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There was no doubt what she meant by that. She hadn’t tracked down my men yet, but she could be seconds away from doing so.
But then, she quite possibly would eliminate them no matter what I said next. So I’d better make this good.
I honed my own voice into a blade, even cooler than hers. “You’re right, we are in the middle of something big. Huge, even. And wouldn’t it be a horrible shame if the other Devil’s Dozen members found out that one of their own is plotting against some of them?”
Mom’s stance stiffened with twice as much shock as when I’d simply argued back. I didn’t think it’d ever occurred to her that I might not just defy her but outright stab her in the back.
But I’d learned my methods directly from her. To get what you want from someone, hit them where it hurts.
Before she could snap out of her stunned silence, I snatched my phone from my purse and flicked through my recordings to one of the most recent ones. Then I slammed my thumb down on the track.
Mom’s voice warbled through the speaker, distant but clearly audible. “My people know how to keep their heads down when necessary. I’m sure yours can be circumspect as well.”
In the pause that followed, Mom lunged at me. Her arced fingernails snatched at the phone in my hands.
I yanked it out of reach, dodging backward at the same moment with years of trained combat instincts. My free hand came up in a fist, my feet falling into a defensive stance even as my pulse thundered in my ears.
Check. Mate.
“There’s no point,” I spat out before she could launch herself at me again. “Break this phone and nothing changes. Do you thinkI’man idiot? Of course I’ve backed up the files—somewhere you could never reach them.”
Mom’s lips drew back in a snarl. “You little bitch—”
I glared right back at her. “I’m exactly the bitch you made me into, Mom. I learned from the best. And if anything happens to me, all the proof I’ve gathered will be sent out to the people you’d least want getting their hands on it. So don’t think that taking me out will solve your problems either.”
She didn’t know how much I had. It could have been just that one conversation—but even that conversation had contained plenty of hints about her plans.
And for all she knew, I had a hundred times more.
Mom studied me for a minute, marinating in her rage. A shadow crossed her expression, and she drew herself back a step with a twist of her mouth.
“My own daughter, threatening everything I’ve worked for. Everything I’ve builtforyou. I can’t believe it’s come to this.”
Beneath her obvious anger, she sounded almost sad.
I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for her loss. I’d been telling her I wasn’t the daughter she expected me to be for years. It wasn’t my fault she’d never listened.
I squared my shoulders. “I don’t want to destroy your empire. I simply don’t want to be a part of it. You just won’t accept that.”
“Luciana—”
“I know, I know. It’s my inheritance and all that. But skating is the most important thing to me in the world. I’mgoodat it.”
Mom snorted. “Skating,important? Do you even hear yourself? Dancing around on the ice is a pastime for little kids. It should have stayed that way for you too. You’re never going to be respected the way a Cordova woman should when you’re prancing around in sparkly outfits begging for attention. What we do is in the real world, where the consequences actually matter.”
I reined in my irritation at her dismissal. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t heard her talk that way about my dreams before. “Agree to disagree. It matters to me, and it’s my life. It’s about time I started fighting for whatIwant that life to be.”
“Not a very good start,” Mom said in an acid tone. “Throwing all your family loyalty out the window.”
I shook my head. “I’m not, though. That part is up to you.” I also wasn’t such an idiot that I figured I could simply walk away with this threat hanging over us and trust that my men and I would be safe.
“I’ll stick around and go along with your schemes,” I went on. “I’ll keep my mouth shut about the peopleyou’rebetraying. On two conditions: You let me keep skating like I have been since I got to Austin, and you leave my men alone. You try to get in my way or hurt them, and you’ll be the one ruining your plans. It’s up to you.”
Mom’s gaze seared into me. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing, mija.”
I shrugged. “Like the work you have me doing isn’t already incredibly dangerous?”
She exhaled in a rough sigh. “Fine. Have your ice time. Dally with these men you find appealing for some strange reason.” Then she pointed a rigid forefinger at me. “But you’d better not slip up even slightly when it comes to carrying out my orders and fulfilling your side of the deal, or you’ll be the one regretting it.”
