Page 16 of The Heiress

“Thank you so much, Ms. Sheen.” Daisy regains her feisty countenance now that she has my mother’s approval. Great. Now they’re going to gang up against me, aren’t they? “You’re stunning as well. Are you wearing Cartier?”

A delicate hand flutters to my mother’s neck, where a thick necklace encrusted with diamonds rests. “Indeed, I am. You have a good eye.”

So much relief right now. I was expecting the absolute worst with my mother, having never introduced her to someone before… and considering the state Daisy was in when she ran away from me, I had no idea how she would have handled this on the fly.

My good mood may have come too soon, though, because my mother suddenly bursts into a slew of questions, the first of which I can’t answer.

“So!” She glances around the theater lobby, probably searching for some cameramen to flash a smile to. Or, God forbid, grab Daisy and me into a motherly embrace so we can look picture-perfect for tomorrow’s gossip columns. Or maybe I’ll be shoved out of the way entirely so she and Daisy can hit the “HOT” lists on the fashion pages. I wouldn’t put it past her. My mother loves her exposure. “Did you enjoy the movie?”

Daisy blushes such a deep crimson that she almost turns purple. I, on the other hand, am used to playing this game with my mother and can give her my opinions uncensored.

“Loved it, Mom,” I say. “Although, I think Daisy may have liked it even more than I did. Every time I looked at her, she was flushed and fanning herself through the sex scenes.”

Daisy gasps. “There were sex scenes?” she whispers in my direction. Uh, duh. Did she miss the part where my mother walked into the professor’s office and ripped off their clothes?

I laugh. Daisy looks like she wants the earth to swallow her whole, but not before she smacks her satchel against my arm. As always, I appreciate getting a rise out of Daisy DeMonte. Not that it’s hard or anything.

My mother is more than shell-shocked over this playful exchange between us. That’s right. This is something not even the tabloids have been able to capture between girls and me. Anytime we played for the cameras it was always so forced and posed that my media-savvy mother must have noticed.

Her perplexity is soon replaced with a dreamy smile. “Yes, that was done quite artistically, don’t you think?”

Let me tell you, I had the great misfortune of seeing my mother’s cleavage pop out of her blouse before she disappearedbeneath that desk, and nothing about any of it screamedartisticto me.

But I can’t resist the opportunity to torment my sweet Daisy even more.

“Indeed,” I say, somber. “Daisy is artistic herself. That’s probably why she got so into them. I swear I caught her panting at one point.”

Daisy’s pretty pink lips drop open. My mother laughs, although is shortly interrupted by a loud photographer calling out her name. She politely excuses herself to tend to the world at large, leaving me with my date who looks like she wants to slaughter me.

“Wasn’t that good fun?”

I don’t get the reaction I thought I would.

No playful banter. No light slug to the arm again. I don’t even get a joke at my expense.

What I get is hot tears of humiliation and a snarl in her throat.

Before I can react, her hand hits my face with a crackling smack. Daisy spins around and storms off for the women’s room while I’m left to stand here and nurse the burning sensation spreading through my cheek. That slap still echoes in my ears!

“Trouble in paradise, Lorde?” a photographer shouts at me. Of course, this whole debacle has been caught on camera.

It’s all I can do to not send them a million daggers from my eyes and shout back,“How’s that for a hot story!”

Chapter 9

Daisy

Idon’t think I can eat another scoop of ice cream for the rest of my life.

For the past week, I’ve cooped myself up in this stifling apartment, eating junk food when my stomach aches get too bad. Basically, I’ve been existing on Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough and a box of donuts Ashleigh brought over a few days ago. She claimed to be worried about me. Not worried enough to block me from seeing Lorde Sheen that first time!

The donuts are all that are left now since I can’t fathom eating another spoon of ice cream. Since they’re so old – and the box has been opened, yay – they’re getting moldy, and I won’t risk it.

This is when I realize I can’t stay in my apartment forever.

Never mind that everyone, from Ashleigh to my housekeeper to my stylist, has warned me to keep to myself for a few more days. This past week has been nothing but a shitstorm of blogposts, tabloid articles, and terrible high society gossip that no one will cop to having – but you know everyone does it!

It all started with Lorde’s damn interview. Then someone took a photo of me arriving at her place, even though I swear there were no paps around. All hell subsequently broke loose after the movie premiere in New York.

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