Dad and Uncle Mark’s inheritance from our grandma.”

I sit back in my chair. “Are you sure about that?” I don’t want to believe Dad would take money from his own sons.

Dad’s first wife was from a wealthy family in Toronto. I’ve never really had much to do with them. Grace died a few years before I was born; Dad remarried pretty quickly, and her family was livid about that.

Grace helped Dad buy into the Condors, making him part owner at that time. Other than that, I don’t know details about how much money she had or who she left it to when she died. It was never something Dad talked about.

“Yeah.” Théo’s voice is rough.

Heaviness fills my chest. I nod. I don’t want to believe this, but I also don’t want to be defensive or in denial. If Dad did something heinous, I have to deal with it.

“Maybe we should involve Chelsea in this discussion,” Théo adds.

“I already thought of that,” I admit. “I guess that should be me. Harrison and Asher will talk to Dad and see what they can find out. JP and Théo, you talk to your dad. And what about Mark?” I direct my attention to JP. “He’s your coach. What do you think?”

JP grimaces. “Him being my coach has nothing to do with this.”

“I know, I know! I just meant, you might have opportunity.”

“If I get an ‘opportunity’ to have a conversation alone with Uncle Mark, it’s in his office with the privacy door shut because I fucked up.”

I smile and everyone else laughs.

“I’ll see,” he says reluctantly.

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