Chapter 4

I'll Give You What You Want. I'm Out.

I walked over to stand in front of my parents.

But I didn't kneel.

I just looked at them, calm.

"I said, kneel!"

My father's face was hard, his voice a furious bark, heavy with all his authority and weight.

But he quickly saw something.

I was meeting his eyes without so much as a flinch.

His brows knotted together. "Did you not hear me?"

I asked him back, "Usually, when you tell me to kneel, it's because I've done something wrong."

"So I'd like to know. What exactly did I do wrong?"

My mother said coldly, "You refused to admit you'd lost. Out of pure jealousy, you nearly made your brother miss the meeting time he'd agreed on with Mr. Matthews."

"We don't need to spell out for you how important this project is to the company, do we?"

"You treated it like a joke, and you still have the nerve to ask us what you did wrong?"

"Let me tell you, you were dead wrong!"

I sat down across from them, my face blank.

Then I let out a flat little "Oh."

"So because I wouldn't be my brother's assistant."

"That makes me the one in the wrong?"

My father slammed his hand down hard on the coffee table. "Yes. Your brother beat you on his own merit, and you're throwing a tantrum instead of admitting it."

"If word of this got out, people would say Hal Delgado can't even raise his own daughter!"

At that.

I laughed. And the longer I laughed, the wetter my eyes got.

"What are you laughing at?"

My mother snapped at me.

"I find it funny. So I'm laughing."

"Funny? You think we're funny?"

"Yes!"

I admitted it without hiding a thing.

"How dare you!"

My father shot to his feet, jabbing a finger at me, his face twisted with rage. "Jeanette Delgado, have we spoiled you so badly that you've grown this out of line?"

"Spoiled me?"

"Doesn't it embarrass you... to say that out loud?"

"You—"

My father was so livid he could barely get a word out.

I got there first. "Every resource funneled to my brother. You stand there preaching fairness and honesty, then quietly lock him in as project manager behind everyone's back."

"I broke my back on that proposal. Pulled all-nighters, one after another."

"And my brother?"

"He doesn't have to lift a finger. He drives his sports car to the clubs, picks up girls, plays video games when he's bored."

"And that makes him a 'genius' in your eyes?"

"When you were writing his proposal for him."

"Did it ever cross your mind how ridiculous you looked?"

The two of them exchanged a stunned glance.

They'd never dreamed.

That something buried so carefully.

Could have reached me!

"You... how did you find out?"

"Who told you?"

I smiled coldly. "My brother was so pleased with himself, whining up to you in the office. Too bad he got impatient. After all... I hadn't gotten far."

My father's expression shifted. "Jeanette, it isn't the way you think—"

My mother's anger slowly drained away, leaving a trace of awkwardness in its place.

"The truth is, your brother really has been working hard. These past six months he's stayed up night after night learning how the company runs, and he cut ties completely with that old crowd of his. We did this because we didn't want all his effort to go to waste—"

"Oh."

"You feel for him, you don't want his effort wasted, so you decided to sacrifice me instead?"

"These past two years, I landed one high-quality project after another. I made this company money hand over fist, and the shareholders couldn't stop grinning."

"When I got busy, I'd go days without a proper meal."

"My stomach acted up, over and over."

"I was so buried in work that even my boyfriend gave up on me."

"Did anyone ever feel for me?"

"Since you've decided he's the one fit to inherit."

"Then I'll give you what you want. I'm out!"