Page 86

"What if she is?" Daphne challenged, echoing our conversation from the music room but with new conviction. "What if you arrive in Texas and find that she's moved on completely, that she's found someone who doesn't come with centuries of family dysfunction?"
"Then I'll have confirmation that leaving me was the best decision she ever made."
"And what if you're wrong? What if she's been as miserable as you are, thinking you betrayed her, waiting for you to fight for what you had together?" Daphne moved closer. "What if your absence has been as devastating to her as hers has been to you?"
"The logical analysis suggests multiple variables working against success," I said, falling back on professional distance. "Geographic separation, damaged trust, public humiliation, family interference, and a three-week delay in communication. The probability of favorable outcome is..."
"Edward." Daphne's voice cut through my legal analysis. "Stop being a lawyer for five minutes and just be a man in love."
"Being a man in love is what created this disaster in the first place."
"No," she said firmly. "Being Mother's son created this disaster. Being a man in love is what's going to fix it."
"James suggested something else," Daphne continued, pulling out her phone to show me a text thread. "He said if you're worried about Lili's business reputation being damaged by association with our family again, you should know that the opposite has happened. Her authenticity during the scandal has actually increased her viewer loyalty. She's stronger now, Edward. Strong enough to handle the truth."
I read James's messages, seeing my best friend's careful analysis of public sentiment, market research, viewerdemographics—all the evidence that Lili had not only survived Mother's attack but emerged more successful than before.
"He's been monitoring her situation?"
"He's been hoping you'd eventually come to your senses and need this information to make an informed decision." Daphne smiled. "He knows you, Edward. He knew you'd need data before you'd allow yourself to hope."
The memory that shattered my resistance wasn't dramatic—it was devastatingly simple. Lili in my study at 3 am, having snuck down from her room to find me working late. She'd perched on the edge of my desk, stealing sips of my tea while I pretended to review contracts, her bare feet swinging like a child's.
"You know what I love about you?" she'd said, completely unselfconscious in her oversized t-shirt and messy hair. "You think about consequences before you act, but you never let fear of those consequences stop you from doing what's right."
I'd kissed her then, unable to resist the way she made ‘right’ sound like the simplest thing in the world. Now I wondered if she'd been wrong about me, if I was exactly the kind of man who let fear determine his choices.
"She told me once that I never let fear stop me from doing what's right," I said quietly.
"So prove her right," Daphne said simply.
I looked at my sister—really looked at her—and saw something I'd been too consumed with guilt to notice during the chaos of recent weeks.
Despite everything that had happened, despite the family crisis and the exposure of secrets, she seemed more herself than she had in years. The strain of hiding her relationship with James was gone, replaced by a quiet confidence that came from living honestly.
"You really think this is the right choice?"
"I think it's the only choice that lets you live with yourself." She smiled, and for a moment I saw the little girl who used to drag me on adventures through the estate grounds. "Besides, you made me realize something important when you confronted Mother."
"What's that?"
"That the Grosvenor legacy isn't about maintaining traditions or protecting reputations. It's about having the courage to fight for what matters, even when the fight seems impossible." She pulled out her phone, navigating to an airline website. "So let's go fight for what matters."
I stared at the booking page, thinking about everything that had brought us to this moment. The secrets, the manipulation, the pain of loving people we thought we couldn't have. The choice between the life Mother had planned for us and the life we might create for ourselves.
"Book two tickets," I said, taking her phone with hands that were suddenly steady.
"Two?"
"You're coming with me. You owe Lili an apology for encouraging our relationship while hiding your own. And I..." I paused, looking at my sister—my partner in this desperate mission. "I need someone there who remembers the man I was before Mother's manipulation. Someone who can vouch for the fact that what Lili and I had was real."
Daphne's smile was brilliant. "Plus, someone needs to make sure you don't lose your nerve halfway across the Atlantic."
"There's also the practical consideration that I have no idea how to convince a woman to forgive me for being an unwitting accomplice in my Mother's schemes."
"Leave that to me," Daphne said firmly. "I've had practice apologizing for being a hypocritical coward. The techniques are surprisingly transferable."
I was booking flights to Texas. To Lili. To the possibility of redemption or final rejection. Either way, I was done letting Mother's legacy of fear determine my future.