“Yeah.” Gabe took a half step forward and cleared his throat, as if he had a ball of emotion stuck there. He’d always been the soft-ass North brother, Cole thought in an effort to shove aside his own emotions. “So…as most of you know, back when we were kids, all eight of us, when North Brothers Sports began taking off and expanding, becoming successful, Dad and Uncle Ham agreed that they wanted the company to belong to the whole family. As you also probably know, they had it set up so that the profits each year are divided among us, their children and spouses.”

None of this was news to Cole, but he waited to see where Gabe was going with it, a kernel of unease lodging in his gut.

“What you may or may not know is that Cole, during what we’ll call his rebel period, decided he wanted nothing to do with earnings from the company, and shortly after he graduated from high school, he insisted on signing away his rights to his share.”

“What?” Miranda gasped, and had it been any other topic, Cole would’ve laughed at her scandalized tone. “Is that true?”

Cole merely nodded, his uneasiness blossoming.

“I advised against it,” Gabe continued.

“As did I,” Mason said, “but one thing Cole wasn’t good at back then was taking advice.”

Cole couldn’t deny that, so he merely shrugged, hating that everyone was looking at him.

“Anyway, we had the appropriate paperwork drawn up back then, and he signed it and gave up his right to the share that Dad and Uncle Ham had intended him to have.”

“Dummy,” Miranda breathed.

Again, Cole shrugged. He still stood behind it. He hadn’t done a thing to help the company, so why should he reap the benefits from it?

“What he didn’t know,” Gabe said, “is that Mason and I, with the help of the company lawyers, had it set up so that his share still exists and still earns every year, along with the rest of ours. He just didn’t have access to it.”

“You’re shitting me,” Cole said, unsure how to feel about it. In essence, they’d blown off his wishes all those years ago. “Why the hell did you do that? I told you then it should go to the people who contributed to the business. The rest of you.” He indicated the whole group.

“We’ve all been well taken care of by the company,” Connor, sitting on the far end of the love seat, assured him.