I sigh. “Fine. Have a seat.” I motion to Brie’s empty chair.
“Want me to stick around?” she asks, stroking Xerxes’s feathered chest.
“No, it’s okay. I got this.”
“I’ll be inside if you need anything.” Scowling at Devin, she makes a “V” with two fingers, points to her eyes, and then to his in an I’m-watching-you warning before leaving us alone on the porch.
Once she’s gone, Devin lowers himself into her abandoned chair, but I don’t sit next to him. Snatching my wine, I cross to the opposite side of the porch directly across from him and lean against the wooden railing. It creaks under my weight.
“I know what happened today looks bad—” he begins.
I snort. “That’s an understatement.”
“—but I never intended to let Dad go through with it.”
Fresh anger beats through my veins and I slam my stemless metal glass on the railing behind me. “Oh really? Is that why you were at the meeting? To stop him? Because I didn’t hear you say a single word against his plan to convince the city to steal your brother’s property.”
“I couldn’t. You know what my dad is like. If I called him out in front of a Cleveland City Council member, he would have fired me the second the meeting was over. He doesn’t put up with people undermining him in public, not even me.”
“Would that be such a bad thing—getting fired? Why do you even want to work for someone so underhanded, so backstabbing—”
“Because I have to if I want to get ahead, okay? I know my dad’s a difficult man, but if I want to take over the business someday, I have to put up with his bullshit.”
“So what you’re saying is that it’s okay to betray your brother because your own personal success is more important than his,” I spit. “You know what I think? I think you’d do anything for your dad’s approval because you’re jealous of Perry and the fact he doesn’t have to answer to anyone else for his success.” Jaw tight, I fold my arms across my chest.
Devin shoves roughly to his feet, nostrils flaring. “You don’t know what it’s like. The lengths I have to go to prove myself to both my parents. My mom simply doesn’t understand why I’m not more like my brother. And when it comes to my dad, he’s never happy with me. Nothing I do is ever good enough. Do you know what that’s like?”
“No, but it’s no excuse to hurt the people you love—your own family.”
“I told my dad from the beginning that his idea was insane and I didn’t approve.”
“But you still went along with it.”
“I didn’t know he’d already contacted someone from the city council! I thought the meeting today was only with our lawyer, and that Frank would shoot down the idea on the spot. I had no clue the law actually allows the government to take someone’s property, or that someone on the city council would be into the idea.”
“You would have if you’d confided in me from the start. I could have told you your dad’s plan had legal merit. But you didn’t. And you didn’t tell Perry either. Why is that, exactly?”
“I didn’t want him to worry unless there was actually something to worry about. Dad’s tried to convince Perry for years to quit the business, and has even offered repeatedly to buy it from him, but I didn’t think he’d go to such extremes to control Perry’s life—even with a legit business opportunity to use as an excuse. And like I said, I never thought his idea would actually go anywhere. He does this sometimes—hatches some big plan or other, gets really excited about it, but abandons it just as quickly when the roadblocks are too big. I thought that’s what would happen this time too. I never thought it would go this far.”
He takes a deep breath. “And Perry’s relationship with Dad has been rocky for a long time. The Fourth of July party was the first time he’s shown up at a gathering with our dad in over two years, and I didn’t want to see all that progress disappear overnight. I don’t want to have to choose between my dad and my brother; I want them to get along. I didn’t want to give Perry more fuel to hate our father when nothing might actually come of his plan.”
“You don’t see how that’s selfish? Even if your dad never followed through on his idea, Perry deserves to know how desperately his own father wants to control his life—even if it means that Perry cuts him off for good. No one should have to put up with that kind of toxic behavior, not even from family. And did you never consider that if Perry knew, he might have confronted your dad and eventually, maybe, it could have led to some healing?” I shake my head. “No, you didn’t. And now you’ve sucked me in as an unwitting sidekick, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”