Chapter 18 Lilian
LILIAN
PLAYLIST: DON’T TELL ME NO LIES – THE DEADBEAT COUSINS
“Lil,” says Doug as we enter my plane. “You need to see this.” Doug’s tone tells me I won’t like it.
He hands me a tablet with news hitting the media.
“She did not,” I say while my eyes fly over the headlines.
“She did,” Doug says, sounding both too lenient and too impressed. “And oh, how she did it. She blew up the HQ and the facility in Elms.”
I am speechless. How does she even know about the underground data center in Elmsford?
“I am going to murder her,” I say as I continue to stare at the screen.
“We both know you won’t,” he says and laughs as I grab my phone out of my bag.
“Are you out of your fucking mind!” I shout at Kat when she answers the phone, and the audible grin I hear through the speaker infuriates me even further.
“You do what you think is right,” she says, completely unconcerned, "and I did what I knew was right.”
My hands clench into fists. I take a breath, but I explode regardless.
“Wait until I get my hands on you,” I say threateningly. It’s not even that she destroyed everything, but the thought of her risking everything, her life, losing her—
“You will learn that your martyr behaviour is nothing but stupid, reckless, idiotic—“ I curse at her, but she interrupts me, and I am close to losing myself entirely.
“I don’t think so,” she says calmly. “Because if you would take a moment to think instead of being the emotional train wreck you are right now, you’d see that my plan was absolute genius.”
There is only so much I can take.
“You fucking blew up my company!!!!” I shout at the top of my lungs at the phone in front of my face, not giving a fuck about the pain in my chest. Doug tries to hold back his laughter, which only makes me even more furious.
“I did,” she says with a pride in her voice I want to strangle her for. “I also saved and transferred everything that was important to a secret underground facility, which I’d really like to show you the moment you calmed down.”
Calm down! The hell I’ll calm down.
“What were you thinking!” I shout at her as a statement, not a question.
“A lot,” she says. “Because they believe Zeus isn’t a threat anymore, because it’s gone.
And you can now build up a private firm with it that specializes in finding people and information.
A firm that won’t have your name on it and can be operated in secret, but contracts for big money without making you a target. ”
I feel completely out of control as I am being told how to run my business—by her. I can’t, and won’t tolerate it. Except that her plan is actually brilliant—something I absolutely cannot and will not admit to her, ever.
I groan. That's when I realize the reason behind her actions.
Goddamit, this woman, I curse in my mind.
“You blew up my company to keep me from blackmailing the president,” I say and sigh heavily.
“Yes,” she says. “I won’t let you get in harm's way.”
“You don’t get to decide that,” I say defiantly, and she chuckles challengingly.
“Get used to it, Princess,” she says, and the last words caress through my chest like silk—a fact I will also never acknowledge.
“I won’t,” I say coldly.
“You better, because you’re mine now.”
I only growl. I am still getting used to the whole change of dynamics thing.
“Hey,” she says, “You also get to see the real me now,” she says. “I had to burn Ella for this.”
“Can’t wait,” I say darkly and hang up.
I close my eyes and rub them because she pushes me over the edge, every day a little bit more.
“I guess we’re not flying to Washington?” Doug asks.
“I guess we’re not,” I say. Doug pats my shoulder softly. It dawned on me in the last three days, as we worked out the plan to blackmail the president, that he actually likes her and apparently quite enjoys how she handles me.
We’re back in the car at Teterboro Airport when my father calls.
“Yes,” I answer. I still haven’t forgotten the last time we talked. He hasn’t called since, not even when the news hit, I was shot in front of my door.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
“I am alive, yes,” I answer. “I was about to step into my jet when the news hit. I am on my way there now.”
“Good, good,” he says and flatly adds, “Give your mother a call. She’s worried sick, even called me.” He hangs up without another word; his daughter's company being blown up doesn’t fit his narrative.
So, I call my mother. Something I never do. Out of reasons.
She chatters me to death the entire way back to the company and lets me in on all the amazing plans for her birthday.
Her birthday. I have completely forgotten about it.
While I don’t actively listen to my mother's words, I text my assistant to arrange a birthday present for my mother and let him know I’ll be giving a press statement in thirty.
