Page 1 of Out of the Shadows
One
Hailey
16 years old
“Stop fidgeting around. And do you think you could put on a less repulsed expression? Jesus, you’d think we were trying to torture you instead of offering you new opportunities.”
New opportunities. Sothat’swhat we were calling it now. I would preferbeing thrown to the pretentious, preppy wolves. But who asked me? No one.
How desperately I longed for the days when we were a normal middle-class family. When we lived in the ordinary, two-story single-family house I grew up in, with a tranquil garden. When my best friend lived two streets down, not two states away from me. When everything wasn’t aboutopportunitiesornew doors openingbut about normal, trivial things. Who left the toilet seat up? Whose turn was it to do the dishes? Would my parents make it to the next game Icheered at? Those days were a thing of the past.
Now we were unflatteringly referred to as thenew rich. My dad had a groundbreaking idea, put it into action, and sold the whole thing off for millions.Yay.
I probably sounded incredibly ungrateful, but our life hadn’t been bad by any means before all this happened, and now everything had changed. My parents had changed. Mom bounced from brunch to brunch blowing tons of money on shopping trips, and all of a sudden had a — mostly — pretentious huge group of friends of women who somehow all looked the same.Creepy.
Dad was even worse. With him, it was all about what or who could benefit us and how. Everything had turned into assets — even Mom and me. Gone was the caring father who used to tuck me into bed every night and show up at as many of my performances as possible. In his place was a calculating, shrewd businessman who seemed to be gradually losing all scruples. Which apparently included pushing me toward every appropriate — by his definition — guy with a trust fund and preferably the right contacts. Whether I wanted to or not.
It didn’t seem like it mattered those guys were the biggest scumbags in the world, or that I wasn’t interested in being set up with anyone by my dad. I’d choose who I dated myself, thank you very much. My type and the ones he thought wereacceptablewere worlds apart. It was all about the right image, which meant every guy he threw at me looked more or less the same — clean cut, not a hair out of place, and about as much individuality as a guy named Kyle at a Monster Energy convention. He’d probably have a heart attack if he knew my type didn’t fall in the pretty-boy department. No, my kind ofguy was more in theMr. Big, Rugged, and Out of the Ordinarycategory.
And yet, here we were. Me in the back of a gigantic luxurious SUV, nervously tugging at the dress Dad’s hired stylist, Kinsley, had laid out for me, and my parents in the front, with my father’s stern, unrelenting eyes mercilessly fixed on me through the rearview mirror, pinning me in place. Eyes so dark and unforgiving that I seriously wondered if there was anything left of the father I’d grown up with. Given the fact that he cared more about how I looked and would represent him at an event I didn’t even want to attend, I actually doubted it.
My chest constricted as I mourned for the umpteenth time everything I had lost. No money in the world was worth seeing your parents change like that.
“Hailey, are you even listening to me?” My father’s sharp tone snapped me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, clasping my hands on my lap to stop them from fiddling with the dress, which was just too tight. God, how I loathed Kinsley at that moment.Fuck her and her stupid dress.
“As I was saying …” He glared at me with slightly narrowed eyes, his slender fingers tapping on the steering wheel. “There will be plenty of opportunities at the event today tosocializeand possibly set your future on the right track. I’ve been told that some of your new peers will be in attendance. So I advise you to play your cards right and make the most of it. Have I made myself clear?”
Classy, Dad.In other words, find the richest dude with the best image and biggest influence and throw yourself at him. Seemed like we were just one step away from prostitutionhere. Not that I would ever say that out loud.
I suppressed an eye roll. “Crystal clear.”Was my eyelid twitching?
“Sweetheart, you’ll see, it’s going to be wonderful. The hostess is an absolutely lovely lady, I met her at brunch the other day.”Brunch. Of fucking course it was at brunch. “Anyway, I think she said she has a son? I’m not quite sure how old he is, but maybe you can befriend him.”
I wanted to groan. How could Mom be so blind to Dad’s intentions?! He didn’t care if I made friends with anyone, as long as it was useful. His eyes flashed calculatingly when my mom mentioned a son.
“Maybe.”What else could I say?
My parents filled the rest of the ride with conversations of rumors about all these people I didn’t know. We’d moved from a small town in Nebraska to Houston at the beginning of the summer, leaving everything and everyone I knew behind. Supposedly, better and bigger things awaited us. I felt like a fish plucked straight from a small pond in the country who was being tossed out to sea.
I had successfully holed up in our new house for most of the summer, but that was coming to an end. In a few days, I would start at my fancy new private school and be surrounded by people who had probably spent their entire lives running in these circles. On top of that, I was one of the oldest in my class since my public school education apparently didn’t meet their requirements, so I literally would have to repeat my sophomore year.Funsies.
We finally turned into a way-too-long driveway and pulled up in front of a huge mansion with a fucking valet waiting outside. I rolled my eyes and climbed out of the car to followmy parents into the house that might as well accommodate three families.
My high heels clacked across the marble floor, the cold radiating straight to my chest through the red soles of my shoes. Suppressing a shiver, I wrapped my arms around my middle. Using the noise as a guide, we entered a large modern room, and I stopped in my tracks.
Although the decor practically oozed wealth, it felt warm and almost …cozy. After the long hallway with marble flooring and sophisticated paintings on the walls, I hadn’t expected this.
The light tones in which the room was decorated, with its high ceiling and exposed wooden beams, created a pleasant atmosphere, and I no longer felt quite so anxious.
What did fit right into this house, however, were the people who filled the room. Although this was supposed to be a lunch event, which had sounded informal in my head, the motto of these people was apparently to dress to impress. Even the ones around my age looked like they had stepped straight out of a magazine. I wrapped my arms around myself a little tighter, only to drop them to my sides as my father cast a sharp glance at me over his shoulder.
A pretty woman about Mom’s age, with long caramel-colored hair, approached us, and the expression on my father’s face instantly changed to a pleasant, amicable one. What had happened to my dad? Had he always been like this and just hid it incredibly well?
“Alicia!” My mom squealed enthusiastically and shuffled toward the approaching woman with little tippy-toe steps, then wrapped her in a hug, air kisses and all. After the expected exchange of compliments about the house, the décor,and their dresses, they turned to us.
“Meet my husband, Daniel, and our daughter, Hailey. Darlings, this is Alicia, the lovely hostess.”
