by Wren Weston
“Don’t seek out this gossip. If you can’t study through the noise, then take a well-deserved afternoon off. It’s the weekend.”
“Maybe you should take that advice yourself. It sounds like you’re getting sick.”
“I’m fine.”
“At least turn on a light, then. It’s depressing, especially with all the crying.”
Lila put up her arm, stopping Pax from turning on the lights. Dubois and Jewel had been too absorbed in their own drama that morning to spot her bruises, and Lila had stayed in the shadows whenever Isabel entered her room. Pax would spot her injuries instantly, though. He’d worked at the hospital too long to dismiss their placement or their shape.
He’d know, and he’d worry.
Pax finally returned to his sanctuary rather than lingering or taking the day off, just as she suspected. He had no one to spend the day with, and Lila did not have the energy to join him.
She was such a bad sister, she thought, stroking her belly.
Alex did not stay away for long either. The slave entered with yet another fresh kettle of tea from Isabel. Beside it lay a hastily scribbled message from the chairwoman.
Jewel wailed away in the next room.
It was strange not to see Alex actively digging for information. Lila thought her own expression must be very grim indeed.
“No sarcasm for me this afternoon?” Lila asked. “I suspect that I could use some. This is from my mother, after all.”
“I’m sorry. I suppose I’m just tired. Do you need anything else? More tea for your throat?”
Lila didn’t answer at first. Instead, she scanned the short letter, a summons downstairs for an early dinner. “Tell the chairwoman that I’ll be down momentarily.”
Her friend nodded and disappeared from the room.
Lila sipped on the mug of hot tea, hoping her voice would improve. She unwound her scarf and flipped through her wardrobe, finally settling on a high-necked crimson sweater that hid her bruises from view. She caked on more makeup, hoping to conceal the rest of the marks, then trudged downstairs.
Tugging her palm from her pocket, she skimmed a message from Sutton before sliding it back into her pocket. Dr. Rubio is missing. We’re searching her condo, but her wife is protesting. I’ll message you when I know more.
If the senator didn’t want to press charges against Jewel, then Lila could at least punish Rubio for her part. She might not be able to arrest the doctor for the stolen drugs, but she could at least take them away so no one else would get hurt. They’d take care of things inside the family, forcing Rubio to resign her position at the hospital.
She’d never work in healthcare again. Lila would see to it.
Lila padded into the dining room. Pax sat at the table across from Jewel’s empty seat. It didn’t surprise Lila to find her sister missing. She glanced up at the ceiling in the direction of Jewel’s room, wondering when she might actually make an appearance. No one would be able to bear it when she did, not for months.
“Sit, Lila,” the chairwoman said gently.
The family dined on sea bass. Lila picked at hers and ignored her glass of wine, sipping several cups of tea. The group spoke of trivial things, all careful not to mention Jewel.
It was almost normal, just another day with an unpredictable, emotional sister.
But Lila knew that the chairwoman had not demanded her presence for no reason.
Pax excused himself as soon as he finished his meal, sensing the looming cloud between the two women.
“The lure of organic chemistry cannot be ignored,” Lila said, her smile strained.
Lure is not the correct word. There’s not a bit of meat on the hook.”
“I’m sure you’ll do well. Study hard.”
Pax nodded, and his thundering steps soon faded on the staircase.
The women had been left alone at last.
“You sound ill, Lila.”
“It’s just a cold.”
The chairwoman nodded. “It appears that Jewel had a dramatic morning. Would you happen to know what it was about?”
“No idea.”
“Don’t be difficult, Elizabeth. I have heard from the staff that she is upset, and Senator Dubois left without a word to me this afternoon. He’s usually much more polite. I can only assume that the pair has had a lover’s quarrel. I find it exceedingly odd that he kept his manners with his future sister-in-law but not with me.”
“Fishing, Mother? That’s not like you.”
Lila wondered who had seen the senator slip into her bedroom. Most likely, the chairwoman had dug it out of Pax, though she doubted he had given it up willingly or knowingly. Did the chairwoman know more? Had anyone heard the conversation play out between Lila and her sister, between her sister and the senator? Lila had raised her voice a few times, that was for sure, but it was too broken to be heard in the hall. She had not heard Jewel’s usual dramatics while she confessed to her fiancé, either. The hysterical crying had not occurred until after.
Perhaps the chairwoman had not been told what had happened. Perhaps Lila’s reaction, as well as Dubois’s, had conferred to Jewel the nature of her betrayal. She didn’t want anyone to know what she had done. She knew that she would get no sympathy this time, only more looks of disgust.
But Lila didn’t believe for a second that her mother was in the dark. “Let’s stop dancing, Mother. You already know.”
“You give me too much credit, Lila.”
“No, I gave Jewel too much. I didn’t really think about it until just now, but she’s not devious enough to have engineered such a plot all by herself. She had help. You gave Jewel the idea, just a few hints she could connect, and then you waited for her to carry it out. You allowed her to harm her lover, her fiancé, a senator of New Bristol. For what? Just so you have me as prime again? You should be brought up on charges like Jewel.”
