His long, black hair is pulled up in a too-tight bun, and his clean-shaven jaw is set hard, while the expression on his face is basically poker.
Mom’s nude pumps press onto the soft carpet as she comes to a stop, then glances around the room before locking those dark eyes with mine.
I get to my feet and take a step towards her, then give her a well-practiced plastic smile. “Mom,” I say in greeting.
She leans in, and her and I share our usualwe’re-in-publicair kiss routine.
What happens behind closed doors in Miranda Adler’s estate, stays within the walls of said estate. No one needs to know about any of it, least of allLure’semployees.
When I move away from Mom, I see that Mave’s jaw is clenched as he continues to stare at the back of her head, and that his posture is way too stiff to not come off as questionable. I know he despises her just as much as I do, but this – this just won’t do. Especially when we have an audience.
I very subtly clear my throat, and his gaze jumps to mine. I raise my left brow just enough to show him that I’ve noticed his anger, and that he needs to calm the fuck down.
He sighs, gives me a quick nod, and relaxes a little.
As much as it stings to admit, it’s true that Mave is powerless against my mom. If he wants to stay alive and make sure that I do, too, then he’s gotta keep his head down and try not to get on her radar.
“Cignette,” Mom says stoically, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I blink and look at her again, then send another one of my phony smiles her way.
Mom gives me a calculating once-over, then turns a little to face Julian. “I’m assuming you’ve finalized the croquis for my daughter’s event attire,” she tells him.
Julian’s expression turns slightly ashen. “Actually–”
“We’re still going over ideas,” I cut in.
Mom returns her attention to me, and when I glance over her shoulder, Julian mouths, “Thank you,” to me.
“What do you mean, you’re still going over ideas?” Mom asks.
I rub my gloss-covered lips together and shift from one foot to the other.
I’m not scared of her, per se. I’musedto her, used to all of her expressions, reactions, and actions. She doesn’t necessarily affect me the way she does Julian and the rest of the people who work atLure, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to think about everything I do and say,twice, while I’m in her presence.
“Umm.” I chuckle clinically. “I’ve been giving him,” I gesture vaguely at Julian, “a hard time with the color scheme. We were just discussing what shades we wanna play with for this one, so it’s taking longer than expected.”
“We will be done with it before lunch, I assure you,” Julian adds.
Beside him, Melina makes a sound, but then quickly covers it up with a cough.
“See to it that you are,” Mom all but orders without even looking at Julian. She then lets go of a breath and brings one of her hands up to my face.
I refrain from recoiling as her skin touches mine, and my toes curl inside my boots as I glance at Mave, who takes a step forward, but stops when I again raise a brow in warning.
Mom’s hand travels down my face, and she then brings it over to the length of my hair before sliding it down to its very ends. She tangles her fingers in them and rubs them together, and I can hear the softscrunchof my hair as it molds against her assault.
Her eyes bore into mine, and her features tighten as she just…stares at me.
I think one of the reasons why she behaves like this with me is because she’s jealous of me; jealous of the liberty I have of doing whatever the fuck I want with my life. She’s a popular face in the media, a woman of power and fame, so she’s got to make sure she’s perfectly poised and cautious, if only for when she’s out in public – which, to her dismay, is most of the time.
It’s been like this for her from a very young age. Her freedom was taken from her when she was a child, and she was forced to be what every woman in our family has always been: a bisque doll – meant only to attract, and not progress.
The Adler name is one that’s been acclaimed for generations. My ancestors basically ran the county, and even now, my family is at the top of the food chain here. I don’t know much about my grandparents, because they passed years before I was even born, but what I do know is that my grandfather was an only child, and also Riverside’s Administrator, just like Uncle Chase now is. My grandma was a trophy wife, but she was also the one who’d built the original Adler estate, which is currently my uncle’s residence.
Uncle Chase and Mom were homeschooled – as was I – and when my grandparents were killed in a rival’s shootout almost 4 decades ago, my uncle was 21, whereas my mom was only 11. They were brought up by advisors and lawyers, and when Uncle Chase turned 25, he was named the county’s new Administrator.
Because Mom didn’t want to be like my grandma, or get married off to a nameless elite for further status and money, she startedLureat the age of 21. She had me when she was 24, and, well, the rest, as they say, is history.
