Lucas slammed his hand on the table, shouting angrily at Herbert, “Get out of here! Go back and make a hundred copies of the family rules. You can’t leave until you’ve done that!”

Herbert was livid, his face paling. He rose abruptly, glared at Dave, and stormed out, unwilling to defy Lucas’s authority.

Dave remained calm, sipping his tea as if nothing had occurred.

Unsettled by Dave’s calm attitude, the other uncles kept quiet. Dave’s reputation for being ruthless loomed over them, and they feared what he might have against them.

“Dave, it’s not that I disapprove of your romantic pursuits,” Lucas began, gripping Dave’s hand earnestly. “But I hope...