AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was the one she’d punish the harshest if I lost my grasp on the leverage I was using against her.
Beckett started to turn away. “I’ll send you the proof we do have of the financial connections we dug up and a report of my employee’s stories. Is the same phone number still good for that? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“Yeah, she doesn’t know about that phone. I’ll save the files to a separate server and delete the texts right away too.”
“Good. You stay safe. I know it can’t be fun finding yourself in the middle of this conflict. If there’s any way I can help, let me know.”
With those parting words, he vanished into the crowd.
I lingered by the fountain for a minute longer before drifting toward the exit. As I crossed the parking lot to my car, a heavy weight settled in my stomach.
More evidence meant more leverage. That was all great. But what would it take for me to be able to leave this life completely?
I had trouble even imagining having enough for that.
Just as I came up on the car, the sharp ringtone I’d assigned to Mom’s number pealed from my purse. I groped for my regular phone and yanked it to my ear, knowing the conversation would be less uncomfortable if we didn’t start it off with her complaining about a slow response.
“Hi, Mom,” I said tentatively, bracing myself as I opened the driver’s side door.
Her voice crackled through the line in an even more domineering tone than usual. “Luciana? Where are you? I need to go over a few things with you, in person. Immediately.”
Oh, great. What plans did she have formenow?
My gaze slid to the nearby freeway. The mall was about an hour outside of Austin, but I’d rather give myself a little breathing room. “I’m not in the city. I can get there in a couple of hours.”
I’d been checking my car over for tracking devices every time I took it out of the garage and hadn’t found any since the first one Mom had admitted to. She shouldn’t be able to tell exactly where I was.
“A couple of hours? What on earth are you doing? I need you to be ready when I have work for you.”
I willed the irritation out of my tone. “The deal was that I get to have my own life too. If you want me for something important, you need to give me more than five minutes’ notice. I’ll get there as fast as I can.”
“The deal was that you fulfill your duties as a Cordova. If you’re not going to hold up your end—”
“I can’t just magically teleport myself there in an instant,” I snapped, and then reined in my temper before I could go too far. “I told you, I’m coming. We already had that meeting this morning. I had no idea there was anything else you’d urgently need me for.”
“Well, now you know. If you expect me to believe you have any loyalty left at all, I expect to see you in my office by seven o’clock sharp.”
She hung up without giving me a chance to respond. I gunned the engine, my blood boiling. After everything, she still saw me as a puppet whose strings she should be able to pull however she liked, whenever she liked.
As I merged onto the freeway, my heart pounded with a mix of anger and fear. Mom had no right to expect me to appear the second she beckoned, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t punish me for failing to predict her demands. Part of me wanted to take my time driving back, to show up at seven and not a moment earlier so she’d know she hadn’t frightened me. The part of me thatwasfrightened wanted to flat-pedal it so I could diffuse her rage.
It took several minutes for the initial upheaval from the conversation to wear off… and a more subtle anxiety to creep in.
WhywasMom so desperate to get me back to the house? She didn’t usually pull out the threats and show real anger unless it was absolutely necessary—she’d rather appear coolly in control.
She’d been awfully vague about what she wanted me there for. To go over a few things with me? If it was so urgent, why couldn’t she have talked to me about it on the phone right away?
No, what she’d really been insistent about was getting me back to the mansion. Why? Because she had something bigger in store for me there?
Or maybe because she wanted to be sure Iwasn’tsomeplace else?
Once the idea had taken hold, I couldn’t shake it. A chill prickled through my veins. Finally, I wiggled my burner phone out of my pocket and set it in the cupholder.
“Speakerphone on,” I said in voice command. “Call Rafael.”
Rafael picked up after two rings, his deep baritone a balm on my nerves. “Everything all right, Lou?”
“Yeah. I was just about to ask you that. Nothing strange has gone down at the loft?”
