“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…
Old.
“That was why I hoped that we could be equals. That was why I hoped that we could be friends. I can’t remember when I’ve ever had one. A real one, one who I could trust.”
“You’ll always be trying to find an angle, Mother. That’s why you’re the first to see it and expect it in others. You don’t want a friend. You want a lapdog who won’t bite you back.”
“Fine. If I can’t have a friend, then I’ll take a stubborn bitch who bites. As long as the family has its prime.”
“You do have a prime. It just isn’t me. You also have a chief of security who is more than a capable replacement. I’m leaving, Mother, and I’m taking my mark free and clear when I do. You’ll let me, or I’ll visit Chief Shaw, and he and I will have one very long chat.”
“I could do the same.”
“You could, but you won’t. I understand now what Senator Dubois meant about needing time. I’m done with this family for a while. I don’t want anything to do with any of you.”
With that, Lila left the room.
Chapter 30
Lila prowled through the great house, searching each floor, each room for Alex. It didn’t take long to find her in the wine cellar, drifting from wooden rack to wooden rack. As a girl, Lila had never understood the layout of the place, row upon row of corks, labels hiding like skittish cats from their master’s touch. How anyone ever found anything in the room had always been a mystery, for the light inside had always been far too dim. Alex did not seem to mind it. Perhaps as a slave, she had been forced to memorize the placement of the bottles.