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“Edward Van Buren has had some financial difficulties in the past—I think losing his wife hit him hard—but he’s doing well now. Mason will inherit a large empire.”
My hand curled into a fist at my stomach as I blinked at her. Mason’s mom is dead?
I hadn’t known that.
Which wasn’t surprising, really. We weren’t exactly having long, involved conversations.
Jacqueline waved a hand, as if growing bored with this topic. “They’re all being raised to take over their families’ businesses and holdings. A child is a legacy, and they’ll continue theirs through that bloodline.” Then she sighed, her voice softening. “It’s a great thing, to be able to pass down what you’ve worked so hard to build and to know it will continue even after you’re gone.”
She cleared her throat, and for the first time all afternoon, I saw real emotion in her face. She quickly brushed a finger across her cheek, turning to face the ocean again. I got the distinct feeling she’d wiped away a tear, and pity swelled in my chest. No matter what had happened to drive them apart, my mom had been her daughter. Maybe Jacqueline had cared about her, had missed her when she left. She just hid it better than most.
“So, they’re all just waiting around to become rich?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“More rich,” she offered with an arched brow. “The legacies they have waiting for them will give them wealth, power, and vast opportunities. If Charlotte were still here, she would have been given the same.”
She didn’t mention it, but I could hear her unspoken words. Now that my mom wasn’t here anymore, I was the last part of the Hildebrand legacy—including all the good and bad that came with it.
I leaned back in my chair, considering what she’d just told me.
Jesus. No wonder the Princes are so controlling and cruel already. They’ll probably be a thousand times worse once they graduate.
I wanted to push her for more information, but if I asked any more questions, it would make my intense interest too obvious. I’d brushed off the bullying, making it sound like nothing, and I didn’t want to give her any reason to circle back to that topic.
We made lame conversation about safe subjects like the weather and the architecture of the house, then ate dinner in silence.
By the time I left on Sunday, I’d learned more about my tormentors than about my two last living relatives in the world.
Chapter 10
It was almost a relief to make the thirty-minute drive back to campus on Sunday morning. Staying at my grandparents’ house had never gotten any easier. I still felt like an outsider there. Philip only acknowledged me when he had to, he and Jacqueline barely spoke, and her calm, cool mask was essentially impenetrable.
After driving through the black gates, I parked in the student lot and climbed out before snagging my bags from the back seat. Then I shrugged my backpack and overnight bag over my shoulders and made a beeline for Craydon Hall, praying my locker had been fixed over the weekend.
The building was mostly empty, thank God, and I breathed a shuddery sigh of relief when I pulled on my locker door and it swung wide open, revealing my precious notes inside. I scooped them up, cradling them to my chest as I slammed the door shut and bolted down the hallway. There was only one night left for me to study for the English Lit test, and if I didn’t start cramming soon, I was worried I’d fail.
As I turned a corner, planning to cut through Hammond Hall, I plowed into someone hard. We were both thrown off balance from the force of the impact, and my notes scattered over the floor.
I looked up, about to apologize, but the words died in my throat when I saw who it was.
“Watch where the hell you’re going, bitch,” Adena snapped.
“I didn’t see you,” I muttered, dropping to my knees to gather my shit.
“Clearly.” She crossed her arms over her chest, angling her head to look down at me. “Is that because your head is up your ass?”
I sighed. “I’m just trying to get to my dorm.”
Adena moved closer, her fat feet stepping on a pile of my notes. Her face twisted with gleeful malice when she noticed my frown, and she twisted on her heels, scuffing up the papers and tearing them raggedly.
“Jesus!” I leapt to my feet and shoved her, hard. “Get the fuck off those!”
She stumbled back a few steps, and when her blue eyes snapped to mine, they were narrowed to slits. She bared her teeth like an animal about to attack, her whole body shaking.
“I know what you’re trying to do here, slut,” she hissed. “And it won’t fucking work. Why don’t you pack up your crap and go back to the middle of nowhere where you belong?”
I snatched up my remaining notes and clutched them in my fist in a crumpled up wad, my body tense and alert in case she decided to bum rush me or something.
“All I’m trying to do is go to school,” I said in a low, shaky voice. “If you’d leave me the hell alone, we wouldn’t have any problem. I haven’t done shit to you, and you know it.”
