A Gentleman in the Street by Alisha Rai Page A

Jacob was done, a flash of avarice glinting in his eyes. “How much do you think it—or whatever’s inside it—is worth?”
    He thought of Akira curled on the rug, weeping, the smallest and weakest he’d ever seen her. Probably brought out all your protective manly instincts. Turned you on. She couldn’t have been more wrong.
    “Doesn’t matter how much it’s worth. It belonged in Akira’s family, not ours.” He paused, a thought occurring to him. “Mei didn’t give you guys anything, right?”
    “If Connor was given some expensive bauble, it would be long gone by now. Liquidated and the money in some off-shore account in the Bahamas,” Ben replied.
    “Shows how much you know. I would never do the Bahamas. The Swiss are the way to go.” Connor held up his hand when he caught Jacob’s frown. “I kid. Of course Mei didn’t give us anything. Though we didn’t visit her nearly as much as you and Kati did. I think she thought I was an asshole.”
    “Smart lady.” Ben poked over the chicken wings and selected one laden with barbecue sauce. “Yeah, she didn’t give me anything either. Except for what was in the will, that is.”
    “Which is doing pretty well, if I may say so,” Connor interjected.
    Jacob only nodded. Connor was a whiz with numbers, so it had made sense to entrust him with investing the bequest. Jacob had no plans to touch his portion. He only wanted it to do well so his siblings could enjoy it.
    Ben cleared his throat. “You know, you said Mei told Kati to sell off the box to pay for her education. But Connor and I have been talking, and with the scholarships Kati has, there’s enough in the principal Mei willed to us to cover a lot of expenses.”
    Jacob was already shaking his head before Ben could finish speaking. “That money will come in handy for your business.” A refrain he had been repeating since he had heard of the bequest.
    “We’re on track to breaking even this year, and maybe being in the black,” Connor said. “We save a ton by living together. We were planning on talking to you about this before we got the bequest. It’s dumb for you to shoulder her whole expense when we’re finally in a position to pitch in.”
    “Kati’s our sister too, Jacob. Taking care of her shouldn’t only be on your plate.”
    Jacob peeled the label off his bottle. “Guys. Really. This is sweet, but I have this.”
    Connor’s lips compressed. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. For God’s sake, Jacob—”
    Ben rested his hand on his brother’s arm. “Not now.” To Jacob, he said, “Is Kati sulking ’cause you took the box away? That doesn’t seem like her. She’s a reasonable kid.”
    Jacob winced at Ben’s question. He didn’t think his reaction or the punishment he’d meted out to Kati had been out of line, but he didn’t particularly enjoy being a hard-ass. “She’s sulking because I yelled at her and took her phone away last week. And haven’t given it back.” He wouldn’t give it back until Kati was able to comprehend what she had done and said was wrong. Since they were currently not speaking to one another, that might take a while.
    Connor gave a soundless whistle and helped himself to another portion of sliders and mozzarella sticks. “Her phone? Harsh.”
    “Not to question your parenting skills, big brother, but I think you could have calmly explained about the box not belonging to us, and she probably would have gotten it,” Ben pointed out.
    “I didn’t yell at her about the box. I mean, I expressed disappointment she kept it from me. But I wouldn’t have punished her for that alone.”
    “What else then?”
    Jacob toyed with a French fry. “She called Akira a slut.”
    Connor winced. Ben’s eyes grew big. “To your face?”
    Jacob dipped the French fry in ketchup and took a bite, though he wasn’t hungry. “Yeah.”
    Connor pursed his lips. “She’s lucky all you did was take her phone away. If that had been either of us, you would