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“What happened?” she asks, taking a physical step back from my desk as if my lack of inheritance could be contagious.
“I’m not sure how that’s any of your business,” I snap.
“Wow, there’s no need to be a bitch,” she sneers, looking down her nose at me as she turns and moves back to her desk two rows behind mine.
My eyes fall closed and I pull in a slow reaffirming breath. When I was going to be worth billions I could have told that girl to lick the dirt from my shoes and I’m pretty sure she would have done it just to carry my favor, and now she’s calling me a bitch to my face.
If only she knew how awful I truly was, I’m sure she’d be calling me something much worse than that. Her words have confirmed one thing though, everyone knows.
The morning drags, each moment feeling like a thousand, as I ignore all the pointed glances my classmates give me. I can almost feel their thoughts; How the mighty have fallen.
Money really is power and without it, I’m just another rich girl in a school full of rich kids. I’m a no one, the bottom of the totem pole and it’s only a matter of time until someone decides to remind me of that.
“Carrigan.” I hear my sister’s voice a moment before she barrels into me, her arms reaching around me as she pulls me in for a hug. I freeze, the physical contact from her unexpected and a little weird. Our family are not huggers, in fact we’re not tactile at all. I can probably count on one hand how many times either of my parents has hugged me. But then Tallulah has never been like the rest of us.
When I don’t reciprocate her embrace she pulls back, melting into Arlo’s arms when he appears behind her. “Are you okay? Where are you staying?” she asks.
“I’m fine, I’m at a hotel for the moment,” I tell her stiffly. Even though we’ve become less hostile toward each other the last month or so, I don’t feel comfortable being around her like this, when she’s being so nice. I deserve her hate; I want her hate. I have no idea what to do with all this concern she keeps showing me.
“What hotel? Why don’t you come and stay with me and Arlo? That’s okay isn’t it?” she asks her fiancé.
“Of course,” he says, looking down at her with so much love I feel a little sick. It’s not that I begrudge my sister and Arlo their happiness, it’s more that I don’t know how to deal with it. I never thought I’d have that. Marriage was always going to be an arrangement for me, so to see them actually fall in love seems odd. “I’m fine, but thank you for the offer,” I say, shouldering my bag and turning to leave, not wanting to spend more time than I have to with the happy couple.
“Wait, where are you going?” my sister asks.
“Lunch,” I say, not turning to look at her as I continue to walk away.
“Why don’t you sit with us?” she says, and I can practically hear the hope in her voice.
If I was a nicer person I’d embrace her olive branch. In fact most people would be overwhelmed by how generous my twin is being toward me, considering my behavior for the last few years. But the truth is that I’m not a nice person. “Look,” I say, spinning around to face her. “I know you think I’m just like you, and that now we have this bond or whatever. But nothing’s changed Tallulah. We’re not friends, all this didn’t unite us. I did what I had to do to save myself, and it worked out that it saved you too. So let’s not pretend that we’re real sisters or that we’re going to skip off into the sunset together, because we’re not, okay.”
I turn to leave and gasp as I almost slam straight into Carson, his brows furrowed together, his eyes hard. Without another word I step past him, my head held high, and make my way into the cafeteria alone, leaving my sister and her new family in my wake.
I’ve always enjoyed the feel of the envious glances from the other students, knowing they were looking and wishing they were me. But today all I feel is the lack of eyes, no one’s looking at me anymore, no one gives a crap about me. Because now I’m the poor relation of Tallulah Archibald, the fiancé of Arlo Lexington, part of the power alliance that will see him, Watson Hilborn, Oliver Montgomery, and Carson Windsor take the business world by storm when they come of age.
I’m invisible, unimportant, unremarkable, and for the first time since I gave Carson my virginity and broke the will, I regret my decision. I regret walking away from a fortune. I regret ignoring my parents and I regret making myself forgettable again.
