Chapter 19
But the room suddenly went quiet.
People stared at Linda like they were seeing something truly bizarre.
After a long, awkward beat, Effie turned to Dora and said with a deadpan face, “She’s not embarrassed by this? Because I’m embarrassed for her.”
That cracked everyone up. Laughter exploded across the room.
Linda hadn’t been embarrassed before–but after that, she definitely was.
“Dora, I really do mean it. The Acosta family’s broke. They can’t give you the life you deserve. My parents are good people. Just yesterday, they said they were hiring a world–famous interior designer to turn your old room into my walk–in closet. I think his name was Erin? They were just upset you took the money and left without looking back. But if you apologize, I know they’ll let you come back.”
Dora let out a dry laugh. After seventeen years in the Hendrix family, she knew Audra and Jerrold better than anyone. They barely cared about their real daughter–why would they give a damn about an adopted one?‘ she
wondered.
“Erin’s designing your closet?” she asked, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. “Funny. That’s news to me.”
Linda lowered her gaze, smiling shyly. “I told them it wasn’t necessary, but they insisted. Said they owed me for seventeen years and wanted to make it up to me. They said they’d hire the best designer and redo the whole room exactly how I want it.”
Effie suddenly laughed and casually placed her phone on the desk, putting the call on speaker. “Erin? Wow, keeping secrets from us now?
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Don’t consider us friends anymore?”
An explosion of fury came through the speaker.
#1
“What the actual hell? When did I ever agree to design anything for her? Linda, right? I told you to get lost yesterday–what part of that didn’t you understand? Are you hard of hearing or just dense?”
“You even had the audacity to say, ‘I’m the Hendrix family’s heiress, just take the money and do your job. You wouldn’t dare offend the Hendrix family“? Wow. Big shot, huh? Who the hell wants your dirty money?”
“I don’t care if you’re with the Hendrix family, or the damn Imperial family–you don’t get to boss me around. You go around spreading lies with my name in your mouth, dragging down my reputation? You think you can afford that kind of lawsuit?”
Erin had gone on a full–blown tirade, laying into her without pause–his tone dripping with sarcasm and venom. By the end of it, his voice was practically gone from shouting.
Effie hung up with a triumphant tap, then shot Dora a smug look, eyebrows raised in a silent “You’re welcome.”
Dora gave her a thumbs–up, grinning.
Everyone in that room was sharp–they’d been born into privilege, raised on politics and power plays. By the time they hit high school, they could read someone like a book in under ten minutes. Personalities, motives, ambitions–nothing slipped past them.
And Linda? A little sparrow trying to strut into the world of swans? They didn’t even need to try to see through her.
They weren’t at Ordstead just for academics. This place was a breeding ground for future elites–where you built the network you’d rely on for the rest of your life. The classmates sitting next to them today would be their
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business partners, allies, or even rivals tomorrow.
So it wasn’t about who the “real” daughter was or who had the right bloodline. What mattered was value. Who had it–and who didn’t.
Dora? The top student year after year. No matter what field she entered after graduation, she was destined to become a major player. Befriending her now was a smart investment in the future.
She didn’t need the Hendrix name to be worth something.
Linda, on the other hand–without the Hendrix family, she had nothing.
To be fair, no one had anything against Linda at first. Out of respect for the Hendrix family’s power, plenty of them had tried to be friendly. But she was impatient, self–important–and worst of all, had the audacity to come for Dora.
They stayed silent not out of kindness, but because they didn’t see the point in wasting time on someone so irrelevant. But if Linda insisted on throwing herself into the fire again and again… well, she had no one to
blame but herself.
Getting humiliated like that–publicly, no less–was the social equivalent of having your pants fall down on the street. Linda’s face had turned an ugly shade of green, her eyes rimmed with red. She looked stunned,
humiliated, and helpless.
And of course, where some stood up for Dora, others were always itching
to take her down.
“You’re all being way too much. What, you think this kind of bullying is funny?”
Chapter20
