Chapter 3

Celeste shrieks and hurls the baton to the floor.

Russell stares at me, his mouth hanging open.

The whole lobby freezes. Then the whispers start.

What fell out of my bag is my tablet.

And on the screen is a photo of me and Graham. His arms are around my waist, and he’s kissing me.

Tears stream down Celeste’s face. She screams at me like her heart is breaking.

"No wonder you keep calling him Graham! You don’t even see him as your father!"

One of the employees speaks up, a little unsure.

"Honestly, she doesn’t look anything like Mr. Pierce..."

"Seriously. What kind of dad kisses his daughter like that?."

"Poor Ms. Monroe. That mother and daughter will stoop to anything."

Now Celeste looks like she wants to rip me apart with her bare hands.

"You know what? I bet you’re not even his daughter!"

"Your mom taught you all her gold-digging tricks, didn’t she? Bet that’s how you hook all your sugar daddies too!"

I raise an eyebrow.

I’m not wasting my breath on a psycho.

I never said I was Graham’s daughter. I just look too young, and they jumped to conclusions from the start.

Fine.

I’ve already got proof of Graham’s affair and their plan to frame my daughter. Time to drop the act and clean house.

But right as I open my mouth, my phone rings.

I pull it out. Unknown number. My stomach drops.

I look up and catch Celeste’s smug, taunting stare. Something is very wrong.

I pick up immediately.

"Mom... Mom, it’s me. Wren." She’s sobbing.

"Somebody smashed my phone. I’m calling from someone else’s."

My daughter. She’s supposed to be out at dinner with her new roommates.

"Mom, the school just expelled me. They said it was for ‘serious misconduct.’"

"I lost my scholarships. Someone threw all my stuff from the dorm into the dumpster."

"Someone wrote things about me all over the bathroom walls. They’re calling me trash. People are saying I’m some rich guy’s bastard. Someone even said Dad isn’t my real father..."

I’m shaking with rage.

She actually went after my daughter at school.

Celeste leans against the wall, arms crossed, grinning from ear to ear.

"Was that the dean calling about your expulsion? Told you. One phone call and your college days are over!"

"Graham’s a major donor at Westbrook University. I warned you. I call the shots around here."

"And that’s not all. No college will ever take you now. I added a little something to your file."

Wren’s call cuts out.

I’m frantic. My hands shake as I call back again and again. It won’t go through.

Pure hatred floods through me.

I donated two whole buildings to Wren’s school in Graham’s name. And now Celeste is using my own money to destroy my kid?

First, I text Juliet, my right hand at Thorne Group, and tell her to get to Wren right now.

Then I call the university president. Somebody’s going to explain this to me.

But the second the call connects, Celeste rips the phone out of my hand and smashes it on the floor.

The screen shatters.

And so does my self-control. I shove her, hard.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life. And I’m going to make you pay for every second of it."

She stumbles and almost falls. Then she goes for my face with her nails.

Her long nails snag in my hair and rake bloody scratches down my cheek.

"You pushed me? Your daddy’s gonna beat the hell out of you for this!"

"College? Dream on! I’m putting you in jail today!"

In the scuffle, her fingers catch my earring.

She yanks.

Pain explodes through my earlobe. I clap my hand over it. Blood runs down my neck.

But Celeste is staring at the bloody earring in her hand.

Then she starts screaming.