The Heiress Nobody Wanted
Ariel said honestly.
"Everyone has an opinion on centerpieces," Marcus said. "You're just repressing yours."
Britney, seated across the table, caught Ariel's eye and almost smiled, an actual smile, unguarded, and for a strange, disorienting moment Ariel realized this was the most normal her life had felt in months. No forged records. No hidden nurses. No unnamed cousin somewhere circling this family's secrets. Just fabric swatches and Marcus's increasingly dramatic objections to gold as a color family.