ic?”
Mom blinks at the abrupt question.
“He’s gone. He and Dominic have nothing to do with each other.”
“How do you know Dominic isn’t the one who set his cousin on you?” Mom demands. “A rapist like him wouldn’t think twice about grooming another man—”
“Mother.” I put all the fury I’ve been suppressing in the last ten years into those two syllables, all the scorn and contempt pouring out. “I met him the evening before my eighteenth birthday, and we didn’t leave the bar until after eleven, so by the time we got naked, I had definitely turned eighteen, even if it was just by a few minutes. He was twenty-one, not some fifty-year-old perv. Most importantly, he thought I was twenty-one at that time, so stop with the faux-outrage about him taking advantage of me when I was too young to know any better.” I pull myself back, shoulders straight and my chin tilting up. “But let’s talk about you.”
“Me?” She pulls back slightly, a look of incredulity on her face.
“You used what happened between me and Dominic to whore me out.”
“How dare you!”
“You didn’t care about my happiness…or even if the men you picked out would treat me decently. The only priority for you was how rich and influential they were, so you could show Dad how you and your precious Pryce name could get me a husband beyond his social standing.”
“I never did that! I always picked the most proper men.”
“Then how did you end up sending me to Andy Brown?”
She swallows, blinks twice. “That…that was…”
“Let me guess—different? Of course. I totally forgot. Who cares if he’s a rapist? I might marry into the politically powerful Brown family. And my goodness, wouldn’t that have been a coup for you? You could have rubbed it in every time you saw Dad.”
“Elizabeth, it isn’t too late,” she says, completely ignoring what I just said. “I know Nate Sterling proposed.”
That’s surprising. Her social network must be a lot better than I thought.
She continues, “You can go to him. He can keep you safe. He can make you happy. The Sterlings are our equals.”
“If you’re worried about our family forming proper ties to the Sterlings, Vanessa already accomplished that by marrying Justin.” And I know my cousin’s marriage is going to last forever. Not many couples are as in love as those two.
“Elizabeth, be reasonable,” Mom says. “If Ceinlys’s daughter is good enough for the Sterlings, why should you settle for…that man?”
The question hangs in the silence. I just stare at her. She glares back, her breathing rough. She truly believes the nonsense coming out of her mouth.
Finally, I say, “I’m not settling. I’m in love. It’s my choice.”
“Your choice? Ha! Your choice means nothing. Your choices change all the time. You chose to pursue art, but didn’t. You thought to do art while leading the foundation, but didn’t because you promised your grandmother.”
“How do you know about that promise?” I made it on Grandma Shirley’s deathbed. Mom wasn’t around, and the only person I told that is Tolyan…and later Dominic.
“Because I’m the one who told your grandmother you had to choose between the foundation and art. I told her you would neglect the foundation for your art, something she always feared. Why should you get to do both? You don’t get to be a painter on top of getting all the praise and recognition for helping the poor. It’s not fair!”
“Oh my God,” I whisper. “You were jealous of me all this time.”
“I was not!”
“Yes, you were. You wanted the recognition of leading the foundation, but Shirley chose me instead.”
“Mother only chose you because you were younger and blond!”
“If you showed a capacity to care about others the way you do about yourself, she probably would’ve made you the head of the foundation. She knew neither Vanessa nor I wanted it.”
Mom jumps to her feet. “I won’t stand for this insult.”
“There’s the door,” I murmur.