Ashley’s lips curved up. “Oh, you don’t know your brother any better than you know Rene.”

“Hey. I thought you weren’t drinking tonight.” A dark-haired young man strode up. It took Sylvie a moment to recognize Gabriel Layton. He was several years younger than Ashley, having recently graduated from college.

Ashley’s expression went blank. “It was only one, and you can drive us home. You’re good at that. You know what? I think I’ll have another. Good luck with Rene, Sylvie. You’re going to need it.”

She stomped off in her designer shoes.

“Your sister needs to watch her mouth or I’ll have her barred from this restaurant,” Sera promised.

Her best friend could be a momma bear when she wanted to. “It’s okay. I can handle a mean girl.”

Gabriel frowned, his eyes on his sister’s path. “She’s going through some things. I’m afraid she didn’t do well in LA, and life back here in Louisiana isn’t what she’d hoped for. She’s having to get a real job for the first time in her life. She blames Rene.”

“Why would she blame Rene?” Sylvie asked.

“Because he holds the purse strings,” Gabriel replied. “I’m afraid when you’re the king who rules the world, everything really is your fault.”

The whole Darois family seemed to like to make Rene out to be some sort of tyrant. “From what I understand, your family gets their share of the company profits.”

“As determined by the CEO of the company and the amount of shares we own,” Gabriel explained. “It’s not an insignificant amount, but my father didn’t exactly leave us in a good position. When he decided to divorce my mother, he left her half his debt. It was a lot of debt. We didn’t realize how much he’d spent over the years and how much he’d leveraged everything we thought we owned. My mother doesn’t know how to live on a budget. Ashley was actually here to do something she wasn’t happy about doing. She asked Rene for a job and got turned down flat, so she’s feeling mean. I should take her home. I hope she didn’t offend you too much. You have to understand we were raised to think the money would never run out. It’s hard to deal with the fact that everything you thought you knew is gone.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” She felt an unwelcome sympathy for Ashley. “I have a friend who works in recruiting. She’s in New Orleans.”