The conference room of the Lyon Blair joint venture was a tomb of glass and cold ambition. The air was thick with the scent of expensive cologne and the underlying tension of two dynasties forced to share a table. Lina sat beside her mother, April, and her grandfather, the aging patriarch of the Lyon family. Across from them sat Alex Blair, looking every bit the immortal sovereign, flanked by a few distant Blair relatives. The two empty chairs at the head of the table were a silent reminder of Michael's absence and Nicole's habit of making an entrance.
"Always late," April smirked, tapping her fountain pen against the polished wood. "It seems the Blair discipline is crumbling without Michael here to enforce it."
Just as the words left her lips, the heavy doors swung open. Nicole walked in, her stride confident and her presence commanding the room instantly. She didn't offer an apology. She simply took her seat directly across from Lina. Lina felt the heat of Nicole's gaze, but she kept her eyes fixed on the notepad in front of her, her jaw set in a hard line.
"Now that we are all here," Lina's grandfather said, his voice gravelly but firm, "let us address the Lower Bank Community project. This merger depends on our ability to revitalize that district. As the heirs of our respective houses, Lina and Nicole will co-lead this initiative. It is time you both stepped into the light."
Lina finally looked up, her blue eyes flashing with a cold fire Nicole hadn't seen before. "I will lead the project, Grandfather, but I will not work with Nicole Blair. Her company is the reason the community is in crisis. The Blair industrial runoff has poisoned the local water system for years. I won't have my name attached to her brand of 'charity'."
The room went silent. Nicole leaned forward, her expression unreadable. "The runoff was an inherited issue from a previous contractor, Lina. Working together allows us to combine our logistics with your family's construction permits to fix the pipes in half the time. It is a matter of efficiency."
"Efficiency is just another word you use for exploitation," Lina countered, her voice rising. "I don't trust your methods, and I certainly don't trust you."
"Lina, enough," her grandfather sighed. "The partnership stands. It is the most logical path forward."
Lina stood up abruptly, her chair screeching against the floor. "Then the partnership can move forward without me. I didn't want to be here today anyway. I have a class to get to. If you will excuse me."
She turned and marched out of the room before April could utter a word of protest. Nicole watched her go, a flicker of something raw and desperate crossing her face. Without a word to the board, Nicole stood up and followed her.
Nicole caught up to Lina in the marble hallway, a few dozen yards from the conference hall. She grabbed Lina's arm, spinning her around. "Lina, wait. Can we just talk for a second? I wanted to apologize for the other day. My words in the office... they were meant to protect you, not hurt you."
Lina ripped her arm away, her face flushed with anger and hurt. "Protect me? You kissed me, Nicole! You kissed me first, you made me feel like I finally mattered to someone, and then you acted like I was nothing but a pawn. You can't just flip a switch on and off when it suits you!"
"I felt everything!" Nicole burst out, her voice echoing in the hall. "That's the problem. I felt too much!"
Neither of them noticed the two figures standing in the shadow of the doorway behind them. April Lyon and Alex Blair had followed them out, and the confession hung in the air like a bared blade.
April moved first. She stepped out of the shadows and delivered a stinging slap to Nicole's cheek for the second time in a month. "You predator," April hissed, her voice trembling with rage. "I warned you to stay away from my daughter. You will not corrupt her with your twisted Blair games."
Alex's eyes turned a terrifying, midnight black. In a blur of movement, she was in April's space, her hand twitching as if to snap the human woman's neck where she stood. The air pressure in the hallway dropped dangerously.
"Mother, no!" Nicole shouted, stepping between them and placing a hand on Alex's shoulder. "Stop. It is not worth it."
"She struck you, Nicole," Alex growled, her fangs beginning to descend. "No one strikes a Queen and lives."
"It wouldn't be her first time," Nicole said, her voice hollow as she looked at April. "Let it go."
Lina looked at the chaos, the violence in her mother's eyes, the predatory fury of Nicole's mother, and the weary, broken look on Nicole's face. She felt a wave of nausea wash over her.
"I hate all of you," Lina whispered, her voice cracking. "Stay away from me. All of you."
She turned and ran toward the elevators, leaving the two mothers and the Mixed Blood daughter standing in the wreckage of a secret that could no longer be kept.