Her mother intertwined her fingers. “Lila, am I the architect of every plot against you?”
Lila glanced at her mother with a bland expression.
“Perhaps I have authored a few, but I did not manage this one. Never, at any point, did I speak with your sister about poisoning her fiancé. Does that satisfy your sense of responsibility and honor?”
“Hardly.”
“It is your sister with whom you should be angry, not me. She could have abdicated her position formally, just like you did once. She chose a different path.”
“You knew the whole time.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t, but then again, you always have had a few blind spots. Not many, or I would never have approved your appointment as chief, but they are there, specifically when it comes to family and friends. I suppose you’ve been too busy lately to properly audit the hospital’s accounts.”
“Jewel has put the family at risk. You knew what she was planning to do before she even did it, and you didn’t say a word, even for all those months while Senator Dubois was being drugged. That makes you an accomplice, Mother.”
“So sanctimonious. Apparently you’ve forgotten that I also knew of your activities in BullNet. I didn’t drag you to Chief Shaw, did I?”
“It’s not the same.”
“It seems like it to me. There’s nothing to charge me with, Lila, and you know it.”
“You profited by silence.”
“Many people do. Pax will profit now. You will take care of him once you become prime. You will ensure that he—”
“I wouldn’t do any more for Pax than you would. Stop pretending that you would sacrifice him just to spite me. You’re a cold bitch, but you aren’t that cold when it comes to him. Not yet, at least.”
“A cold bitch?”
“Spare me the bullshit lines about how everything you do is for the greater good of Wolf Industries, how some sacrifices have to be made for the good of the family,
how sometimes you have to make hard choices. There’s a line, Mother, and you went too far over it this time.”
“I’m not cold, nor am I a bitch,” the chairwoman said stiffly. “If that’s how you feel, then—”
“Of course that’s how I feel. You even respect Jewel a little for this stunt, don’t you? You think that maybe you were wrong, that maybe she has what it takes to be prime after all, since she’s shown an ability to make a hard choice. Now you’re second-guessing yourself, thinking I don’t because I look at what she’s done, at what you let happen, and I am appalled and want justice for your parts in it.”
“You’re half right. Jewel does have the will to succeed in business, but she lacks the intelligence, the foresight, the leadership, and, frankly, the stability to run a profitable empire. It only took a few months for me to confirm that. She’ll never be a viable choice for prime. You have potential. She does not.”
Lila poured herself another mug of tea and did not respond.
“When trouble surfaced, Jewel cheated to get her way, just to save face. I can’t have a prime who would do that, Elizabeth. I can’t respect it, either. But you’re right. I do admire her for trying to find a way out of a difficult situation. Unfortunately, she was sloppy and criminal. Will charges be filed against her?”
“It depends on what Senator Dubois wants.”
“So you won’t charge her unless he presses it?”
“I don’t know. I tried to talk him into it. She deserves it.”
“Deserves it? You would condemn your own sister? You would condemn me for not turning her in even though I have also kept your secrets? If Bullstow examined your computer right now, what would they find? If they looked hard? If they knew what to look for?”
Lila shrugged.
“I suspect you did quite a bit of hacking to put Celeste Wilson and her son in a holding cell. Did you tell yourself it was for the good of the family? Perhaps the country? You’ve both acted in the family’s best interests, and you both profit by my silence. Don’t turn your nose up at your own sister or at me because you think yourself better. You’re not.”
Lila closed her eyes and looked away. Images of the warehouse filled her mind once more. She didn’t think herself better. She knew she was much worse.
“You don’t see anything wrong with a man losing his right to have a child?” Lila asked.
“Celeste and Patrick will lose their right to breathe.”
“They dug their own graves.”
“Yes, they did. Senator Dubois has not, but I’m not that fussed if the man can’t breed, so long as it benefits my family, so long as it secures our future. I would take that right away from a hundred men. I’d even take it away from you.”
“It must be nice to play with dolls all day.”
“I could say the same about you. You’re only a stickler for the rules when they work in your favor. I don’t turn on blood. That is the appalling part in all this. You do. I thought I raised you better than that.” Her mother gulped down her wine and poured herself another glass. “I have done absolutely nothing wrong. Get off your high horse, child. You’re in the real world now. We all have choices to make.”
“I can’t respect yours.”
“Then it’s good I don’t seek respect.”
“You just seek money.”
“Money is never the point. I seek security and stability for the family. The only way you get that is by cultivating money and power. I let you spend too much time with your father growing up. He brainwashed you, confused you in one of the most fundamental of ways.”
“Oh, I remember all your lectures. I even believed them for a time. But you know what? Out of everything I was taught as a child, my father’s morals are the only thing that I can respect.”
