Every cell in my body screamedno. I walked anyway.
“Morning, Mother.”
“Yes, yes, hello,” she shooed for me to be quiet, and gestured for me to hurry up. “Come closer. I can’t see you from there.”
We were five meters apart. I stepped forward. Her gaze swept over me with the sharpness of a scanner. Then her face dropped like she’d witnessed a crime.
“Oh my god.” Her hand went to her mouth. Her eyes widened. “Oh god,” she repeated again, her tone dropped in a way that scared me.
“What?”
“Closer.”
I obeyed out of habit more than choice.
She lowered her hand from her mouth, and reached for me. She turned my chin left, then right, like she was inspecting a product the dynasty courier had delivered damaged.
“That’s a line,” she whispered, clearly devastated.
“A… what?”
“A line, Madeline.” Her manicured nail hovered near the outer corner of my eye. “There.”
“Creasing maybe?”
“It’s age,” she squealed horrified. “Oh god. Oh no.A line.On my twenty-year-old daughter.”
“Mother—”
“Marco!” she barked, dropping my chin. “Get over here.”
My father appeared near the dining room archway, datapad in hand.
“What now?” he asked, already exhausted.
She grabbed my face again and angled it toward him. “Do you see this?”
He squinted. “See what?”
“The lines!”
He tilted his head. “Still not seeing them.”
She rolled her eyes. “You also can’t see without glasses.”
“Mother, I’m fine,”
“No, you’re exhausted,” she corrected, swatting at under my eye as if she could erase it. “This is what happens when Marco piles negotiations on you. Look at her, she looks late thirty.”
“Really?”
“You’re fine, Maddy.” My father stepped around her and touched my elbow, steering me toward the breakfast table. “Ignore your mother.”
“She’s ignoring the problem. You need a day off. Fresh air. Spa. Hydration therapy. Shopping. And proper clothing. That dress does nothing for your complexion.”
I glanced down at the pale blue wrap dress I’d put on because Vince liked the way it fell over my hips.
“I have meetings. The Hollis follow-up and?—”
