Page 60 of The Broken Note

Finn is distracting himself to keep quiet. Seeing Zane lose it and smash his drums to pieces in the garage made us both uneasy.

Dad is tearing into one of our own.

Finn wants action. He wants dad’s painnowrather than later.

It’s hard to be patient. To play the long game.

Neither of my brothers enjoy this farce.

I don’t either.

But if we get emotional, dad wins.

He knows he can control us. He knows which buttons to push. Which wounds to dig his fingers into and make it hurt worse.

We need a win right now.

My eyes slide over to the woman eating daintily at the foot of the table. She’s wearing long, glittering earrings. Her hair is in a fancy bun. Her dress is similar to Marion’s, but it sits differently on her. Like she was born to wear it rather than simply taking it off the shelf because it was the most expensive.

“The meal is good,” mom notes, chewing daintily.

Marion smiles wide. “Thank y—”

“It’s the company that’s lacking.”

Marion chokes.

Dad’s eyes widen.

Miss Jamieson frowns.

Mom doesn’t flinch. Her expression is blank. The complete opposite of dad. There’s no pretense with her. No lies. She only knows how to be direct and honest. It’s a perk of growing up as an heiress. Mom did whatever she wanted, said whatever she wanted and bore none of the consequences for it.

It’s made her fearless.

Finn smiles for the first time.

Zane laughs under his breath.

I give mom a proud look.

I’m glad she got here in time.

Dad wipes his mouth with a cloth napkin and shifts in his chair. “Jacqueline, how did you manage to make it tonight?”

“I hopped in my private jet and came over, Jarod. Are you asking that question because you don’t know or because you’re disappointed I’m here?”

Marion coughs.

Dad huffs and glances away.

“Well, I think this iswonderful. I’ve always wanted to have a big family meal.”

“Oh, are we family?” Mom looks amused.

Marion scrambles to save face. “Of course we are. Jarod’s said so many good things about you, Jacqueline. And your boys are so… uh… precious…” Marion glances at me as if she’s scared I’m going to jump over the table and stab her, “in their own way.”

Finn snorts.