Chapter 70

"I'm telling you, Elsa, I've had just about enough," Daisy says to her maid, who is really more like her best friend at this point. Elsa started working for Daisy when they were both only 14, and their relationship has grown into some strange but amicable melding of friendship and business.

Elsa, who has finished putting away all of Daisy's dry cleaning, has joined her on the couch in Daisy's luxurious private living room. Even Charles isn't allowed in here, and thank god for that. Daisy can't stand how the man has to snoop around and stick his nose into everything.

Elsa gestures with the teapot, and Daisy nods. Elsa refreshes both of their cups, adding a dash of milk from the jug into each.

"Well," Elsa says, curling her legs up underneath her and tilting her head appraisingly at Daisy. "What do you intend to do about it?"

"That's just it," Daisy says in frustration. "I don't know. I'm not sure which direction to go in from here."

"He's not that bad, surely," Elsa suggests. "I mean, you and I have certainly witnessed worse marriages over the years."

"We have, but that's not the life I envisioned for myself," Daisy huffs. "I'd like something a little more for myself, to set the bar higher than 'well, it's not the worst marriage I've ever seen.'" She gives Elsa a pleading look.

Elsa laughs, reaching up to remove her hair tie and shake her wavy black hair down around her face. Elsa is a very pretty woman, Daisy reflects for the billionth time, with olive skin and a smattering of freckles across her nose.

Her black eyes are almost always glittering with amusement, and Daisy watches as her slender hands comb through her waves, counseling them around her shoulders. Sometimes, Daisy wishes she'd just married Elsa instead. It would've saved her a lot of trouble.

"Amora," Elsa begins, using her long-established nickname for Daisy. "I don't know what to tell you. You wanted a mate, so that you could be seriously considered for the position of Alpha's Heir. You have a mate. He's an irritating, useless one, but he surely serves his purpose."

"He does," Daisy says slowly. "Or, at least, he did." She sighs, caressing her growing belly. Daisy feels like she's swallowed a pumpkin, these days. She can hardly walk without waddling, and her ankles feel like tree trunks.

"For one thing, he has absolutely no interest in this baby," Daisy says. "I can see that so clearly now. He just used the pregnancy as a way to fast-track the wedding, making sure that he'd be the one I picked."

"Many men in your circles are not very interested in the baby before it's born," Elsa offers. "Perhaps he'll bond with the baby once it's born?"

"He certainly will not, and you know that as well as I do," Daisy says, but not in a snappish way. She feels angry, yes, and sad, but not at Elsa. "You've been around him enough, Else, you see how he is with me."

"I could see a lot more if he didn't banish me from the room 15 seconds after I enter it," Elsa mutters, glancing down at her hands and twisting them in her work skirt.

Daisy's anger flares again.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" she exclaims. She lifts a hand to start ticking grievances off her fingers. "He hates you, because he sees you as staff, and Charles is a rude boor to all the staff.

"He has virtually no interest in me as a wife; he's only used me to further his political career - any fool can see that - and now that he thinks he has me locked down, he's dropped me like a hot potato.

"He doesn't care about this pregnancy at all. I love the little bean sprout, though I have to admit I can't wait for her to vacate the premises, but he couldn't give less of a shit and never will.

"I see how he looks at my body, Else; he sneers at the bump when he thinks I'm not looking, he can barely contain his revulsion when I touch him. The man is pathological, or something. He hates women, so much so that pregnancy seems like the ultimate insult to his sensibilities."

"Her," Elsa points out. "Does he know that the baby is a girl?"

"No, he doesn't," Daisy says. "And that's another thing. Charles could maybe be persuaded to take a vague interest in a son, in a sort of business-like, 'invest for the future' way, but he's going to be furious that his firstborn is a girl."

"The man is a snake," Elsa agrees. "He hates women: I've seen this from the start, but you didn't want to hear it, did you?"

"Wait, if you know he's a snake, why on earth were you defending him just now?" Now Daisy does sound irritated.

"Amora, I defended him to prod you into speaking your true mind," Elsa says. Her voice is fond and patient. "For weeks, you've been dancing around this subject, and you always talk yourself out of it in the end."

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do. You bring up this exact conversation at least twice a week, and whenever I try to agree with you and push you into deciding to do something about it, you reverse course so quickly that I'm afraid your transmission is going to fall out." She smiles.

Daisy rolls her eyes but grins back. Elsa is a huge car buff from a family of mechanics, and she's always enjoyed using car metaphors on Daisy, who barely knows a gear stick from a windshield wiper.

Elsa can always pull Daisy back from the brink of spilling into a truly black mood, and Daisy loves her for it.

"Okay, so say I'm ready for the real conversation now," she says. "For real, Else. What do you really think about all this?"

"I think this man is a snake, as I said," Elsa shrugs. She untwists her hair band from her wrist and starts pulling up her waves into a messy bun again. "He used you, Amora, and you fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker."

"I know that now," Daisy mutters.

"He doesn't care about you or the bambina," Elsa continues. "I've known that from the start. And all of this shady business he's pulled you into - I don't like it, Amora. Trying to discredit your brother, to worsen your father's health, to murder your father…"

"Yes," Daisy whispers. It had seemed so necessary at the time, but the closer Daisy comes to having her own child, the more and more she is doubtful over the path she's gone down to try to secure a spot for herself in her family.

"Your family has always treated you as less important, because you're a girl," Elsa continues. "And I hate this; I always have. And I know that your greatest desire is to become Alpha yourself, to change the way that girls and women are treated in this community."

"I do!" Daisy says. "I truly do. That's been my main objective all along, and you know that, Else. It's not so much about me - or, at least, it's not me wanting power for myself. It's me wanting the power to change things for all of us. For the better."

"And I agree with that objective, Amora," Elsa says seriously. "With all my heart. But do you really think that murder and backstabbing is the way to go? This isn't the old days, you know. We have other ways of doing things now. Do you really want to become as infamous as your–" Here she pauses.

"As my Uncle Amos?" Daisy asks, her heart twisting.

"Well, yes. Because that's the road you are headed down. You must see that."

Daisy sits in silence for a long time, her tea going cold.

"No," she says finally, honestly, feeling her heart lift. "No, I don't want to be that person after all, Elsa. I don't. I want to be a better person. For myself, and for my daughter."

"I want that for you, too," Elsa says softly.

"Then what do you think I should do?" Daisy asks.

"I think you should go to Marcus," Elsa says firmly. "Your brother is fair, and so is his lady doctor. Tell them everything, and throw your support behind them. Tell Marcus and Dr. Prism your concerns. Tell them why you are fighting so hard for the Alpha position."

"But what if they don't listen?" Daisy asks. "What if I blow everything, for all of us?"

"Listen, Amora," Elsa says. "Servants talk. I know much more about this Dr. Prism than you do, and I can assure you, she will be on your side. Explain everything to her, and to Marcus, and give them your support.

"Work with them, not against them. That's how we're all going to make it out of this in one piece, living another day to make the world a better place for ourselves and our children."

"And what about Charles?" Daisy asks. "What the hell do I do with him?"

"You can leave him," Elsa says. "You know you can. You have more than enough power to divorce him and take another mate; it won't hurt your standing in the community at all. To be honest, I think you should do it sooner rather than later, anyway."

"Really? Why?"

"Because Charles is a fool who is going to get caught and go down hard," Elsa says coolly. "And this community loves your father. When they discover what Charles has done, they will turn on him, and anyone associated with him.

"Make sure that isn't you, Amora."