“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.”