“I must hang up, Mother,” I finally get to say when we approach the company and press the red button with relief.
“Urgh,” I curse. “That woman!”
Now, I have to focus on giving a statement that works with Kat’s idiotic plan.
As we near the company, I can already see the chaos—firefighters, sirens, blue lights, and people all around.
“Ready?” Doug asks, and I nod. “We have tight security, just in case.”
I nod again, and he gets out to open my door.
All sorts of reporters and media representatives throw themselves at me, but I wish to speak to the firefighters and present police first. Afterwards, I turn to the media.
I tell them the narrative that it was an attack on our software, which went down more or less successfully.
“As far as I know,” I say, “Everything burned down. We had a security copy in a highly secure location in Elmsford that has also been attacked. I therefore believe it was an inside job, which seems likely at this point, given that we recently uncovered an internal threat. Having in mind that Jared Sutton was killed, and there were attempted attacks on my life as well, this is a tragic escalation no one could see coming.”
The media has more and more questions, many of which I refuse to answer; I tell them to speak with the authorities, who will lead the investigation.
I get a text.
You look beautiful, can’t wait to mess up that straight hair of yours
How does a person react to a text like that? Because she is driving me nuts.
She also sends me an address.
For when you get over yourself
One day, I will murder her.
Nonetheless, I hand Doug the phone.
“We’re going there the moment we’re done here,” I tell him in a whisper, and he confirms with a nod.
“Lilian!” calls a reporter after me. “Does that mean Zeus will not be implemented further in government surveillance?”
Doug whispers in my ear. “He’s on the list Kat gave us.”
I nod. So he’s one of the Lords or their connections.
“At this point, we will not move forward with redevelopment,” I say, turning away. I’m done here.
I tilt my head to tell Doug we’re leaving.
Somehow, closing the door to the chapter feels satisfyingly good.
The administrative nightmare awaiting me will come, especially regarding investments, but I have people to handle those matters; after all, my personal finances and assets are all secured and protected by well-planned measures for a case like this.
Doug drives me to a warehouse in Queens. It’s located on a quiet street lined with closed doors and gates.
We arrive at the address, and the warehouse gate opens. Doug pulls in, revealing a surprisingly normal garage that leads to an empty warehouse.
My chest still hurts every time I turn or move quickly, causing me to gasp slightly when I get out of the car.
A door in front of us opens, and Kat steps through it. I’m still getting used to using her real self, the badass woman with dark brown hair and dark eyes; it feels so strange calling her Kat.
And yet, my body jolts at the sight of her.
I hate it so much.
Get a grip on yourself!
“Hi, D,” she says as she walks past Doug while beaming at me. He nods with a fist bump as she passes—something I can’t quite understand. He seems to be adjusting better to her than I am.
Her lips meet mine before I can do anything, and I let her. Apparently, I no longer have any control over anything anymore.
She nibbles my bottom lip to end the kiss and smiles at me in a way that shows her dangerous awareness of how she puts me out of control.
“Come,” she says, and pulls me carefully with her.
I remove my hand. I’m not a holding-hands person.
She sighs and points for me to walk through the door she came.
We go through it, and I freeze in shock.
A body—or what’s left of it—lies on the ground in a puddle of blood. Most of its skin is missing. Eyes next to it on the ground. Scalp ripped off, and the limbs look like they have been chewed off.
I have seen many things. Many. But this is too much.
The eyes!
I glance at Doug.
He shrugs.
“Who was that?” I ask her as my stomach is about to turn.
“Who?” she asks.
“The body?” I ask a point at the mess that once was a human being.
“Oh, he,” she says and laughs. “The man I met with.”
How can a person forget and not see a dead person? I ask myself, and shake my head in disbelief as I ask her, “And why is he—” I stop myself. “What the fuck did you do?”
“Oh, well, he was the one who had the data from Sutton’s system, the data regarding you. I deleted it, and well, him in the process,” she says casually as if we were talking about tomorrow's weather, and adds, “Don’t worry, I’ll clean that up.”
“You killed him because he had incriminating material on me?”
