Both men were so unsettled by my brazen speak as if they’d never seen my mother. I’ve seen the stuff about my mom. Brutal businesswoman. With me being dreadfully behind on knowledge, needing to learn everything about my world, now was not the time to be unsettled.

“There are a few details Mr. Caldwell and I need to discuss before the board returns.”

Mr. Legal Counsel, a.k.a Mr. Caldwell, cleared his throat. “I have been your mother’s legal counsel for what seems an eternity. When she first got started, Mr. Vaughn offered her whatever she wanted in exchange for the temporary usage of certain properties at preorganized dates and times. This kept things under wraps while forming a strong bond with the two and creating a god-like level above their competitors and just about everyone else. The two weren’t on top for no reason. When he offered her this proposal, she took it with no hesitation.”

I shook my head, wondering what made her say yes to something like this. “Why didn’t she just say no and start a company like everyone else?”

Evans shifted in his seat and fidgeted with his hands. “Well, Augustus Vaughn technically gave your mother the leg up in her world to build an empire. How else could a woman with a background like hers be able to become one of the wealthiest women in the world so quickly? She wanted that for herself, and she took that offer with no hesitation. He saw what she could become and how it could be mutually beneficial.”

Brent’s grandfather was the devil my mother made a deal with. He dragged her into a criminal underworld, dangling success in front of her face like a carrot. I wondered if Brent would try the same with me–unless he already was.

I drummed my fingers on the table in anxiety and anticipation. My heart thumped and I was becoming flustered. “Leg up–what do you mean by that?”

“Opportunities. Connections. Cash flow,” Caldwell replied. “What it takes to be the one percent of the one percent is what she had, and he provided her every resource to do so. She was wonderfully poised, a classy woman with a great mind for business. That’s what drew Mr. Vaughn to offer such a deal to her, which is no easy feat to get noticed by the man who holds a monopoly on a lot of the world. He knew she could handle matters with a feminine smile on her face while remaining ever discreet about it all.”

But she was a kind, loving woman... There was no way my mother was the type of person everyone was describing. Then again, I didn’t know her before I was born. She was thirty-seven when she had me. Thirty-seven long years as a woman without a child and a vision for the future.

She just lived a double life with me.