“Well. Yeah.” His eyes are bright with rapid calculation. He’s probably wondering how much I heard and what he can say to get out of the pile of shit he stepped into. Finally, he smiles. “Great! Glad you could join us.”
I shake my head. The men around him look at each other, shifting their weight.Are they embarrassed they got caught, or worried that I might badmouth them to Nelson?Either way, it’s gross.
“Are you? Did you cheat on me with Viv to get ahead?”
He knows the game is up. “I wouldn’t call itcheating.” He gives me a patronizing smile.
My temper rises. Does he think his lawyerly talk is going to work on me? “Of course not. It’s called sleeping your way to the top because that’s all you’re good for.”
The smile vanishes. “You aren’t that good in bed, at least not enough to marry. So what value do you have if you can’t help with my career?”
“Should I repeat that to Nelson?” I say in my most saccharine voice.
He shuts his mouth and merely glares.
I laugh mockingly. “Thought so.”
His face turns pink. The humiliation of being caught and told off in front of his colleagues is likely too much for him to handle. “You know what? In law school, which you’ll never go to, they teach us to deal with facts. And here are the facts of thiscase: same bed, different woman, and that was all it took! Viv is fantastic, and she makes more sense for me in every way.”
Oh my God.He slept with my half-sister inmybed? Disgusting! I just bought new sheets, too!
“She’s going to Harvard Law, you know,” he says.
“And?” I snort. “She hasn’t graduated yet, has she?”
Iknowshe won’t graduate. My money’s on her dropping out before the first year is over. She wasn’t qualified to be admitted in the first place. The only reason she got in is because I took the LSAT for her last year. Karie practically ordered me to, saying that if I didn’t, she’d make sure I took on a bigger share of Mom’s medical expenses. The amount she demanded was ridiculous—five thousand a month, which I could never afford.
“Pretty sure that’s some kind of extortion,” I told her. “And thus illegal.”
She just shrugged. “Oh well. I guess if your mom dies it’ll be because her only child didn’t care enough.”
I couldn’t ask Nelson for help, since he stood next to Karie the entire time without saying a word. And if I’d brought it up with Andreas, Nelson and Karie would both deny it, claiming I misunderstood. Andreas is aware of his son’s shitty personality, but I’m not sure how he’d react if Nelson, Karie and Viv all insisted I was misrepresenting the situation. And that was assuming I’d even be able to see him. He’s always busy, and his assistants hate shifting his appointments around for a nobody like me. I resent that my situation leaves me with no choice but to accept the little charity the Webbers deign to bestow on me to keep me quiet.
“Give her three years, and she will,” Peter says. “You’re just jealous because she’s better at everything than you.”
“Fine. Just replace my sheets and bed. I’m not sleeping in a bed you soiled with Viv.”
“Ha! You’re lucky I fucked you at all.”
“So youaren’tgoing to replace them?”
He smirks. “Sue me for ’em.”
Sue him?Something dangerous shifts inside me. “If that’s the way you want it.”
Chapter Four
Huxley
Ahh, shit.
I come to an abrupt stop exactly one step into the glitzy dining room at Uncle Prescott and Aunt Akiko’s home in Bel Air. The marble floors and crystal chandeliers twinkle and shine, looking like an ad for prosperity. It’s almost as if the room itself is happy.
Should’ve known better.
When my uncle and aunt invited me over for dinner, I said sure. They said it was because they missed me, and—unlike my grandmother—they don’t pressure me to join the firm. And they certainly don’t ask me to marry for “the legacy.” Also, unlike Mom, they don’t stand around gazing at me with vague disappointment and disapproval that I’m not doing what every Huxley is supposed to, what the family motto demands.
They didn’t inform me that Grandma and Mom were dining with us—two people I’ve been doing my best to avoid seeing as much as possible in recent months because I’d rather not be forced to defend myself in court for strangling them.
