Chapter 1
They dumped their leftover lunch onto my tray and laughed because they thought I was the poorest girl at Westbridge Academy. None of them knew who my father was.
I had been at the private school in Boston for exactly three weeks when Madison Blake decided I didn't belong there.
Her father owned hotels, her mother chaired half the school's fundraisers, and everyone around her acted like that made Madison royalty.
I kept my head down because my father had made me promise one thing before I transferred.
"Don't tell anyone who you are, Emily."
He wanted me to know who would treat me well when they thought I had nothing to offer them.
At lunch that Friday, I carried my tray toward an empty table near the windows.
Madison stepped directly into my path.
"Careful," she said loudly. "That sweater probably can't survive another stain."
Her friends laughed.
I tried to walk around her.
Then Tyler Reynolds grabbed the carton of chocolate milk from his tray.
"Maybe she needs dessert."
Before I could move, he poured it across my food.
The entire cafeteria went silent for half a second.
Then Madison picked up a plate covered with cold fries, ketchup, and half-eaten chicken.
She dumped everything onto my tray.
"Now it looks more like what you're used to eating."
Her table exploded with laughter.
My hands shook, but I didn't cry.
I quietly placed the ruined tray on the nearest table.
Madison leaned closer.
"What? No comeback?"
I looked at her and said, "You really should stop."
She smiled.
"Or what?"
Before I could answer, a teacher hurried over, but Madison immediately pointed at me.
"Emily threw food at us first."
Three of her friends nodded.
The teacher looked at my stained sweater and then at Madison.
"Emily, you're coming to the principal's office."
Madison whispered as I walked past her, "Maybe they'll finally send you back where you belong."
Inside the office, Principal Harris barely let me speak.
"Several students say you started the disturbance."
"My tray was covered in their food."
"Madison Blake has never caused trouble here."
I stared at him.
He slid a disciplinary form across the desk.
"Your parent or guardian needs to sign this before Monday."
Then his secretary suddenly appeared in the doorway, pale and breathless.
"Mr. Harris, there's a problem outside."
He frowned. "What kind of problem?"
She looked directly at me.
"There are six black SUVs at the front entrance."
The principal stood up.
A moment later, heavy footsteps filled the hallway.
The door opened, and my father walked in with two attorneys and the chairman of the school's board.
Principal Harris went completely white.
My father didn't even look at him.
He looked at the chocolate milk dripping from my sleeve and quietly asked, "Emily... who did this to you?"
Behind him, Madison had followed the crowd into the hallway.
May you like
The second she saw my father, the smile vanished from her face.
Because the man she had just mocked my family in front of was Daniel Carter—the billionaire whose company owned the building where her father's hotel empire kept its headquarters.
