She took one last look around the room to make sure everything was exactly how she’d found it and then slipped out of the office and locked the door behind her. She made it halfway down the hall before Journey’s office door opened and her friend stuck her head out. She frowned. “Samara, what are you doing here?”
“I—”
The elevator dinged and she watched the doors open in slow motion to reveal Lydia herself. Oh no. The woman paused, a frown marring her face as she took in Samara and then Journey. “What’s going on here?”
I’m done for.
Journey sighed dramatically. “What does it look like, Mother? We’re plotting your downfall, of course.” She rolled her eyes. “Get a grip. I asked Samara to stop by and explain some of her notes to me.”
If anything, Lydia’s frown grew more severe. “I specifically sent her on vacation. If you’re not capable of handling this bid—”
“You’ll find someone else,” Journey finished. “Considering the bid is Friday, that threat doesn’t work on me right now. Come on, Samara.” She grabbed her hand and towed her into the office.
Journey shut the door and held up her hand. They waited in silence as Lydia’s heels clicked down the hallway and then her office door opened and shut. And then they waited some more. Finally Journey let out the breath she’d been holding and turned to Samara. “Since we both know that was a crock of shit, do you want to tell me why you’re really here?”
Samara opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. Journey and Lydia already had a tumultuous relationship, but there was real love there when they stopped fighting long enough to acknowledge it. All she had right now was suspicions, and if she laid them out for her friend it would look like Beckett had gotten into Samara’s head and poisoned her. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Honey…” Journey pointed to the couch. “Sit. I think we need to have a conversation about what’s going on, because even with your superior lying skills, you have guilt written all over your face. If my mother wasn’t so distracted from her lunch date, she would have noticed.”
“I do not have guilt written all over my face.” She strode to the couch and dropped onto it. “Things are so damn complicated.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
She twisted to look at her friend. There were shadows under her hazel eyes and she looked a little pale. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, no, we’re not switching things around to me. Even if I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to be here, the fact you’re wearing those proves you’re up to no good.” Journey pointed at Samara’s ballet flats. “Spill.”
When she still hesitated, Journey’s open expression closed like a flower retreating into itself. “You don’t trust me with whatever it is.”
She could beg off and walk out. Journey wouldn’t like it, but when things fell out one way or another, Samara would make it up to her friend. Except…She made herself meet Journey’s gaze directly. “I think Lydia has something to do with the attacks against Beckett.”
“What?” Journey dropped onto the cushion opposite her. “You can’t be serious.” She frowned harder. “Of course you’re serious. You wouldn’t be here right now if you weren’t pretty damn sure my mother was behind it. Beckett doesn’t have much to lose accusing her, but you do.”
She hated the reminder that, no matter how tempting the fantasy they’d woven, she and Beckett weren’t really equal. Maybe they never would be. She steeled herself against that truth. It wouldn’t help now. “Lydia also knew details about the fire at Morningstar Enterprise that she shouldn’t have known.”
“The media has been trying to sniff out the details, but everyone is keeping really closemouthed about it.” She shrugged. “Don’t look at me like that—you were in that fire. I want answers about what happened just as much as you do. I don’t know if you noticed it, but you’re kind of only mostly my best friend and I care about you.”
Samara warmed even as she felt sick to her stomach. “I don’t want to get between you and your mother. If I’m right…if Beckett’s right…it could mean bad things for Kingdom Corp—for Lydia.” No matter how strong their friendship was, she didn’t like being the one having to break this potential news to Journey. “She could be facing jail time.”
“If that’s where the answers fall out…” Journey looked away. “She wouldn’t be the first member of my family that deserved to be behind bars.”
“Journey—”
“I’m okay.” She shook her head. “That’s a lie. I’m not okay.” She pushed back to her feet. “But don’t you dare let that stop you from finding the truth. Kingdom Corp can weather the fallout. We can weather the fallout.”
Something was seriously wrong. The loyalty among the King family was legendary. No matter how crappy a mother Lydia was, Samara had fully expected all her children to close ranks around her at the first sign of trouble. For Journey essentially to give Samara the green light to continue digging… “What’s going on?”
“You’ve been here a long time, and you’ve seen a lot of the inner workings of this place and our family.” Journey walked to her desk and sat in her chair. “But even you haven’t seen everything, Samara. Some skeletons are just too ugly to see the light.”
The suspicion dug deep that they weren’t talking about Lydia’s theoretical attacks against Beckett. Samara walked to the desk and leaned down, forcing her friend to look at her. She spoke slowly and clearly, wishing she could imprint the words
