Despite the overly casual tone, Ethan knew better. This wasn’t over as far as Gavin was concerned. He had hated the darkness Lisa had brought to Ethan’s life. Every one of the Lloyds still thought Ethan hadn’t said a thing against her to protect her reputation, even after he’d explained to them he didn’t know enough about her motivation or thoughts to say anything for or against her. It was her family he’d held responsible for her death.
The thing was, if Gavin thought Kerri was like Lisa, he wouldn’t sit back and watch Ethan date her. He’d do his best to sabotage the relationship.
Shit.
Still, Ethan couldn’t bring himself to be too angry. Hadn’t he questioned his own motives for his initial attraction to Kerri?
“Did Simon put you up to this?” Ethan asked suddenly.
Gavin looked horrified. “What? No. I haven’t seen that son of a bitch since the meeting. He knows I’m meaner than you.” The two men sat and thought about that for a moment. “By the way, have you heard from Catherine?”
“No. Why?”
“It’s just…” Gavin sighed. “I was sure she’d contact you to secure, you know. The money.”
Ethan considered that. Catherine probably had some funds socked away and wasn’t suffering horribly. Bruised pride, yes, but nothing even remotely approaching heartbreak or poverty that would require his intervention. Someone that calculating would land on her feet. “She already got the future she wanted. Besides, she might have something to do with how poorly TLD is doing, so don’t feel that sorry for her. I’m not going to know for certain until the audit’s done, but the signs seem to indicate she’s involved. She was Jacob’s wife—well, we thought she was, anyway—and on the board all this time. To tell you the truth, I’m more worried about Meredith.”
Meredith was their youngest sibling and a single mom. She depended on the income from The Lloyds Development to provide for her son and fund the charities she was involved in. No cause involving women and children was unworthy of her time and money.
Gavin’s mouth curved into a hopeful smile. “Think she’ll go after Eric’s father?”
“Don’t know. She won’t tell me who the bastard is.” Ethan raised an eyebrow at his brother inquiringly.
“You know she doesn’t tell me anything.” Gavin cursed. “That girl’s got too much pride.”
Ethan looked amused. “As opposed to who in this family?”
Gavin ignored him. “She won’t go after her ex for child support, and she won’t ask us for money, either. How dumb is that?”
“Not
dumb, just young and stubborn.”
“Well, neither of those things is going to help when the bankers want their money back. Did I tell you she remortgaged her house last month?”
“What the hell? Why?”
“To fund some projects for the poor, what else. You know how she is.”
“You offered to pay, I presume?”
“Of course.” Gavin’s voice turned falsetto. “‘I can’t take your money, Gavin, and I can’t pay you back with the funds from TLD either. They’re all earmarked.’” He made a sour face. “Apparently, taking my money is a sign of dependency, while taking some banker’s money shows her independence.”
“If you haven’t already, I’ll set up a trust fund for them,” Ethan said.
“I already offered, but she turned me down.” Gavin’s expression was equal parts amazement and outrage. “Can you imagine?”
Ethan winced. He could imagine very well how ham-fisted his younger brother must have been. Gavin didn’t understand he couldn’t just throw money at people. Whatever he’d said and done while offering the money must’ve set her off.
“Anyway, I’ll let you and Mom handle the convincing part. You’ll probably have better luck than me. I’ve already started setting up a fund for the rest of the family.”
“I can put some into that too,” Ethan said.
“I thought most of your assets were tied up in real estate.”
“I can have them liquidated.”
“Don’t do that. You aren’t going to get the best price.” When Ethan shrugged, Gavin continued, “I’m sitting on quite a bit of cash right now, so I’ll set something up. You can make a pledge to contribute if you want, but seriously, don’t screw up your investments just because of Jacob.”