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If he sees or hears my devastation, he doesn’t give any indication. He uncrosses his legs and leans forward, resting his hands—the hands so elegant I used to marvel at how cruelly he used them—on the desk. “You’re not fit to lead. Duke and I have spoken, and he agrees.”
Propriety, deference, and self-preservation fall away as the future I’ve toiled, sacrificed and pinned every single one of my fucking hopes on is snatched away by a man who should have done everything he could to see me happy. I slam my palm down on his desk and surge to my feet.
“This isn’t right. I’ve worked hard, I’m best the best person for that job.”
His eyes narrow, and the shadow of geniality he’s been feigning completely evaporates. “I’ll be damned if you’re gonna traipse off to New York City just because that stupid aunt of yours made you think marriage is an option and that men are evil.”
“She doesn't think men are evil. She's happily married to one," I don’t know why I pick this point to argue about, but it’s the only coherent thought I’m capable of as I try to make sense of what’s happening.
“That fucking pussy lets his wife run his life. That’s not how it works and you don’t get to walk away from your obligations.”
“I wasn’t trying to walk away. I’ve worked my ass off so I can keep working for Wolfe. I graduated summa cum laude—”
He sucks his teeth. “I don’t care if you’d won fucking Nobel prize. You are the reason I don’t have a child of my own loins to leave this company to. And if you won’t do the right thing, I’ve got no choice but to do it for you.”
The first time he’d hurled those accusatory words at me, it hurt me in ways I couldn’t measure. But I’d forgiven him because I knew he had spoken while in grip of his grief. But more than ten years later, there’s no pain in his eyes as he looks at me. Just impatience and boredom.
“I let you come work here because you’re my daughter, and you seemed determined to prove something. His eyes drift from my cheek and down my neck tracing the path of the scar that starts on my left cheek. And even though they stopped hurting years ago, they throb under his disdainful eye. “It’s time you remembered that, despite your shortcomings, you’re still my daughter. And you owe me heirs. “
“I owe you heirs?” Incredulity pinches my face so hard it hurts.
“Yes, and once you’ve fulfilled that obligation, I’ll let you have whatever job you want”
I laugh in disbelief at the way he speaks of it as if it’s already decided. “I’m not sure what planet you live on, but you can’t extort children from me.”
He sighs as if he’s bored. “This is not extortion. This is everyone getting what they want.”
“You have no idea what I want.”
“You want to leave Winsome, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then once you’ve done this, you can leave and go live anywhere you want. You’ll claim your inheritance, Duke will have the money he needs for his great political ambitions, and I will have my heir.”
My incredulous gaze moves from him to Duke. Gone is his smug, spiteful smirk. In its place is a mildly confused smile. “Political ambitions, sir?”
My father laughs dryly. “The ones you testified against your father to save?”
Duke’s face turns red, and he shakes his head. “No, I—”
My father ch
uckles. “Don’t apologize for saving yourself. I admire you for it. You know what you want, and you’ll do what it takes. I think you can go all the way. But you need money you don’t have. Beth here will have plenty once she’s married.”
Duke sits up straight, his devil may care expression is gone, and in its place is the kind of shock you can’t feign. He didn’t expect this either. “Wait…you want me to...to marry her?” His voice is an octave higher than usual.
My father grunts in disgust. “Did you think I was giving you this job, and this salary because I like you? I need heirs and a successor. I won’t be the first Wolfe to be replaced by a man who is not part of this family. As for the heirs, I don’t care how you get it. Adopt, go to the lab like everyone else these days, whatever. As long as they are the legal issue of your legal marriage, it won’t matter.”
“I know you loved Bethany, but besides those scars Elisabeth is a really pretty ornament. She’ll make a great first lady of whatever office you’re running for. And if you’re not sexually compatible, you can find that pleasure discretely outside your marriage bed.”
“Wow, you’ve thought of everything,” I breathe sarcastically.
“I’m giving you a way out. You don’t have it in you to stay. You are not constant. You have your head in the clouds. I’ve watched you work harder than everyone else, trying to be something you’re not. No matter how hard you try not to be, you will always be your mother’s daughter.”
My sister and I both look just like her. Yet, somehow, it was only when he looked at me that he was reminded of her. Maybe it was our shared love of art that made me indistinguishable from her in his eyes.
He’d called her an ornament, too. He’d encourage her to visit the plastic surgeon and say things like, “Gotta make sure my ornament doesn’t crack. I’d hate to have to throw her away.”
