Gilbert leaned back in his chair. "Alex always said you were his sister. Long before you married Franz. He used to tell people—at parties, at business meetings, to complete strangers—'That is Arianne. She's my sister.' Not my best friend. Not my business partner. My sister." He paused. "He decided a long time ago that you were family. The rest of us just followed his lead."
Arianne was momentarily stunned. Alex had called her his sister. He had never said it to her directly, but that was Alex, wasn't it? He had shown his love through action, through loyalty, through the steady presence he had maintained in her life since they were teenagers. She hadn't known he'd said it out loud. She hadn't known he'd told other people.
"So you can't get rid of us," Gilbert said. "No matter what happens. Alex made sure of that. We're just carrying on what he started."
