جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 10

My shoulder hurt so badly I was sweating, and I was in no mood for him. I laughed."So what? The party started without me, didn't it?"And as for dignity, don't you know my family only ordered a gown for Sophia? What the hell was I supposed to wear to look respectable for you?"I had to submit a written request to the family accountant to spend five dollars on a sandwich.A gown was never happening.Surprise flickered in Julian's eyes. Then he raised his voice. "Sophia was looking for you the whole time we were setting up. Now you've shown up like this just to scare her. Apologize to her right now!""Looking for me?"I laughed out loud and turned toward Sophia, still surrounded by guests."Then how come I didn't get one message?"Instead, I'd made dozens of calls for help, and they'd rejected every one.Sophia seemed to notice us. She lifted her skirt and came hurrying over."Renee, where did you go? I was so worried about you!"Her eyes were red and her voice broke as she grabbed my h

When I was eight, Sophia came to live at the Long Island estate. She was the orphaned daughter of the man who'd saved the Bennett family.She'd been born with a serious heart condition. I felt sorry for her because she'd lost her parents, so I always let her have her way at home.One day she came to me crying and said she'd lost my parents' money.She was afraid they wouldn't want her anymore, so she begged me to take the blame.I said yes.My sister was sick, I told myself, and she wasn't theirs by blood. If they threw her out over this, she'd never manage on her own.I didn't know they'd set that money aside for Sophia's heart treatment.I'd barely finished telling my father I'd lost the money when my brother pulled an antique necklace and the rest of the cash from under my mattress.Before I could speak, Sophia clutched her chest and collapsed. In front of the whole family, she sobbed, "How could she take the money I need to stay alive just to feed her vanity? Is it because she hate

The first thing I did after moving into the school dorm was log in to the private job board the rich kids used.The Bennett family had put the word out across New York, and I couldn't find any ordinary part-time work.I scrolled for a long time before a listing caught my eye.The Voss family, new money out of Silicon Valley, was looking for an SAT tutor for their son.The terms were brutally simple. $10,000 for every point he gained. No cap.But word was that Jasper Voss was a violent, unpredictable lunatic.The Voss family had paid a fortune to hire tutors with Ivy League PhDs. They'd all either left traumatized or ended up in the ER.I didn't have another option.If I couldn't raise the money fast, I'd be on my knees apologizing to them and begging them to pay for college.I took the job and went to the penthouse in Manhattan the next day.I'd barely entered the code and pushed open the door when three security drones came screaming down from the ceiling and blasted a volley of paint

With the $20,000 from the Voss family, I no longer had to worry about my next meal.To keep my head clear while I worked on my early application, I treated myself to a cup of the expensive coffee I'd never been able to afford before.I'd just carried it into the lounge when Julian and Sophia blocked my way with a crowd of old-money kids behind them.Julian stared at the cup in disgust, already convinced he knew how I'd paid for it."You never change, do you? Renee, they froze your cards and threw you out, and you went right back to stealing?""What are you talking about?"I stared at him. There was no reasoning with this man. The whole thing was ridiculous.Then Sophia stepped out of the crowd, biting her lip with tears in her eyes."Renee, if you didn't have money for food, you could have told me. Why would you take the check I was donating to the riding club? That money was for charity!""How would I know where you keep your money?""You do know! I told you I keep my money in my lock

Over the next few weeks, Jasper actually started grinding through practice problems.Mr. and Mrs. Voss, who'd thought getting him to sit still was a miracle, wired me a hundred thousand dollars and asked me to keep tutoring him.I wasn't the stray who couldn't afford a meal anymore.That weekend I planned to go back to the Long Island estate for the documents I needed for my early-decision application.The moment I walked in, I could feel that something was off.My parents, Ethan, Sophia, and even Julian were all there.The old butler stood at the bend in the stairs, his eyes pleading with me to run.But my father had already seen me. He slammed his cane against the floor. "Close the door," he ordered flatly.The door had barely shut before my brother came at me and slapped me across the face."You shameless little bitch!"Ethan stood over me, shouting so close that his spit almost hit my face. "You sold yourself as a plaything to some new-money nobody from Silicon Valley for pocket ch