“I’m not going to abandon my best friend just because he doesn’t suit your lifestyle,Catherine,” I snapped back at her, leveling a glare at her that I could only hope carried as much ice as hers did. “For your information, not every person in Jersey with tattoos is in a gang.”
The elegant, stuck up bitch of a woman who had donated her DNA to my creation just looked at me like I was a simpleton.
“Come on, we’re late.” She totally ignored my response, checking her expensive wrist watch and turning on one of those sharp heels to exit the room. The arrogant woman didn’t even glance behind her to check I was following, just assumed I would be.
Anger bubbled up in me, choking out the fear of never seeing my best friend again. If this was how she wanted to play it, I was going to do everything in my power to piss her right the fuck off. I only had two months until I was eighteen, and then there was nothing she could do to keep me in her custody. It was going to be a very long two months for her.
It was too painful to think about the fact that my parents just died, so I’d embrace that fury. Mrs. Deboise had no idea who she was messing with.
2
The Deboise house was exactly what I’d thought it would be. As Catherine’s chauffeur-driven Bentley paused outside the wrought iron gates, I allowed myself a quick moment of awe.
It wasn’t a house. Not even close. It was a sprawling mansion like something out of one of those fantastic Christmas rom-coms. The ones with a girl who meets a prince in a foreign, made up country and they fall madly in love… what a shame happy endings weren’t real, and pretty mansions were just bricks and mortar.
“This is where you live?” I muttered, unable to bite my tongue any longer. We’d been silent the entire helicopter flight and car ride, and I was starting to get twitchy.
Catherine turned her condescending glare on me. “This is wherewelive. You’re a Deboise now, Riley. Start getting used to it.” She grimaced, her mouth twisting like she’d licked a lemon. “That name is atrocious and not at all suitable for my daughter. We’ll have to change it before the school term starts.”
I spluttered in shock and choked on a stray droplet of saliva.
Smooth, Riles. Real smooth.
“Excuse me?” I demanded when my coughing subsided. “I could have sworn you just said you wanted tochange my name.”
My birth mother turned her attention back to her phone that she’d been tapping away at for the whole journey. “That’s exactly what I said, child. Perhaps you suffered a worse head injury than the doctors realized.”
I clenched my teeth together. Hard. My temper had always been a bit short, but no amount of deep breathing and counting to ten was going to save me now.
“You can’t just change my name because it doesn’t suit you,” I declared, a growl of fury underscoring my words. “That’s not how it works. It’smy fucking name, you egomaniac.”
This finally seemed to capture her attention entirely, and her icy glare snapped back to me. “I’m going to let that slide, just this once, because you don’t know what you’re saying. But hear this, child. I’m Catherine Deboise. I can do anything I please, and if I want to change your name, that’s exactly what I’ll do.” Her response left me gobsmacked, at a total loss for words. I had no idea people like this evenexisted. “As for that appalling, vulgar language, I can only imagine it’s a result of your poor upbringing. Deboise ladies don’t swear, so don’teverdo it again.”
Her swipe at my parents—mydeadparents—had me seeing red.
Before I could even process what I was doing, I spat in her face. “Fuck you, Catherine.”
She sat there a moment, just staring at me in shock as my saliva ran down her cheek. For a millisecond, I regretted my actions. Spitting was revolting, and not something I’d ever done before, but Catherine Deboise brought out the worst in me.
My moment of regret was gone as quick as it came thanks to the crack of Catherine’s hand across my face. She’d used the back of it, her huge diamond rings cutting my cheek in the process.
“The next time you treat me with disrespect, I’ll have you beaten.” She delivered the threat in such a cold, uncaring way that I really questioned if maybe I’d died in the crash after all. Surely this was Hell.
I touched my fingers to my cheek, dabbing at the blood trickling from the fresh wound and looking at them in stunned disbelief. She’d justhitme!
Catherine pushed open her door and stepped out, disappearing into the mansion without another word and leaving me to find my own way. After a few minutes of struggling I finally managed to clamber out of the car, only to find the fucking driver juststandingthere.
“Thanks for the help, asshole,” I growled at him in anger. Not because I expected servants to wait on me hand and foot, but because I was in a goddamn cast and blood still dripped down my face. It was only common courtesy, wasn’t it?
The driver raised his brows, giving me an aloof look. “Word of advice, miss. Keep your head down and your mouth shut. You do not want to get on the Mistress’s bad side.”
I glared at him, then decided it wasn’t worth the effort to argue. All he’d done was confirm what I already suspected… Catherine Deboise was a fucking psychopath.
* * *
“This is your room,”she said, acting like the confrontation in the car hadn’t even happened. “I’m heading out right after this for a business meeting. You will stay in here until I get back, and then we will go over the rules.”
I didn’t even bother to acknowledge her. I’d already decided that whatever she told me to do, I was going to do the opposite. I might not have much power against someone with Deboise banking money, but I’d take what I could. She’d made a big mistake thinking she could just pick me up and drop me back in her life again, and now that I had met her it was making even less sense that she had.