“Yes, he was very moral when he tried to bribe me for Oskar Kruger. Jewel is your sister. Show some loyalty.”
“I show no loyalty to criminals. Clearly, you misjudged me if you thought differently.”
“What does that make you? If you can’t show loyalty to blood, then at least show loyalty to the family. Right now you’re more loyal to Bullstow than to the Randolphs. It’s sickening.”
“Will you intervene if Senator Dubois asks me to charge her?”
“I won’t have to.”
“You have something on him?”
“I have something on everyone.”
“You’ll use it, too, won’t you? Maybe I should arrest her after all. I’d hate to see you take a turn on the senator. Our family has done enough to him.”
“That’s rich. You’ve cleaned up her behavior in the past. You didn’t seem to have a problem with it back then.”
“College indiscretions are hardly the same thing. She took a bunch of pills because she wanted to play the tortured artist that month. She drew a few pretty pictures afterwards and moved on to something else. It wasn’t that hard to bury the story.”
The chairwoman put down her wine. “Here’s what I know. Two government blackcoats entered this estate yesterday and were allowed to pass through the gates. You wanted them to come inside, or you would have never allowed such a thing. You had a conversation with them in the Red Lounge, and all recordings of that meeting are absent from my records. The word from their superior is that they’ve been slated for exile in a few weeks.”
Lila leaned back in her chair, vaguely annoyed that someone at Bullstow had let that slip, likely one of her cousins who thought the information was harmless enough. She would have questioned her mother further on that point, but she could not give her any indication that she was correct. From the way her mother studied her face, Lila believed that she was fishing.
“So what do I know? I know that you’ve finally cleaned up your mess. I don’t know how Senator La Roux fits into it all, but I don’t believe the reports of his car accident for a second. You picked him out of the crowd at the Closing Ball. You took him back here that night. Then you went out for a walk right before dinner yesterday, and he never came back. Instead, he conveniently got into a rather nasty accident on the way home. If the news hadn’t come from Bullstow, if I didn’t have the official report on my desk right now, if I didn’t know you better, then I’d worry you murdered him.”
“Really?”
“Blood squads are legal. You could have justified it to yourself by—”
“I didn’t kill the senator.”
“Your protest is comforting,” the chairwoman said, and sipped her wine. “But I’d like to point out that you don’t seem all that upset by his death. I haven’t seen you shed a tear.”
“I barely knew him.”
“Who’s the cold bitch now?”
Lila stilled her face.
“How much of one are you? I need to know, Elizabeth. If you harmed the senator—”
“I didn’t. I’m not like Jewel.”
Her mother licked her lips and nodded. “Good. Sutton told me you left this morning. Where did you go?”
“I had an errand.”
“There’s an assassin trying to put a bullet in your head, and you just left?”
“It was an important errand.”
Her mother snorted. “I had hoped that when you became an adult we might be friends. I didn’t have that with my mother. She died too early for us to be equals. Instead of fighting against me, insulting me, you should be learning from me. We should share this burden together.”
“I can never be friends with someone I do not respect nor trust.”
Lila almost felt sorry for her mother, the way her brow furrowed. “Trust? Everything I’ve ever done has been in your best interests.”
“It’s always been in your best interests, not necessarily mine, Mother. You and Jewel are too similar. If you want a friend, find someone else to be prime.”
“I already know the purpose of your errand, child.
I’ve been told you visited the clinic this morning. At least tell me the results from that. Let us celebrate some happy news.”
Lila pushed back her chair. “I should have added that I could never be friends with someone who does not respect my privacy.”
“It’s my grandchild and my heir. I have a right to know.” The chairwoman smacked her palms against the table.
“I didn’t feel well, Mother. I have a cold.” Lila stood at her place. “I also had surgery a few days ago. I might not feel so horrible if someone hadn’t ordered my doctor to shoot me full of fertility drugs that I did not need. Drugs given without my knowledge or consent, I might add.”
“You need an heir.”
“No, you need an heir. I don’t need anything at all.”
“You’ll have one, Lila, or—”
“Or what? We can’t be friends? We can’t be equals? I don’t want to be your friend, and I’m damn glad I’m not your equal.” Lila pushed her chair in and turned to leave the room.
“You might be the only reasonable choice to run Wolf Industries, but you’ll never be as good as Ms. Wilson could have been.”
Lila stopped and cocked her head to the side. “Sudden praise for Alex? Are you that desperate for my attention?”
A half-smile formed on the chairwoman’s face. “You were right before when you said that Jewel wasn’t smart enough to have come up with her plan on her own. It’s a good lesson for you, maybe the last lesson I have to teach you, the one I’ve been trying to hammer into your head since you were a little girl, trying to fill in that blind spot. You can’t trust people when you have as much power and money as we do, Lila. They always have an angle.”
Lila studied her mother’s taunting face. Or at least, she expected it to be taunting. Instead, her expression was merely worn and sad. For the first time her mother didn’t look wise and fashionable. She looked…