Page 10

Baron nods slowly, then shrugs.

“Her lawyer led me to believe she was aware of every clause in it, and she even negotiated some terms.”

My lips part but nothing will come out.

“He sure knew how to pick them,” Liv says simply, without a trace of emotion.

At thirty-five, I guess she’s had more years than me to come to terms with the kind of people she came from.

I see the same apathy in Avery and Luna’s eyes.

Older and wiser.

I’ve known all three of them are leaps ahead of me all my life. I grew up living with all of them even as they started leaving for college, and there’s nothing more humbling than having three older sisters.

Even after knowing, understanding how superior Jim thought I was compared to them, that doesn’t erase years of learning how their brains work, seeing them take the world by the balls and demanding respect in their cloaked ways.

Which means that I know they’re all going to know what to do with this situation better than I will.

“He sure did,” I finally agree.

From the outside looking in, it would be easy to assume our mothers were all victims of Jim’s money, influence, and power, but that’s not the reality.

The reality is that they let themselves be used as ornaments and incubators for their own gain.

Jim was an asshole, a sexist pig, a homophobe, and all around bigot, but he was not a liar. Fact is, he didn’t have to scheme or cheat to get what he wanted.

All of our mothers married and divorced him knowing they’d give us up to him.

We were also ornaments to him, and me, his first son, was the shiniest of them all—supposedly.

I saw it when he first met number five.

He was upfront about wanting more children, wanting to be the one to dictate those children’s lives no matter what, and she was upfront about what she wanted—the lifestyle, the wealth and privilege.

So why in the hell would she give up her divorce settlement to kill him? What did he do?

“I’m not the right person to raise the boys,” I say definitely, knowing I’m telling the absolute truth. “I’m about to be very busy⁠—”

“Tuck,” Avery interrupts with her soft voice and love-filled eyes, but I soldier on.

“Even knowing the basics of taking care of them, there’s no way in hell any family judge would see me next to you three and think I’m the right person for the job.”

Though they look like they want to protest, they don’t because they know I’m right.

“If we bring this to a judge, they would appoint a social worker to determine who would be the best guardian out of all options,” Baron says, thankfully filling the silence. “In fact, I’m pretty sure someone from child services was already called and will be here or is already here.”

“And I need to go talk to the detectives.” I let out a long sigh.

“I’ll go with you, but Tuck . . .” Baron turns a little, only talking to me now. “Even if your sisters are better suited for this, it will take time for anything to change. Even if you take the boys home today, you’re only their guardian. Child Services will be very involved until they sign off on you being fit to raise them. And even after, unless they’re adopted, they’ll be able to check on the boys from time to time until they turn eighteen. In the meantime, if you refuse guardianship, they could send the boys to a foster home until a judge rules on who should have custody.”

“Fuck that.” I react on instinct alone.

“We’ll help as much as we can in the meantime, Tuck.” Liv doesn’t leave any room for argument and I’m grateful.

“Okay.” I breathe out a big breath and shake my head, looking at the boys then back at my sisters. “They have their room at my place, so yeah, we can have that sleepover tonight if you can bring all the kids.”

“Uh . . .” Luna interrupts and we turn as one to look at her. She has a sheepish smile on her face as she reaches down and cups a barely-there belly through her oversized dress. “This obviously isn’t how I wanted to tell you, but⁠—”