Chapter 5 - My Brother’s Last Request
Vincent died eleven years earlier.
Cancer.
Three days before he died, he grabbed my wrist.
“Take care of them.”
Celeste.
Dominic.
I promised.
That promise influenced every decision afterward.
I gave Dominic opportunities he hadn't earned.
Covered business losses.
Paid for rehabilitation after one reckless period in his twenties.
Allowed Celeste to remain in the family home without expenses.
I called it loyalty.
Maybe I had been enabling them.
When I confronted Celeste, she arrived at the club furious.
Not ashamed.
“Why are employees in the family lobby?”
That was her first question.
Not:
Why is there missing money?
Not:
Why is Maeve wearing torn shoes?
Elena lowered her eyes.
I didn't.
“Bright Futures.”
Celeste froze.
Only briefly.
Then:
“What about it?”
“It's registered to your address.”
“My accountant handles those things.”
“Which accountant?”
Silence.
Dominic stepped toward her.
“Mom, don't.”
Interesting.
Celeste looked at him.
“What have you told them?”
“Nothing.”
Their fear had different shapes.
Dominic feared losing the club.
Celeste feared information.
I placed the invoices on the table.
“Explain.”
She barely looked.
“The foundation wastes money constantly.”
“That isn't an explanation.”
“We redirected funds.”
“To yourself?”
“To family investments.”
Elena gasped.
Dominic whispered:
“Mom.”
Celeste snapped:
“Stop acting frightened.”
Then she looked at me.
“You would've wasted it on people who never improve their lives.”
I stared at her.
“Homeless families?”
“Strangers.”
Maeve was standing beside Elena.
Celeste glanced at her patched shirt.
“Exactly.”
That one word told me everything.
The contempt wasn't Dominic's invention.
He inherited it.
I asked:
“How much did you take?”
Celeste laughed.
“Our family built this foundation.”
“No. Vincent and I built it.”
“Vincent's money funded it.”
“And Vincent chose where that money went.”
Her face hardened.
“He's dead.”
“Yes.”
“And you aren't entitled to rewrite his choices.”
Then Celeste made her mistake.
She said:
“Vincent would've agreed with me if he'd known what was coming.”
I stared at her.
“What was coming?”
She stopped.
Dominic looked at the floor.
I knew that look.
They were hiding something larger than vendor fraud.
Elena quietly reached for Maeve's hand.
Then Celeste said:
“Ask your precious foundation lawyer what happens next January.”
January?
I turned toward Dominic.
He wouldn't look at me.
My attorney arrived forty minutes later.
When I mentioned January, his expression changed.
There was a scheduled transfer provision in Vincent's estate.
One I had almost forgotten.
On January 1, Dominic was due to receive voting rights over a major portion of the family holding company.
Worth far more than the club.
May you like
Worth nearly $70 million.
Unless a specific morality clause was triggered first.
