Page 490 of Lodestar

Good.

It wasn’t like he was a fucking angel.

“Who did you blackmail?” Alessa snapped, her soft voice hardening.

Because it was her, I actually answered, “I have no reason to explain myself when I wasin the middle of a war.But the daughter of a bank president who gave me access to Sparrows’bank accounts from inside his own bank and others he had access to as a board member in some Swiss accounts.” I tipped up my chin. “Rachel gave me permission to do it, so you can turn that judgmental look onto her too.”

Rachel sniffed.

Amara frowned. “You needed permission? What are you? Toddler?”

“What?” Rex stopped snickering when I glared at him. “It was funny. It’s not like you’re the kind of woman who usually asks for permission.”

“I had to ask because Rachel told me she’d have Kat taken from me?—”

Alessa gasped. “You wouldn’t!”

“No. You’re her next of kin, Alessa. You’d have been given custody of her,” Rachel soothed.

It gratified me when she appeared as if she regretted opening that particular can of worms too.

“Who would take her?” Amara queried, her expression puzzled. “She brat. No one want her.”

“I take exception to that,” I grumbled, even though I couldn’t deny Katwasa brat. That was what made her interesting.

“Star doesn’t exactly have a legal claim to Katina. You know, what with kidnapping her and crossing state lines?—”

“Kidnapping?” Amara muttered, more puzzled than ever. “How do you kidnap someone who is your daughter?”

Rachel heaved a sigh. “Ohio, the state, fostered Katina into Star's care. She wasn’t supposed to bring her to New Jersey without express approval. Ergo, she kidnapped Katina. There are probably all kinds of alerts open on Kat’s head.”

“There won’t be for long,” I sniped. “I’m dealing with it.”

“Dealing with it? The only way you can deal with that is to pull shady moves,” Rachel retorted.

I growled under my breath. “Why the fuck did you bring me in on this foundation if you disapprove of everything I’ve done?!”

“Because you should be involved. No one has worked harder to help the victims than you, but you’re so fucking difficult as usual that you’re impossible to work with,” Rachel spat, which made Sommer burble a wail as she stopped nursing.

She was the only reason I didn’t storm to my feet or slam my hands against the table in annoyance.

Gritting my teeth, I bit out, “Two words. Pot. Kettle.”

Rachel narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re the ornery one.”

“Hate to break it to you, Rach, but you’re not exactly a teddy bear.” I sniffed. “We need to find a common ground if we’re going to work together.”

“Bring Lily in. She’s a natural peacemaker. Plus, she’s rich as fuck and will donate,” was Rex’s pragmatic answer.

He wasn’t wrong about her being ‘rich as fuck’—Lily had a piggy bank full ofbillions, not just a few paltry million like me. Or Rex, and probably Rachel, for that matter. In fact, now that I thought about it, Amara and Alessa hadalsoreceived a couple million from Lily as unofficial compensation for what her father and brother had put them through when they were enslaved by them.

I was literally surrounded by millionaires.

“That’s not a bad idea,” I muttered, concocting a plan to have Lily and I fund the tip line because, whatever Rachel thought, we needed that in place. Stat.

"First my idea," Amara groused.

“We do work well together,” Rachel mused. “Tiff would be good too. She and Lily bounce off each other.”

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