Lillian Sokolov walks inside dressed in a casual black dress with her hair down and a lot grayer than I remember. Her jewelry sparkles with more diamonds than I can count, and the flats she wears look comfortable. However, her shoulders are slightly stooped and her skin looser than I remember. She has not aged well these last seven years.
“We obviously need to talk,” she says, moving behind the bar and looking more like a grandmother than the bombshell I remember.
Garik leans down and lifts up the good bottle of vodka. With a look at me, he turns and strides through the back door where I can hear his footsteps ascending to the apartment.
Lillian pours two glasses and nudges one toward me. “Welcome to freedom.”
I lift my glass and down the contents as she does the same. “What do you want, Lillian?” I fear that every exit to my place is now covered by men with automatic weapons. Even so, I have to admire her grit in walking in alone. I could kill her with my bare hands and she knows it.
“I thought we could end this thing for now. For good,” she says, her voice trembling slightly. Apparently, losing her youngest son has taken a toll I haven’t considered.
I cock my head to the side. “You’re ready to give up Hologrid Hub?”
“Of course not.” Even in obvious mourning, she’s all woman, and I can see what my father saw in her. Although their age difference had created quite the fodder for the gossip rags. She has blue eyes and a delicate bone structure. Both of her sons inherited much of her attributes—including ambition. She’d become pregnant right away with Hendrix and then Cal to better secure her place with my father.
“Leave town,” she says. “I will release your trust funds and you’ll have billions to go play with. You can go anywhere in the world, but it will be out of this country. Please, Alexei. Grant me some peace.”
She looks as out of place behind the rickety old bar as a princess would in a dungeon. Yet, I know of her humble beginnings, and she has risen high above them by marrying my father.
“Hologrid Hub is mine.” I try to keep the need out of my voice. If I don’t get near the large amethysts again soon, my skin is going to fall off.
She shakes her head. “Hendrix is doing a good job branding the corporation.”
“Actually, you’re in third place, maybe fourth now out of the four social media companies,” I say smoothly. “Aquarius and Malice are helping each other out, which I think brought Aquarius up to second and dropped Hologrid Hub to third and TimeGem to fourth.”
I don’t have the numbers yet.
Her nostrils flare. “I had planned a merger between Cal and the Aquarius Social heir that didn’t work out. However, they have a new heir with some long-lost cousin.”
This is new information for me. I take it in to roll over in my mind later.
“Or.” She taps a chewed off fingernail on her lips. “There’s always little Ella. She’s the rightful heir of TimeGem Moments, you know?”
An interesting thought, Ella with Hendrix. It would be quite the merger, and I can imagine the young Rendale heir is interested in reclaiming her birthright. I might have to kidnap her sooner rather than later to gain her hacking skills. For a short while, of course. Unless she’s helpful, then I’ll keep her forever.
I stare at my stepmother. “I do appreciate the bribe and the offer to avoid war, but I want what’s mine.”
Her chin goes up. “You lost what’s yours when you killed David Fairfax. You belong in prison, and we both know it.”
“Did you set me up?” I ask. “Are you the person who arranged for the evidence to be planted?”
“Of course not,” she says. “I always knew if I gave you enough rope, you’d hang yourself, and you did exactly that, Alexei. You have nobody to blame but yourself for this predicament. A jury convicted you once and they’ll do so again.” Even looking sad and lonely, her voice holds strength.
I smile. “Not without the help they had last time.”
“Your prints were on that knife, and it is the murder weapon. Correct?”
The newspapers had had a field day with that fact, which still bothers me greatly. I can’t see from what direction that betrayal had come. “Did you bribe the police or an officer along with the judge and prosecutor?” I ask.
She frowns. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I try to search her gaze for truth, but I can’t tell if she’s lying or not. There were several people who could have set me up. I was quite the asshole back then and had slept with more than one man’s wife, but she and Hendrix had the most to gain from my going to prison and having my funds frozen. I know with certainty that Hendrix had hits put out on me in prison, which is why I had to make the deal with Urbano Reyes. That must’ve infuriated my so-called brother to no end.
“Did you send a squad after me the day I was let out and also this morning?” I ask.
“Squads?”
Maybe Hendrix doesn’t share his business with his mother. I cross my arms. “I’m armed and ready to kill, Lillian. Make sure Hendrix understands that. If he considers having anybody tear in here later tonight to take me out, I would tell him to think again. You don’t want war with me.” It’s the last olive branch I will extend to her.
