Chapter 13 #2
She stepped inside the room. This room had always felt soulless. There were no photos of her and Clem on the walls or her mother’s desk.
When they were children, she’d never displayed anything they’d created. They’d never come in here to play or tell her about their day.
This room was strictly business at all times, but then, how was that different from any other room in the house, really?
“There you are, Lily. What took you so long?”
Lily knew better than to argue that she’d come as soon as she’d known her mother wanted her.
Her mother wasn’t interested in excuses, and Lily also didn’t want to get James into any trouble. Sometimes she wondered why James worked for her mother. Surely he could have got a job working for a far nicer employer.
“I apologize, Mother,” she said instead.
Her mother glanced up from her calendar. She immediately frowned as she gave Lily a head-to-toe look.
Lily braced herself for what was coming.
“Jeans? Really, Lily? This isn’t appropriate attire.”
For what?
Even royalty wore jeans sometimes, so why couldn’t she?
“Where did you even get jeans from? How did you pay for them? Are you stealing now, Lily? Please don’t tell me that you’re a thief now.”
Jesus, talk about going from zero to a hundred. Just because she had a pair of jeans, she was a thief?
“I bought them on my last shopping trip with my friends,” she said, raising her chin. “With the credit card.”
Her mother would give her the credit card when she was going out, so that she could look normal. Her friends were all handpicked for her. From families her mother approved of. And wanted to keep up appearances with.
It didn’t matter that her so-called friends were backstabbing bitches. Nope, Lily had to be friends with them.
“Well, I didn’t approve of those. Get rid of them.”
Do not react. Do not react.
“How can I help you, Mother?” she asked.
“I need to speak to you about Rick.”
About Rick? Clem’s boyfriend? Lily had never really liked him. She wasn’t certain why Clem even dated him. They weren’t at all suited. But he was someone that her mother approved of. He was from the right family, with the right amount of money, and the correct amount of ambition.
He was also a complete asshole who didn’t deserve her sister.
Her sister who was currently fighting cancer.
That’s where she’d been headed today. To see Clem. She was finally allowed visitors after a long recovery from her operation. And Lily wanted to check on her. To make sure that she was all right. She wasn’t sure that her mother had bothered to visit.
But that was a good thing.
“I was actually just on my way to visit Clem.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Lily. You can’t visit your sister. Her immune system is compromised, you might give her something.”
Her mother actually cared about Clem’s health? That was surprising.
“Oh, but I’m feeling fine, and she is allowed visitors now, isn’t she?”
After the operation to remove the tumor in her arm, Clem had to go to a rehabilitation clinic. Lily knew her mother had wanted her to come home with a private nurse, but Clem had refused.
She was far stronger than Lily, who would have given in to her mother’s demands.
“You’re not going there, Lily. You won’t want to.”
But she did want to. She wanted to show some support for her sister. She hated that Clem was going through this. She hadn’t even realized that she had cancer for a start. No one had thought to tell Lily.
Clem had already gone through so much on her own. This felt like the least Lily could do, even if she wasn’t certain that Clem would want her to visit.
“You’re not going to see Clem because Rick is picking you up in an hour.”
“What? Why would Rick pick me up?” she asked in confusion.
Her mother sighed as if she was testing her patience by asking questions.
“Because you’re now dating him, Lily, obviously. He’ll be proposing soon, and you’ll accept. This is actually far better than him marrying Clem. She really wasn’t suited for a man who’s on his way to the White House.”
It was like she understood the words, but she couldn’t put them all together to make them make sense, because there was no way she was going on a date with Rick.
She wasn’t going to say yes to any proposal.
She definitely didn’t want to be with that slimeball.
Who should not be anywhere near the White House.
“I’m not dating Rick, Mother. He’s going out with Clem.”
“No, he’s broken up with her.”
“He broke up with her? When?”
“I believe it was this morning.”
“This morning? While she’s rehabilitating from having an operation to remove a cancerous tumor?”
Was her mother serious?
What kind of an asshole did that?
“Yes, Lily. Why is it taking you so long to understand this? Rick has broken up with Clem. He needs someone stronger, more suitable. That is you. You are going on a date with him. When he proposes soon, you will accept. You will marry him, and you are going to become the First Lady of the United States.”
Wow, she hadn’t realized that her mother took drugs, and that she was now as high as a kite, because those delusions were something else.
Even if Rick wasn’t Clem’s ex-boyfriend, she still wouldn’t want to date him. Or become the freaking First Lady of the United States.
Her mother’s face was lit with avarice. “Your father was supposed to make a run for President. But then he got ill. It was so disappointing.”
Wow. Lily had known her parents hadn’t had a love match, but to hear her mother state her father’s illness and death as a disappointment because he had he couldn’t make a run for President . . . it just showed how much of a heartless bitch her mother could be.
“I’m not dating Rick, Mother. What would people think? What would Clem think?”
Lily wished she didn’t care about other people’s opinions, but she had this horrid need to please others. She also didn’t want to hurt Clem. Or have her sister hate her.
“It doesn’t matter what Clem thinks. This is happening.”
“Seriously? Just after he’s broken things off with her? She’s not going to believe that I want to date Rick.”
At least she hoped her sister wouldn’t believe that.
Desperation and worry made her heart beat faster and her stomach churn.
“Really, I don’t like this new argumentative side of you.” Her mother stared at her contemplatively. “I expect you to just do as I say.”
Sure. Right. That would be so much easier.
“I’m not going to do this, Mother. I’m not dating Rick.”
“You are dating Rick. You are going to marry Rick.”
“No!”
“He’s already told your sister that he’s dating you,” her mother said calmly.
How could she be so calm when she was hurting her own daughters like this?
“Then I’ll tell her the truth!”
“Oh, Lily, I didn’t think it would come to this. I thought you would obey me. But I can’t have you ruining my plans.”
Her mother picked up her phone and typed in something.
What was she doing?
And why was Lily standing there? She needed to leave . . . she had to go and explain to Clem what was going on. She turned and headed toward the door.
“She thinks you’ve been sleeping with him behind her back.”
Lily froze at the door. Those words stabbed her in the stomach. The pain was unreal and had her bending over and gasping for breath.
What . . . no! No, that couldn’t be right.
Her mother was lying to her.
She had to be, because if that was the truth . . . oh God.
“Clem . . . she wouldn’t think that.” Lily turned to her mother, aware that she must look as devastated as she felt.
“Of course she would, Lily. Because Rick just told her that.” Her mother held up her phone. “That was our plan if you didn’t do what we wanted.”
It was the truth, wasn’t it? Rick the Dick had done that. And her mother had told him to. Had planned this with him.
Lily was going to be sick.
Bending over, she vomited all over her mother’s pristine beige carpet.
“Lily, what a reaction. That is disgusting. What is wrong with you?”
What was wrong with her? What was wrong with her mother? Standing, she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.
“I’m not doing it. I don’t care what you told Clem. And I don’t care what you want. What Rick wants. I’m not dating him or marrying him or betraying my sister. I’m leaving. Now.”
She turned and reached for the door handle.
“Lily, I didn’t want to have to do this.”
“Do what?”
“I really thought you would comply. You’re usually so obedient. Not sure why you think you get to do what you want now, but you don’t. Because you’re my daughter, my asset, and that means you do what I say.”
Shaking her head, Lily turned just as her mother lunged at her. Opening her mouth, she screamed as the older woman pinned her against the closed door.
“What are you doing? Let me go!”
How the hell was her mother so strong?
“I didn’t want it to come down to this, Lily. I really didn’t think things would have to go this far. But you brought this on yourself.”