Chapter 4

Lily seemed to have caught on that I was just pretending to be a socialite.

She corralled her sorority sisters and ambushed me in the middle of the crowded campus dining hall.

One of her minions sneered, pointing a manicured finger at my third-hand bag. "Look at the hardware. It's totally scratched. And the lining is frayed. That's my old bag that I donated to a consignment shop last month.

"You're nothing but a pathetic, gold-digging fraud living off our hand-me-downs. Everyone, look at the fake heiress. Don't believe her lies."

I elegantly dabbed my mouth with a napkin, set down my silver fork, picked up the bag, and chucked it directly into the girl's face.

Second-hand? Please. By the time that bag reached me, it was fourth-hand. But my grandfather was a retired master cobbler who used to restore vintage leather for royalty. To the naked eye, the bag was flawless.

Lily and her crew scrambled to pick the bag off the floor, tearing through the compartments, desperate to find a serial number or a defect that proved it was a fake.

Instead, they pulled out my solid metal Amex Black Card, my VIP platinum membership to the most exclusive medical spa in the city, and several ultra-exclusive limited-edition VIP cards.

They were thoroughly humiliated. I lost my fourth-hand bag, but I instantly got thirty thousand dollars.

I took that money straight to my grandfather and had him construct a custom haute couture gown for the upcoming Westbridge Centennial Gala.

It was significantly louder and more glamorous than my usual quiet luxury aesthetic.

On the night of the gala, just as I was about to clasp the Azure Tear around my throat, Mason had a stunning diamond necklace delivered to my door.

The handwritten note read: [Just some stones. I designed the setting myself. Wear it tonight for fun. See you at the gala.]

He couldn't take the silent treatment anymore. He was making his move.

The gala was the social event of the year for the city's young elite. It was a glittering, champagne-soaked playground for the ultra-rich.

Lily, wearing a terrifyingly expensive designer dress, was holding court and soaking up the attention until I walked through the double doors.

Benjamin walked straight up to me and loudly declared his love for me in front of the entire student body. I rejected him again.

Benjamin stared at the massive diamond resting on my chest, stunned.

Lily watched in sheer disbelief as her own brother poured his heart out to me.

All eyes were fixed on me, leaving Lily seething in the shadows. Consumed by a toxic envy, she could only watch from the sidelines, gnashing her teeth.

She marched across the ballroom, reached out, and violently yanked the diamond necklace off my throat, throwing it onto the marble floor.

"Do you really expect us to believe this is real, Anna?" Lily shrieked. "If you're going to play the billionaire heiress, at least do your research.

"There isn't a diamond this size on the domestic market. You're just a cheap, social-climbing whore. How many sugar daddies did you have to sleep with to afford that dress?"

With an elegant motion, I raised my hand and slapped her across the face with everything I had. My palm stung like hell, but the intense satisfaction made it worth it. I had been waiting eight years to hit her.

"Is this the legendary Whitman family etiquette?" I asked. "You certainly seem to know a lot about sleeping with sugar daddies, Lily. Speaking from experience?"

Furious, Lily started shouting at the crowd, desperately trying to rally the other trust-fund kids to turn on me.

She was almost succeeding when Mason, playing the part of my underground art teacher, calmly walked over and retrieved the necklace from the floor to fasten it back around my neck.

"Last year at the High Jewelry Exhibition, a matched set of diamonds was auctioned off," Mason said. "It made the cover of the New York Times. The center stone was a flawless two-hundred-carat diamond. It sold for forty million dollars to an anonymous buyer.

"The necklace resting against this young lady's collarbone is that exact piece."

I remained silent, casting a complex look at Mason before my eyes dropped to the shimmering diamonds on my chest. I chose to lean into my vulnerability, allowing him to be my knight in shining armor.

The room shifted from mockery to awestruck silence. My identity as the wealthy daughter of an international tycoon was instantly cemented into gospel.

Mason was the phantom emperor of the city's financial sector. None of the college-aged heirs in this room had ever actually met him face-to-face.

Even Lily, who had been arranged to marry him since she was a teenager, had no idea what her own fiancé looked like.

And seriously, who would ever suspect the powerful CEO of Sterling Group would be posing as a starving artist at a college formal?

Mason, playing his role perfectly, leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Don't worry. I'm just bluffing to shut them up. The necklace is only worth a few grand."

So, I took the necklace without a second thought.

Humiliated and stripped of her social standing, Lily threw a screaming tantrum and fled the gala in tears.

But I knew Lily wouldn't let this go. She was going to dig into my background with everything the Whitman family had.

I wasn't afraid of her investigating me, but I couldn't leave my flanks exposed. If someone looks hard enough, they always find a crack.

I needed to finalize my cover story immediately.

That brought me to the third step in my plan to pose as a socialite.