Dad slammed his phone down on the coffee table. "Over eight years. You think they struck it rich in that time? When your sister-in-law and I went back then, they were living in a dilapidated single-story shack. Alex's family of five was squeezed into a space barely over two hundred square feet. Maya's situation was marginally better, but not by much."
These were the images burned into their minds.
From nearly a decade ago.
"Exactly," Mom chimed in. "They looked absolutely destitute. If you ask me, we raised an ingrate. If Gabriel won't cooperate, we'll just scrape together the money ourselves and give Alex his share."
The problem was, my parents had long since drained their savings. They had only managed to borrow two hundred thousand from my uncle and a few other relatives.
Mom called me later that week, asking me out to dinner to hand over the money. Aria was with me at the time. When I told her about it, she insisted on coming along. Figured if things went south, she could help smooth things over.
My parents were already waiting in the private room when we arrived. Most of the cold appetizers had been served.