Read Burned by a Kiss for Free Online

told us,” Romero said. “He never let on.”
    “He was of upstanding character our whole lives, at least as we knew him,” Luke said. “That’s what I’m struggling with the most. In the end, Dad was a liar and maybe worse, to hear the attorneys tell it.”
    Sierra gasped. “Don’t talk about Dad like that! You don’t know! Lawyers can be very slimy with the truth.”
    Santana shrugged. “Let’s not let anyone steal the memories of the happy home life we had growing up. Dad loved us, Mom loved us. He worked hard to keep us together. Let’s not let that be destroyed on this new path we find ourselves on.”
    “Agreed,” Sierra said. “We can’t let him beat us. He’s not going to win.”
    “Who?” Santana demanded.
    “That weasel Marshall.” She plopped down in front of the fire, crossing her legs, holding her glass. “I’ve never met a bigger weasel.”
    Santana didn’t know about weasel, but Nick was as different from them as night was from day.
    “He seemed pretty freaked out,” Cisco said.
    “I don’t care about him. He didn’t argue that he shouldn’t have what was ours,” Sierra said. “I hate Nick Marshall and his stupid Marshall Industries, Inc. Isn’t that what the attorney said his father did? Owned some big-ass company, which is why Dad knew his brother could help him out?”
    “Nick didn’t argue,” Romero said, “because he owned every bit of this the moment Dad died. That’s how irrevocable living trusts work. The estate moves on to the person who is designated executor, and that executor must adhere to the terms of the estate trust. In our case, everything goes to him, by prior arrangement with Dad’s brother. In fairness, we’ve been living on his dime during the time it took the estate to be worked through by the attorneys. I suppose we should have thanked him.”
    “Bullshit,” Sierra muttered, and Luke poured more whiskey into her glass.
    “It’s so strange we never knew we had an uncle,” Luke said. “Dad didn’t mention it. As far as we knew, it was just Mom and Dad, and us.”
    “I get the sense the brothers didn’t get along, but I don’t know why I feel that way.” Santana gulped his whiskey, taking a deep breath. “It must have been hard as hell for Dad to admit he screwed up and go to his brother for a bailout.”
    “I think Dad got taken advantage of.” Sierra wiped her eyes, and Romero handed her a tissue. “Surely his debts weren’t so high that he had to sign away everything. It’s all that CIA bullshit, and Marshall probably knew he had Dad beat. I feel sorry for Dad.”
    Santana shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. What we have to focus on is what we’re going to do.”
    “We’re going to stick together,” Sierra said, “and that means you, too, Luke. No one is going to tear us apart. We’re a family, no matter what.”
    They sat silently, considering the new world they found themselves inhabiting. Sierra was right: they had to stick together, no matter what the future held.
    “I can start looking for a place tomorrow,” Santana said. “It won’t be big, and it won’t have land. We’ll have to rent, I would imagine, because none of us have the credit or funding to buy a house.”
    “Unbelievable,” Cisco said. “But I’m twenty-five, healthy, and strong. I can join the military, learn a trade, see the world. Some of it, anyway.”
    Luke nodded. “I’ll join you. They’ll be happy to take a twenty-three-year-old.”
    Sierra gasped. “I’m twenty-two.”
    They all looked at her.
    “Yes, you are,” Santana said, nodding. “I’m twenty-nine, and Romero’s twenty-seven. We’ll all young enough to get over this, start over, build again. If Dad could do it with all the challenges he had, we can, too. We’ll support each other.”
    Sierra looked hopeful. “Maybe we have parents somewhere who might want to—”
    “No,” Santana told his sister gently. “Most likely not. If they’d wanted us to know, they