The Fearless King (The Kings #2)(65)

Silence for a beat. Two. “Has he hurt you? Any of you?”

Warmth flooded her chest, tangling with the betrayal she still hadn’t quite dealt with. Her mother was just as capable of evil as her father, but Lydia had never hurt a child—would never hurt a child. It’s just the adults who have to watch out for her. “He’s made a play for Kingdom Corp. Why didn’t you tell us that he helped get the company off the ground?”

“Because he didn’t,” Lydia scoffed. “Elliott likes power, but he’d never part with the kind of capital I needed at the time.”

She stopped short, her mind racing. If not Elliott, then…“Esther.” Elliott’s mother. Journey’s grandmother.

“Yes. Whatever he’s doing there, she’s the one behind it.” Lydia lowered her voice. “If you need me—”

“No, absolutely not.” She put as much calm assertion into her voice as she could. “You know what will happen if you come back. We have things covered.”

Despite her lying through her teeth, Lydia accepted that. “I expect you and your siblings in Monaco for Christmas this year.”

That broke the tension better than anything else could have. Journey rolled her eyes. “Mother, it’s February. Christmas is ten months away.”

“All the same.” Lydia hesitated, but when she spoke, steel laced her tone. “You can deal with Elliott, Journey. He’s going to try to convince you that you aren’t capable, and your brothers will try to step in, but you can deal with him. Break him. Don’t let him break you.”

She found herself smiling despite everything. “I’ll deal with him. And we’ll be there for Christmas.”

“See that you are. Good luck, though you don’t need it.” She hung up, leaving Journey staring at her locked door.

Her mother seemed to have every confidence that Journey could handle the situation and that they’d all be vacationing in Europe over the holidays to celebrate.

She blew out a breath. “Okay. I can do this…Okay.” She scrolled through her contacts and dialed, holding her breath and praying she wasn’t making a terrible mistake.

The line clicked over. “Yes?”

She swallowed hard. “Hello, Grandmother.”

“Journey. So wonderful to hear from you. It’s been quite some time.” If Esther Bancroft was surprised to get Journey’s call, she gave no sign. But, then, if Lydia’s suspicions were correct and she was the one behind Elliott’s determination to take over Kingdom Corp, Esther had to know one of the King children would be calling eventually.

“I know. I’m sorry.” She wasn’t. The Bancroft family had rallied around their discarded son after Lydia threw him out. Though her mother kept her from the worst of it, Journey vividly remembered eavesdropping on a meeting with Lydia and her lawyer where they discussed how ugly the battle had become. She had never filed for divorce, and Journey firmly believed that it was because the Bancrofts threatened to take the children and ruin her business in the process. Elliott had generations of family prestige and money to fall back on and ensure he got his way. Lydia had no one, not after her split with the rest of the Kings.

After the lawyer laid out how awful their chances were and left, Lydia had called her brother Nathaniel—the only time in Journey’s living memory that she’d done so voluntarily. She’d…she’d begged him for help.

And he refused.

Lydia had no choice but to bend to the Bancroft family’s wishes and stay married to Elliott, and one of those wishes entailed mandatory visits to the family home in Dallas during the summers. Journey had fought hard against going, but her mother finally sat her down and stressed the necessity of using every weapon available.

The second Eliza turned eighteen, they were free. The visits stopped, and she hadn’t had to endure more than a quarterly phone call since.

Esther’s definitely going to hold that against me.

“Grandmother, I think it’s long past time we had a talk. Are you in town?”

“I just arrived from Dallas this morning,” Esther said.

If she hadn’t suspected Esther was aware of what Elliott was up to, her grandmother’s presence in Houston would have announced it in blinking neon. The only time she came into town was to deal with something that couldn’t be delegated, preferring to stick to the Bancroft estate just outside of Dallas, running a good portion of Texas from her drawing room. “Are you available?” She checked her watch. Frank said he’d come over tonight, which still gave her plenty of time to meet with her grandmother and get back to the apartment before he did. Journey wasn’t stupid enough to go somewhere without telling anyone, but she didn’t want company for this particular meeting.

“For my beloved granddaughter? Be at the apartment I keep in town within the hour.”

Journey gritted her teeth and then forced a smile, hoping it would translate into her tone. Her grandmother held a place of power in any negotiation they had going forward, and they both knew it. No reason to hand her yet another weapon. “I’ll see you then.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

I’ll just bet you are. The only thing the Bancrofts loved was power. Esther, in particular, had scared the shit out of Journey as a child. She had a way of looking at a person as if she could see down to their very soul—and she always found them wanting.