Page 25 of No Longer Mine

Griffin popped back up in his chair, looking like he just crawled out of a grave. Ace narrowed his eyes at both of us.

Ivan was the only one acting normal.

Well, I was acting normal too—aside from the fact that I was a little drunk and had just flipped off my idiot brother.

Nothing got past Ace. His gaze sharpened, moving between me and Griffin.

Mother frowned as she took a sip of her own glass, then sniffed the rim. “It isn’t bad… but…” Her brows knit together. “It isn’t good either. Different.”

Ace’s eyes landed directly on me.

I smiled. Might as well.

Father’s nostrils flared as his gaze cut to the bottle on the table. “Call the sommelier.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

I resisted the urge to facepalm. Griffin was not going to survive this.

“I’m sure it’s just your taste buds going soft as you age,” I said smoothly.

The room froze.

Father’s icy glare snapped to me. “Is there something you’d like to say?”

I lifted a single brow. “No, just stating the obvious. You are getting older, and many things change. Haven’t you heard of erectile dis?—”

Ivan cut me off. “What the fuck?”

Mother gasped.

Ivan rolled his eyes and slammed his phone down. “What is happening? Why are we talking about erections at dinner? Why does the wine taste like ass? What is happening to this family?”

Ace looked physically pained.

Carina, his wife, had one hand clamped over her mouth, her shoulders shaking as she tried—and utterly failed—to contain her laughter.

Griffin?

Bright red. Fucking losing it.

He was seconds away from breaking down completely.

It was teetering on the edge of not-so-funny anymore.

Which meant, obviously?—

I had to push it just a little further.

I leaned back in my chair, swirling the whiskey in my glass as I said, casually, “I think this is all pretty normal, considering we all hate each other, this is all a farce, and what’s one more thing? Right?”

Silence.

The kind of silence that sinks its claws into the air and doesn’t let go.

You could have heard a pin drop. The smallest, thinnest pin in existence.

Then—