“Yes,” she said. “And well, because he was the Lords’ broker. He took the revenge on Sutton from me, and I needed an outlet.”
“Stop killing people for me,” I snap at her and add, “While I find your possessiveness admirable, I don’t like the idea of having a—” It takes me a moment to get the word over my lips— “Girlfriend that murders everyone left and right.”
She hums.
“You said the G-Word,” she says and smiles broadly.
“Apparently, I did,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Now I have to kill everyone who touches you,” she says, and I snap.
I box her in the shoulder.
Fundamentally stupid idea, because the moment my fists meet her shoulder, my chest roars in pain.
“Idiot!” I curse at myself as I gasp through the pain.
“Don’t talk to yourself like that,” she says, and I mouth words like a sassy teenager. That’s what she does to me. Making me lose myself.
“Here,” she says and opens the door to a small elevator. “Get in there.”
I do not want to get in there. I hate elevators. They’re the pest.
“What is it?” Kat asks as I stand in front of it.
“I—“ I begin, but my voice turns silent. She cannot know of my fear. She cannot know that my father locked me in the elevator many times as a child whenever I showed an emotion too much for his taste.
“Give me your hand,” she says, and I do. “Just focus on my touch,” she says as she pulls me close, with my back into her arms.
We all squeeze into the metal-caged elevator, and my heart stumbles. She uses a pin pad to enter a number.
“129129114,” she says, and I roll my eyes, because I know what it spells.
“My name in numbers,” I say.
“Yep,” she says and grins to herself as her arms close around me.
She is grounding me.
Because she saw.
And gave me the courtesy to leave the reasons to me while taking away my fear.
I don’t know how I ended up here, but now I have a possessive girlfriend who is beautifully intelligent with a big sprinkle of madness.
One who gives me severed hands as gifts, kills those who threaten me, and dictates my actions.
Me. Lilian Anne Knightley. Control freak, who never wanted to date, ever.
“What happened to the hate me and condemn me version of you?” I ask.
“Oh, I do hate you,” she says. “But I gave up fighting what I feel. And let’s not forget it was you who knelt down to make me stay and called me Mistress.”
Doug looks as if he would rather be anywhere else, and I have never felt more relatable.
“Can’t recall that particular part,” I say in a hiss.
She hums in knowing arrogance.
The elevator descends, and the moment we arrive, I get out of it.
What opens before me is a different world.
Softly buzzing servers line both sides of the underground hall, revealing the view into a data center.
I walk through it, and while I am generally not easy to impress, this here does. I can’t help but wonder how she managed to do all that. Physical space aside, a full copy of a system she had no knowledge of prior to, let alone authorizations…unless—
“Doug!” I shout as I turn and stare at him, just in time to see Kat hand him a hundred bucks.
He fights a laugh when he sees my face.
“You helped her,” I say, underlying anger boiling.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, and I know he’s teasing me.
“I am going to murder you both,” I threaten them, but Kat distracts me with her hand on my back, steering me towards a door in the back.
Why the hell can’t I focus the very moment she touches me?
“So, everything works as you know it to, only it is now separated from official government access,” she says casually, as if none of it is a big deal. “They believe Zeus is gone, while it’s right here—“
She opens a room that resembles a NASA command center, with displays on the walls and a huge round table at its center.
After taking in the magnitude of what I see, I spot a box with my office stuff. She even thought of that.
“Official government access?” I ask.
“Uh-hm,” she says.
“What did you do?”
“Well, I built a backdoor access through the working connection before I cut it,” she says. “So, Zeus can still access it, just hidden. Tweaked the RAT you developed a bit for that.”
I can’t believe any of it. This has to be a dream.
“You did not,” I say.
“Oh, I did,” she says, grinning proudly.
“How did you pull all that off in a matter of—“ I glance at my watch— “36 hours?”
“Money, improvisation skills, and some help,” she says and tilts her head towards Doug. “Await my invoice.”
“I’m not paying you for blowing up my company and making me an accomplice in illegally infiltrating the governmental system,” I say dryly.
“I did it to save your life,” she says with a suppressed laugh, “Glad to know you don’t think that’s worth it. Greedy billionaire.”
As I said, one day I am going to murder her.