41. Lia

41

LIA

"Are you hearing what I'm saying?" Jessica demanded.

How was it possible that I was hearing the best words of my life coming out of the mouth of the world's worst woman?

Maybe this was God's way of punishing me.

"And it's not a mistake. I'm keeping it. You're going to be a father, whether you like it or not."

"That's fine."

"That's fine? That's all you have for me?"

"I don't know what else to tell you. Other than to maybe stop smoking, for the baby's sake."

—Caleb, from One of a Thousand Wishes by A. R. McGeorge

T he first thing I did was get my computer set up the way I liked it—with the help of an IT guy who came in and gave me my new passwords to my own email too. I was LFerreo in the system now, and seeing my name blink on the screen instead of Mrs. Armstrong's gave me a strong sense of pride.

After that, I frantically googled whatever the fuck it was an investor relations officer did, and hoped that the IT guy I'd made nice with wouldn't rat me out for being clueless when he got back to his own desk, wherever it was.

Seemed like there was going to be a lot of public speaking in my future. All the women in the photos online looked like they'd come from some stock image warehouse after a search for "professional" and "updo"—they made my fingers itch to throw my hair up into a bun.

But they also appeared confident, and I realized that was mainly what they were there for. To have the right answers, and if they didn't, to give off that shine that said they knew where to get them.

I could do that. With Rhaim feeding me and some practice in advance—he'd have to get me up to speed—I was looking forward to twenty hour days already.

Especially if they were with him.

There was a knock on the glass—I looked up, expecting to see Rhaim outside, and was instead dismayed to find my cousin.

I knew I couldn't let a moment of that onto my face.

I was Business Lia now, all the way.

I waved him in, giving him the same kind of smile other girls at boarding school had usually reserved for me around assorted professors—the forced kind that showed teeth, but that didn't reach your eyes.

"Hey, Junior," I said, and realized Rhaim was right to move us. My cousin was in my territory now. I wasn't an interloper, this was my space, and I was going to hold it like that, no matter what my stomach thought.

"Did you know about this?" he asked, tapping his phone's screen. He seemed messy—I got the impression he might have jogged all the way from Blackwing to confront me in person.

I did my best to channel Corvo's CFO for my response. "Does it matter if I did?"

His eyes narrowed. "My father didn't even know."

"What does he care? He's about to become extraordinarily wealthy." I shrugged as though it didn't matter, and then realized I should tone it down.

Not because I didn't know how to act, now that my new title had been thrust upon me.

But because I wanted him—and his father—to underestimate me up until the moment I ousted them from the board.

"I mean, I'm looking forward to making a ton of money too," I said, with a vastly sweeter smile and an I'm-just-a-silly-girl shrug.

Junior didn't appear to notice anything; he just started pacing. "This should be illegal?—"

"Explain what part of it you don't understand?" I asked him, full of saccharine. "Maybe I can help?"

Years of doing doe-eyes in my favor served me well, as he glanced over to see if I was teasing him, and then decided I was not.

Fuck you, my soul said, so emphatically it was hard not to give the words voice. Fuck you for ever thinking you were better than me.

My eyes drilled lasers into him as he furiously texted on his phone. Other people outside the cage could look in, and I knew what they were seeing: him, looking like he'd just licked voltage, and me, calm and collected.

"If you're done—I've got stuff to do, Junior," I said, tucking a lock of hair back behind my ear. "Being Corvo's investor relations officer is going to be a lot of work. I need to get started."

I made sure to sound simple and clueless—which wasn't entirely far off from the truth, where investments were involved—and he just kept reading his screen, then he snorted.

"Where's Rhaim?"

"With Dad," I said, shrugged, and then leaned over slightly, indicating that he should see himself to the door.

"Yeah, well, my dad and your dad are going to have some words," he said, pocketing his phone, before staring at me. "He said to tell you hi, by the way."

It was a good thing I already had a smile plastered on my face, because otherwise he would've seen me looking gut-punched.

My heart started racing, my stomach acid burned, and stupid parts of me that I could not control began wanting to cry.

"He does?" I said, to buy myself time, my voice rising.

Then I briefly looked out the window at the cityscape beyond him.

I was the one in this office, right now. I belonged here, all the way. Rhaim would make sure of it.

And I knew where the bodies were buried.

"Tell him hi back from me," I said, letting go of a held breath as I turned my attention back to Junior.

It was the first time I'd stood up to Freddie Senior since I'd burned my old house down.

And the second it was done, I wondered why I hadn't done it sooner.

"You can tell him yourself, he'll be home in for your Dad's birthday," Junior said, without passing it along on his phone.

But I knew I'd tried.

And if I'd managed it once, I could manage it again.

Junior glared at me, then looked back—more than one pair of curious eyes from the outer offices were on us—on him —wondering why the hell he was inside the cage with me, losing his shit, and he finally realized this. There wasn't any other furniture in the office yet, and we both knew if he sat down in Rhaim's chair and Rhaim came back and found him in it...

"Tell your boss I need to speak to him," he said gruffly, trying to reclaim control over the situation.

"Okay!" I said cheerfully, and gave him a wave as he walked on out. Then I made a little bit of a can you believe that just happened? face and smiled at anyone still looking in, a true smile—and made a mental note to figure out when all of their birthdays were, if they had kids, and anything else in their lives that might be significant to them.

I was going to get them on my side.

I'd start with this floor, then the whole building, then with the groups Rhaim wanted me to meet, until my being on the board was an inevitability.

Rhaim came back twenty minutes later. He looked around the office and breathed in the air. "Junior?"

"Yeah," I said with a nod. Freddie Junior did have a pungent aftershave.

His eyes flickered over me in a proprietary fashion, then after finding me whole, he asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah." I actually was. I kind of wanted to sing and dance, but I knew that was highly inappropriate.

"All right then, Ms. Ferreo," he said, waving me to standing. "I bet you I can guess your middle name."

I pretended to be stunned. "Why, Mr. Selvaggio, are you stalking me?"

One of his eyebrows arched. "Yes, actually. But," he said, gesturing me forward quickly, "from here on out, your middle name is Shameless. Say it out loud for me."

"I'm Lia Shameless Ferreo." I had to stop myself from giggling. "There, are you happy?" I teased—and watched him inhale to speak then stop, considering what he would say next.

For a moment, the finite resources with which I'd bolstered myself all day almost fizzled out—because if he wasn't pleased with me, what was the point of anything?

But then he rescued me from myself. "I'll be happier at eight fifty, nine twelve, and possibly nine forty-three this evening," he said. I gasped, realizing what he was implying, and he laughed wickedly while lifting his hands up to protest his innocence. "You don't get to where I am in a company without having excellent time management skills," he went on, amused with himself and my reaction, before asking, "And what is your name, again, little girl?" quietly.

I bit my lips and swallowed—then realized he'd positioned himself so that no one else could see his mouth or expression, whereas everyone outside could still see me. I straightened out at once. "Lia Shameless Ferreo."

"Good," he said at louder volume. "Remember that. You are the scion of the Ferreo family, your father's glittering golden child, and while I want you to make nice with people, what are the two things we're not ever?"

"Embarrassed or sorry."

"That's right," he said as he moved to hold the door open for me. "Now come on, I have a lot of people to introduce you to."