17. Edward #2
"It could have been worse." The words came out weaker than James probably intended.
"Worse? How could it possibly have been worse?"
"Your Mother could have destroyed her reputation permanently.
Made her unemployable anywhere in media.
Ensured she never worked in television again.
" James's diplomatic training was reasserting itself, his voice becoming more measured.
"What happened was surgical, contained. Devastating, yes, but not total. "
"Listen to yourself," Cece interjected. "You're talking about a woman's life like it's a strategic asset to be managed."
"Because that's how Lady Victoria sees everything," James replied. "People, relationships, careers—they're all variables in a larger equation. I thought if I could influence the calculation, make myself useful to her strategy, I could minimize the damage to everyone involved."
I stared at my oldest friend, seeing him clearly for perhaps the first time. The diplomat who'd been trained to serve power, who'd convinced himself that collaboration was a form of protection.
"Twenty years of friendship," I said softly. "Twenty years of trust. And you traded it all for the illusion that you could control my Mother's machinations."
"I was trying to save our friendship," James said desperately. "I thought if I could prevent a public scandal, if I could keep this private—"
"You destroyed our friendship the moment you chose her strategy over my trust." The words came out with crystalline clarity, each syllable carefully enunciated. "The moment you decided you knew better than I did what was good for my life."
James flinched as if I'd struck him.
For once, his diplomatic charm had no answer for the simple truth.
"Edward," he began, then stopped. "I'm sorry. I know that's inadequate, but—"
"It is inadequate. But more than that, it's irrelevant." I moved around my desk, the same motion I'd made thousands of times during our friendship. "Because this isn't about forgiveness or apologies. This is about trust, and you destroyed that beyond repair."
"So what happens now?" James asked quietly.
I looked at him—really looked at him—seeing the man who'd been my closest friend and realizing that person might never have existed at all.
"Now you're going to help me fix what you helped break.
You're going to provide testimony about my Mother's scheme, documentation about the photographer, everything you know about her strategy. "
"And if I refuse?"
"Then you'll face the professional consequences alone when this becomes a criminal investigation." My smile held no warmth. "Because make no mistake, James—what my Mother did constitutes multiple felonies. The only question is whether you'll be charged as an accomplice or as a cooperating witness."
He nodded slowly, understanding dawning in his eyes. "You're going to destroy her."
"I'm going to expose the truth. If that destroys her, it's no more than she deserves for what she did to Lili."
"And us? Our friendship?"
I considered the question seriously, looking at the man who'd shared decades of my life and wondering if any of it had been real. "There is no us anymore, James. You made sure of that when you chose to be my Mother's accomplice instead of my friend."
The office fell silent except for the distant sound of London traffic.
James looked like he wanted to disappear into the floor, while Cece watched me with the intensity of someone waiting for an explosion.
"There's something else," Cece said finally. "About the timing of the acquisition announcement."
I turned to look at her, noting the way she was studying my face. "What about it?"
"The story broke at 6 am London time. But Gardens & Home's New York office didn't receive notification of the acquisition until 8 am their time. Which means..." She paused for effect. "The British press knew about the deal before the company's own executives."
"Someone leaked it early."
"Someone wanted maximum chaos and minimum time for damage control." Cece's smile was grim. "Your Mother made sure Lili would wake up to a professional nightmare with no time to mount any kind of response."
The systematic cruelty of it took my breath away.
Mother hadn't just destroyed Lili's career—she'd ensured that destruction would be as humiliating and public as possible.
"She planned all of this," I said, the full scope finally becoming clear. "The surveillance, the financial manipulation, the media leak, even the timing of my ultimatum. Every single detail was calculated to achieve maximum damage with minimum risk to the family's reputation."
"And it worked," James added quietly. "Lili's gone, the acquisition is complete, and the family emerged from the scandal looking like victims of an American opportunist's schemes."
Something inside me snapped.
Years of deference to Mother's strategic mind, of trusting her judgment, of believing that family loyalty meant accepting her manipulations—all of it crystallized into white-hot rage.
"No," I said quietly. "It didn't work. Because now I know exactly what she did, and I'm going to make sure everyone else knows too."
"Edward," James began, "think about what you're saying. Challenging your Mother means challenging the family, the firm, everything you've built—"
"Everything I've built is contaminated by her schemes." I moved to my desk, gathering the documents Cece had provided. "My career, my reputation, my relationships—all of it has been subject to her manipulation. Well, no more."
"What are you going to do?" Cece asked.
I looked at her, then at James, seeing the fear in his eyes as he realized that our friendship might not be enough to protect him from the consequences of his choices.
"I'm going to expose every detail of her scheme. I'm going to make sure the world understands that Lili was the victim here, not the perpetrator."
"That will destroy your Mother's reputation," James said.
"Good. She destroyed an innocent woman's life to protect her own interests. It's time she faced consequences for that choice."
"And after that?" Cece's voice was carefully neutral.
I thought about Lili, somewhere in Texas, believing that our entire relationship had been a lie orchestrated by people more powerful than herself.
Believing that I'd chosen career over love, that I'd abandoned her to save myself.
"After that, I'm going to find Lili and spend however long it takes convincing her that what we had was real. That despite my family's manipulations, despite the lies and the schemes and the betrayals, what happened between us was the most honest thing in my life."
"She may not believe you," Cece warned. "The damage runs pretty deep."
"Then I'll keep trying until she does. Or until she tells me definitively that she never wants to see me again." I met her eyes steadily. "But I won't let my Mother's version of events be the final word on this story."
I gathered the evidence Cece had provided, feeling something like purpose for the first time since Lili had walked out of my life. "I'm ready to destroy everything she built, then win Lili back."
The words hung in the air like a declaration of war.
And perhaps that's exactly what it was—a war against manipulation, against the belief that power justified any means, against the idea that love was too dangerous to be worth fighting for.
Mother had won the first battle through superior strategy and ruthless execution.
But the war was far from over.