Chapter 3

The main hall was a wreck.

Balloons, streamers, and paper plates everywhere. Cake crumbs across the coffee table. Frosting smeared on the leather couch. Footprints tracked across the carpet.

A huge banner stretched across the wall, the pink letters glaring at me: HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY, LILY!

My estate had been turned into a birthday party.

My fists clenched at my sides.

This estate was the last thing my father had ever given me. I cleaned it myself. No one understood what it meant to me — and now it had been trashed beyond recognition.

I scanned the room and spotted Lily on the center couch.

A circle of girls her age sat around her, chattering excitedly.

"Lily, your mom totally spoils you! This party is insane!"

"I heard that dress costs tens of thousands. Mrs. Hayes really loves you."

"That necklace too, it's gorgeous. Did your mom buy that for you as well?"

Lily touched the necklace at her throat and smirked.

"Of course. Mom drove me out of state to buy it. Five hundred thousand."

"And this estate," another girl gasped. "Is this Mrs. Hayes's place too?"

Lily lifted her chin. "This is Mom's gift for my eighteenth. As of today, it's mine."

"God, Lily, you're so lucky."

She basked in the flattery, smug as a cat with cream.

She was about to keep going when she turned and saw me.

Her face hardened. She marched over in her heels and, without a word, slapped me across the face.

The sound cracked through the room.

"You're a maid! How dare you steal a key and sneak in here?"

The slap left my head ringing.

The other girls stared. "Lily, who is that?"

Lily pointed at me with disdain. "This is the freeloader I told you about. Mooching off our food isn't enough — now she wants to move into my house."

I stared at her, incredulous. "Who told you this house was yours?"

She gave me a cold smile.

"My mother, obviously."

"You broke-ass nobody — you just want my mom to adopt you because she won the lottery, don't you?"

"It's not enough that you play victim and live off her, now you barge into the estate she bought me. Let me make it clear: my mom only has one daughter. She gave you a job because she felt bad about your dead parents. Don't push your luck."

I stood there, stunned.

So in Lily's mind, Alice was the lottery winner — the rich one — and I was the broke maid begging to be adopted.

No wonder she thought I was invading her life. Stealing her mother's affection.

It was almost laughable.

Lily turned to her friends, voice rising in performance.

"You guys have no idea how shameless this woman is. Lives in our house. Eats our food. Won't leave! I put up a note telling her not to mooch off us, and she called the cops on my mom for abuse!"

"My mom felt bad and let her stay on as the cook. She brought me here to relax — got me this estate as a present — and now this leech follows us out?"

Her friends took the cue and piled on.

"Living off charity and acting like an heiress? Pathetic."

"Right? Look how much Mrs. Hayes loves her daughter. That dress was custom-made for her birthday."

"And drove her across state lines to buy a half-million-dollar necklace."

"This estate is her eighteenth birthday gift. Who do you think you are, throwing a fit here?"

I stood there. It all clicked.

So that's why Alice kept asking for favors.

Designer gowns. The Maybach. Half a million dollars. The estate my father designed. She'd been pouring all of it into spoiling her daughter.

Alice. You wanted to test how far you could push me. Now find out.

I pulled out my phone and made the call right there.

"Track my location. Bring the team. Now."