'And spite's as good a reason to take his power'
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Almost twenty years ago, Logan Roy had an affair with Elizabeth Ronan's mother, one that ended in her divorce and a number of rather unsavoury news s...
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|| CHAPTER 1 – Blood in the Water ||
(Season 1 Ep 1 – 'Celebration')
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(5 months later)
(Washington D.C – 9:15 am)
Over the four years Elizabeth had worked for the painter and philanthropist Moira Doherty, a large percentage of that time had, unsurprisingly, been spent in art galleries. And she had loved it more than anything.
But, as it turned out, a major contributor to the feelings of giddy awe and contentment during those times had been aided by the good company she'd had. Because whatever she was feeling as she trailed behind Shiv and Tom on the upmarket shopping street that morning, was the antithesis of excitement.
Each store they passed had a buzzer or intercom system needed to gain entry and Elizabeth was sure it was less about security and more to make sure a stray poor person couldn't wander in off the streets and put off the highbrow clientele.
Tom was desperately scanning the windows of the fine art dealers, his eyes darting frantically over the artwork visible through the glass. But Elizabeth knew that his seeming distraction didn't mean he wasn't also eavesdropping on the conversation she and Shiv were having.
He was like a squirrel, but instead of hoarding nuts, he stored up any nuggets of political or business gossip he could, keeping them as bargaining chips in case he ever ended up out in the cold.
It was Logan Roy's eightieth birthday party that afternoon, and his aspiring future son-in-law was scrambling to find a gift to impress him. A mission that Elizabeth knew he couldn't possibly succeed at. He just had to buy something to prove he had the money to, and make sure it was pricy enough that it didn't seem like laughable trash to a man as wealthy as the Roy patriarch.
He wouldn't care about anything Tom presented him anyway; that man would turn his nose up at the crown jewels.
Elizabeth had only vague recollections of this kind of wealth from her early childhood with her mother, but even then it had never been close to the Roy's billions.
And growing up in New York with her father after the divorce had been a very different matter.
Now, Elizabeth was wealthy adjacent; privileged and with connections to powerful people, but herself was financially unstable.
Elizabeth had just been looking over Shiv's emails when she'd opened a particularly pissy one from the team of one of Shiv's political clients, so now the two women were talking on the sidewalk as Tom practically pressed his face against the glass shopfronts.
"Right, they want to know when you're going to look at that speech. I know we're back Sunday but-"
"Yeah, tell them I'll speak to him then." Shiv nodded, shoving her hands into her brown trench coat as Tom appeared at her side, scarf floating behind him.
