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"So what happens now?" James asked quietly.
I looked at him—really looked at him—seeing the man who'd been my closest friend and realizing that person might never have existed at all. "Now you're going to help me fix what you helped break. You're going to provide testimony about my Mother's scheme, documentation about the photographer, everything you know about her strategy."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then you'll face the professional consequences alone when this becomes a criminal investigation." My smile held no warmth. "Because make no mistake, James—what my Mother did constitutes multiple felonies. The only question is whether you'll be charged as an accomplice or as a cooperating witness."
He nodded slowly, understanding dawning in his eyes. "You're going to destroy her."
"I'm going to expose the truth. If that destroys her, it's no more than she deserves for what she did to Lili."
"And us? Our friendship?"
I considered the question seriously, looking at the man who'd shared decades of my life and wondering if any of it had been real. "There is no us anymore, James. You made sure of that when you chose to be my Mother's accomplice instead of my friend."
The office fell silent except for the distant sound of London traffic.
James looked like he wanted to disappear into the floor, while Cece watched me with the intensity of someone waiting for an explosion.
"There's something else," Cece said finally. "About the timing of the acquisition announcement."
I turned to look at her, noting the way she was studying my face. "What about it?"
"The story broke at 6 am London time. But Gardens & Home's New York office didn't receive notification of the acquisition until 8 am their time. Which means..." She paused for effect. "The British press knew about the deal before the company's own executives."
"Someone leaked it early."
"Someone wanted maximum chaos and minimum time for damage control." Cece's smile was grim. "Your Mother made sure Lili would wake up to a professional nightmare with no time to mount any kind of response."
The systematic cruelty of it took my breath away.
Mother hadn't just destroyed Lili's career—she'd ensured that destruction would be as humiliating and public as possible.
"She planned all of this," I said, the full scope finally becoming clear. "The surveillance, the financial manipulation, the media leak, even the timing of my ultimatum. Every single detail was calculated to achieve maximum damage with minimum risk to the family's reputation."
"And it worked," James added quietly. "Lili's gone, the acquisition is complete, and the family emerged from the scandal looking like victims of an American opportunist's schemes."
Something inside me snapped.
Years of deference to Mother's strategic mind, of trusting her judgment, of believing that family loyalty meant accepting her manipulations—all of it crystallized into white-hot rage.
"No," I said quietly. "It didn't work. Because now I know exactly what she did, and I'm going to make sure everyone else knows too."
"Edward," James began, "think about what you're saying. Challenging your Mother means challenging the family, the firm, everything you've built—"
"Everything I've built is contaminated by her schemes." I moved to my desk, gathering the documents Cece had provided. "My career, my reputation, my relationships—all of it has been subject to her manipulation. Well, no more."
"What are you going to do?" Cece asked.
I looked at her, then at James, seeing the fear in his eyes as he realized that our friendship might not be enough to protect him from the consequences of his choices.
"I'm going to expose every detail of her scheme. I'm going to make sure the world understands that Lili was the victim here, not the perpetrator."
"That will destroy your Mother's reputation," James said.
"Good. She destroyed an innocent woman's life to protect her own interests. It's time she faced consequences for that choice."
"And after that?" Cece's voice was carefully neutral.