Page 62 of The Billionaires' Gamble
“My birthday’s in October, by the way.” I rub my wrist where the restraints bit into my skin. My thumb glides along the bracelet Alex gave me, and my heart squeezes. I’ll be home with him soon. Soon, soon, soon.
Her chin jerks back. She’s not used to me calling her on her shit or standing up for myself, and that’s on me. But it stops now, along with feigning ignorance to make her feel like the top dog.
“I know when your birthday is.”
“That’s months away,” I say, prodding her. Will she admit the real reason she’s pushing this so hard?
“We don’t have months, Katherine!” I never knew the human voice box could screech words, but now I do. She talks with her hands, fingers flexed, almost as if she wishes she could strangle me. The feeling is mutual.
“Have you not been listening?” she continues. Then it’s like she deflates before my eyes, holding her fingertips to her forehead, mumbling something about needing to do everything herself.
With all her poise gone, she seems to be seconds away from losing it, which gives me a perverse pleasure. In this moment, I’m okay if that makes me a petty bitch.
A strategy forms, and I slip off the stool and take a step forward. She leans away, just like I expected.
“I have been listening,” I say, keeping my voice low. “I watched and listened for years. And I did what you wanted, lived to make you happy. And all the while you let your father treat you like shit, and you—no—I’m talking—” I cut her off.
Her double blink is cartoon-like.
“You never stopped the shit from rolling downhill. That was your job as a mother, and you failed at it.”
She inhales sharply, eyes flashing, ready to argue back.
“I’m not finished. I listened. I know that you’re in trouble. Cort’s ready to sell, aren’t they? I’ve been putting it together for a while now. They want out, and you can’t pay the price they’re asking. Now you’re going to lose control of the company. Your father’s precious company. Just how badly have you fucked over everyone in your circle that no one will come to your aid?”
Her eyes widen, and her lips move, but nothing comes out. Then she squares her shoulders and huffs a breath. “No, they’re not. Wherever did you get that idea?”
“I had lunch with Hayden Cort three weeks ago.”
Her jaw drops, surprise flickering across her face, and she rocks back like I struck her. More like I did exactly what she’s always wanted, but she never expected me to use it against her.
“The heir to the Cort family was very…”
“Very what?” she finally asks when she can’t take my silence another second.
“Forthcoming. Seems to me they’re done being the silent partner. And I’m guessing that their asking price is what? Five? No, you’d have that. Ten? That sounds correct. But you can’t raise it, can you?”
Deep pink colors her cheeks, streaks down her throat, and I can see just how much willpower it’s taking to restrain herself. She wants to lash out so badly, but doing so admits the truth she doesn’t want voiced.
“Whereas if I marry and get access to my inheritance, I could buy in, right?” I watch her closely.
A muscle twitches in her cheek. “This is absurd.”
“Absurd? What’s absurd is kidnapping your own daughter?—”
“I didn’t kidnap you!”
“Semantics, mother. You hired it out. You are responsible.” I shake my head when she goes to object again. Fuck, she’s stubborn. “I can see why Cort wants out.”
“What? Why?”
Ahh, there it is.
“You never listen and you never ask questions.”
“Yes, I do.”
I give her a pitying smile. “No, you don’t, Mother. You have a vision of how things are going to be, and you never lift your head to see the world around you. You have never understood that your priorities are not the priorities of everyone else.”
