Page 65 of Cruel Shame

I sat back in my seat and thought through my options. Apart from their money and connections, the Liddells’ best resource was information. It didn’t matter if it was true, like all the crap Elizabeth dredged up about Mother, or false, such as the counterfeit DNA test. They always seemed to have the right card to pull out in times of trouble.

Maxwell leaned into me, his silver eyes twinkling. “You’re thinking of something.”

“Actually, you thought of it first.” I glanced from left to right to check who might be lurking nearby. The students at the nearest table seemed half asleep and more interested in buttering their toast than in eavesdropping. “Remember your big plan with the DNA? I forgot to tell you that I have two more samples in my pocket.”

His face blanked. “Whose?” Then his eyes bulged. “No.”

“Both of them.”

“Father Neapolitan and?” asked Gideon.

“The archbishop’s.” I turned back to Maxwell. “We’re going to put it into action today.”

He stared off into space and nodded. “Leave it with me.”

Loud whispers spread across the dining room, and everyone turned in the direction of the double doors. I glanced over my shoulder to find Elizabeth walking in with dragging footsteps, looking like an invisible cattle prod at her back.

“What now?” Gideon said with a groan.

She stood with her legs apart and her hands clasped at her belly. “Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “This will be interesting.”

“I am apologizing for statements I made to the media which were later proven to be false.”

I cupped my hand behind my ear. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Sorry,” she said through clenched teeth.

“Statements that were later proven to be false,” I snarled. “Don’t act like you’re saying sorry for the wrong weather prediction. You knew exactly what you were saying when you went on national TV.”

Elizabeth stuck her nose in the air. “If you cannot accept an apology with grace then you must be inbred.”

Adrenaline surged through my system, making my hands curl into fists. This was the crap they wanted Mr. Burgh to accept? She just accused him again of being my father. Before I could rear up and shove my napkin down her mouth, Maxwell wrapped an arm around my wrist and held me in place.

“The plan, remember?”

“No,” I snarled.

The sound of a wood hitting the floor turned my attention to the head table, where Mr. McGarr stood with his fists balled. “Why would you spout such lies about an innocent man?”

I glanced at Mrs. Campbell, who gave the man a slight nod with approval. Inside, I cheered at him for speaking up.

Elizabeth’s bottom lip trembled. “You don’t know how much pressure there is on me to be perfect. While you all proceed to your anonymous lives, I’ll be the next Lady Liddell, forced to manage a vast fortune.”

“Therefore you’ll tell a bunch of people on TV that you were molested?” I spat.

Elizabeth glanced from side to side, her eyes glistening with tears. Sniffing, she clutched her chest, and raised her shoulders to her ears like a demure victim. “I’ve already issued a written apology in the newspapers. That’s all I’ll say on the matter.”

Someone in the back of the room booed. “What about the cocaine you pushed?”

She backed out through the double doors, knocking down a pair of first-year boys, and sprinted out of sight.

I shook my head and twisted my lips with disgust. “If she thinks that half-assed public apology will make up for what she did, she’s bloody deluded.”

“Here it is.” Kendrick glanced down at his smartphone. “I, Lady Elizabeth Liddell, retract the statements I made alleging the improper sexual conduct of my headmaster, Mr. Duncan Burgh. I apologize for the subsequent upset to the running of Templar Academy.”

The deliberate double-speak drifted over my head. I reached into my pocket. “Where did you find it?”