I groan and am ready to discuss it until she gives up, but she crosses my plan by grasping my face with one hand and kissing me.
Whatever I wanted to say is gone. Lost in her and her touch. Her lips. That kiss.
A kiss that only fires what I already know: I am not going to let her sacrifice herself. I am going to hit the Lords with all the force I have, whatever the cost, even if it means walking away from her.
Lilian stands in front of the wall with her certificates. I remember what she told me about them.They’re an illusion.My eyes unfocus. Illusions are what I do best.
And suddenly, I know what to do.
18
LILIAN
PLAYLIST: DON’T TELL ME NO LIES – THE DEADBEAT COUSINS
“Lil,” says Doug as we enter my plane. “You need to see this.” Doug’s tone tells me I won’t like it.
He hands me a tablet with news hitting the media.
“She did not,” I say while my eyes fly over the headlines.
“She did,” Doug says, sounding both too lenient and too impressed. “And oh, how she did it. She blew up the HQ and the facility in Elms.”
I am speechless. How does she even know about the underground data center in Elmsford?
“I am going to murder her,” I say as I continue to stare at the screen.
“We both know you won’t,” he says and laughs as I grab my phone out of my bag.
“Are you out of your fucking mind!” I shout at Kat when she answers the phone, and the audible grin I hear through the speaker infuriates me even further.
“You do what you think is right,” she says, completely unconcerned, "and I did what I knew was right.”
My hands clench into fists. I take a breath, but I explode regardless.
“Wait until I get my hands on you,” I say threateningly. It’s not even that she destroyed everything, but the thought of her risking everything, her life, losing her?—
“You will learn that your martyr behaviour is nothing but stupid, reckless, idiotic—“ I curse at her, but she interrupts me, and I am close to losing myself entirely.
“I don’t think so,” she says calmly. “Because if you would take a moment to think instead of being the emotional train wreck you are right now, you’d see that my plan was absolute genius.”
There is only so much I can take.
“You fucking blew up my company!!!!” I shout at the top of my lungs at the phone in front of my face, not giving a fuck about the pain in my chest. Doug tries to hold back his laughter, which only makes me even more furious.
“I did,” she says with a pride in her voice I want to strangle her for. “I also saved and transferred everything that was important to a secret underground facility, which I’d really like to show you the moment you calmed down.”
Calm down! The hell I’ll calm down.
“What were you thinking!” I shout at her as a statement, not a question.
“A lot,” she says. “Because they believe Zeus isn’t a threat anymore, because it’s gone. And you can now build up a private firm with it that specializes in finding people and information. A firm that won’t have your name on it and can be operated in secret, but contracts for big money without making you a target.”
I feel completely out of control as I am being told how to run my business—by her. I can’t, and won’t tolerate it. Except that her plan is actually brilliant—something I absolutely cannot and will not admit to her, ever.
I groan. That's when I realize the reason behind her actions.
Goddamit, this woman, I curse in my mind.
