Anderson’s eyes widened in recognition, the only outward reaction any of the three Kings had. Lydia sighed. “Wonderful, Beckett.” She clapped mockingly. “Very dramatic. Now, if you’re done wasting my time—”
“Let me tell you how this is going to go.” He leaned down, lowering his voice and getting in her face a little. “I’m going to offer you the same deal I gave Walter. You leave Houston, Texas, the country, and you don’t come back. You sign away Kingdom Corp to your children, release Thistledown Villa back to me, and take a small stipend to live off. And you never come back, Lydia.”
No emotion showed on her face, not even a flicker. “I’m sure you’re going to enlighten me on why I’m supposedly doing these things.”
“Because if you don’t, I’m taking this to the media.” He took out his phone and pressed the button to start the recording. He never took his eyes from her face as Walter named her, as he admitted to putting Nathaniel behind the wheel that night…Beckett fast-forwarded to where Walter outlined his plan to kill Beckett. He hit the button to stop it, leaving strained silence in its wake.
She tapped a red nail on her polished desk. “Ravings of a madman. It will never hold up in court.”
“It doesn’t have to. I’m not taking you to court, Aunt.” He spoke softly, almost gently. “I’m going to release it publicly and let things fall where they will. This might not be enough for a criminal conviction, but it’s more than enough to turn the public against you and create a scandal the likes of which you’ve never seen. You know as well as I do that scandals make business partners nervous. How long before your shareholders start abandoning Kingdom Corp in waves? You’ll lose key employees like rats from a sinking ship. Your contracts won’t be renewed. You’ll be left in this empty building, lamenting about the days when you were almost competition for Morningstar Enterprise.”
Something akin to panic took root in her hazel eyes. “You’re bluffing. You would never do that to your cousins.”
Beckett leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Anderson. Journey. You and your other two siblings are more than welcome to jobs at Morningstar. I can offer you comparable shares and salary matching what you’ve got now, in addition to the promise that any children you have will continue to hold positions within the company—as they should have before our family split.”
Journey’s jaw dropped, but Anderson just looked contemplative. Lydia shoved to her feet. “Don’t you dare.”
Beckett kept going. “If you’d come after my company legitimately, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But you resorted to murder, and just kept digging yourself deeper from there. You want your legacy to live on in Kingdom Corp? Then sign it over to your children and leave. Or stay and watch everything you’ve sacrificed for come down brick by brick.” He paused. “Like you wanted to do to me and Morningstar.”
She went pale. “Why even offer me a choice at all?”
“I’m not you. I won’t sink to your level.” And I know you’ll live the rest of your life in misery because you’ve been cut off from the only things that matter to you—your legacy and your children. Exile was crueler than death, crueler than grinding her company to dust. Lydia had proven herself more than capable of starting from scratch. If Kingdom Corp went under, she’d find a way forward. The only route to justice lay in the one he’d just spelled out for her. “Choose, Lydia. This is the only time I’m going to make this offer.”
He saw the exact moment she realized she had no recourse. He’d already emailed a copy of the recording to himself and Frank, so destroying his phone wouldn’t do anything. She could fight a criminal charge, but not a conviction of public opinion. She couldn’t even play on his honorable streak, because he’d offered his cousins a convenient way out.
“You bastard.”
“Not according to my mother.”
She curled her top lip. “That bitch—”
“That’s enough.” This from Samara where she’d stood as silent witness. She moved forward with eyes only for Lydia. “You’re outmaneuvered and you know it. Take his offer gracefully or don’t do it at all. I won’t stand here while you insult his dead mother. You’re better than that, Lydia.” She shook her head. “Or at least I thought you were. I thought you were better than a lot of things. Apparently I was wrong.”
Anderson stepped forward, putting himself in front of his mother. “She’ll take the offer.”
“But, I—”
“Stop speaking, Mother. You’ve done enough damage.” He turned those cold eyes on Beckett and then Samara. “I’ll have the paperwork drawn up today and she’ll be on a flight out Monday.”
“She’ll be on a flight out tomorrow,” Beckett corrected. “This offer expires in twenty-four hours. If Lydia is still within Houston limits at that point of time, I’m releasing the tape.”
“Consider it done.”
He ignored Lydia’s sputtering. Through all this, she’d become something larger than life, looming over his every move. Anticipating. Now, standing here in the pale light of her office, she was just a bitter and angry woman. Beckett took two steps back and gave her one last look. “You should have been happy with what you had.”
“Morningstar was never supposed to be his, and it sure as hell was never supposed to be yours.”
This is what thirty years of spite looks like.
He shook his head. “Have a nice life, Lydia. If you ever set foot in this city again, I’ll personally see you
