“No, she would have summoned her blood squad. She called them for her own son.”
“Yes. It nearly killed her to do it, but she preserved the family’s honor. Perhaps I should have done the same. Unfortunately, you’re my heir, and you have put yourself and this family in a very difficult position. I either exile you and keep Jewel in your place, or I elevate you and fight your charges. A highborn, even an heir, might be hanged for your crime, but the standard of evidence is quite a bit higher for a prime. But if the truth comes out and our lawyers do not believe they can overturn the charges, I will exile you from this family, do you understand?”
Lila nodded.
“Best case, no one finds out what you’ve done. Slightly worse case, Bullstow arrests you, you go free, and we put this whole mess behind us. A cloud of mistrust will hang over the Randolphs for years. Half the highborn families will sever their ties with us out of protest. We will lose some of our lowborn partners, some of our accounts. Bullstow will audit our files. It will sour our relationships with High House, with the oracles, with the High Council of Judges. We will take a major hit, but—”
“Half our business would crumble.”
“Yes, and it would be your doing. We would survive, though, and so would you. This blackmailer won’t do anything as long as we pay him. So you will continue to pay him, Elizabeth, and you will fix it. If you can’t, you risk harming several thousand in your care. At least you’ll be alive, though. What’s the alternative? You spend the rest of your life in Burgundy?”
“Yes,” Lila said quietly.
“What happens when you get caught doing something equally stupid there? I can’t help you in Burgundy, and once you leave, you can’t return and take my place.” Her mother shook her head. “Oracle’s wrath, I thought you were smarter than this.”
Lila clenched her jaw and took the hit.
“Do you think so little of yourself that you thought you had to cheat to get what you want?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“How in the world would I know what it’s like? You haven’t told me. This sneaking into BullNet stops now. You’ve been much too careless with the Randolph name. This is why you hire out such work if you’re going to do it.”
“Maybe I should be exiled. Maybe I would prefer Burgundy.”
“You’d be bored within a month. Burgundy is a very small country with very limited prospects. You’d be unhappy playing on such a tiny chessboard. No matter how much you resist our likeness, you are still my daughter. You could never be happy unless you controlled an army. How many people are under your command right now, spread over the compounds? Two thousand?”
Her mother waited for confirmation, but Lila refused to give it.
“Soon you’ll control a great deal more. Every Randolph, every contracted workborn, every slave on every compound will bow to your authority, just as it should have been for the past ten years. You might have hidden from the cameras for the last decade, but everyone knows your name. Now they’ll know your face.”
Lila looked away. She hadn’t even thought of that. Her precious anonymity would be stripped away as soon as she put on the whitecoat. “I’m not the only one who can take over. I can fix this and remain chief. Any one of your sisters could be the new prime. Aunt Georgina—”
“My little sister can barely handle her own businesses, profitable as they are. She may be able to throw the most lavish weddings in Saxony, but could you imagine her handling the oil rigs? She’s never even seen them. You have. You’ve even earned the respect of those who work on them.” Her mother sighed, clearly tired of the fight. “Georgina has the time to dawdle with brides and grooms because her eldest daughter has taken charge of the Beaulac compound. I’ll not hand Wolf Industries to any of my sisters or their offspring. I won’t see everything that I’ve worked for over the last thirty years run into the ground. None of them have what it takes to lead the family. You are the only one who has the mettle and the brains to run this place successfully. I should know. I designed you that way.”
“I didn’t know I was a new coat.”
The chairwoman raised her glass. “It’s an apt metaphor. I ensured that you had the correct education, that you had the proper experience. I even controlled how you played as an infant. You—”
“Don’t want to lead, and I don’t want children,” Lila interrupted. “That was
what Jewel was for.”
“She can still be useful in that role. Have a few children and pass them off to your sister and her fiancé the day they are born. Senator Dubois aches to be a father. He spent too long at Bullstow taking care of all those boys while dreaming of his own. He’ll mend what Jewel rips. I’ll educate the heir. You wouldn’t even have to see your children if you can’t be bothered.”
“I’m not that cold-hearted.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” the chairwoman said. “Think of what will happen to the Randolphs should someone else become prime. Would your aunt or cousins do well by the family or would they line their own pockets first? Would they do well by your little brother? Would they show the same dedication and consideration for Randolph General? What about poor Ms. Wilson? Think of what you can do for her as prime. I am not completely ignorant of your plans.”
“What plans?”
“Freeing her and letting her run Grace Medical after I die. You both will no doubt forget your stations and become what you were before she lost her mark. I’d be exceedingly angry if you gave it all back to her, but after I am dead there will be nothing I can do to stop it.”
Lila rubbed her chin. Alex’s fall had occurred long after Lila had abdicated as prime, so such a plan had never crossed her mind. The thought tempted her now, though, the idea that she could do this thing for her friend. Alex certainly desired her old world once more. She wouldn’t be highborn, but she could be lowborn.
Lila certainly owed her that much.
The fact that her mother brought up the idea made Lila wary, though, for that and for hinting that her brother and her hospital might fall under someone else’s careless hand. She was being bribed, and her mother did not even try to hide it.