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Laney
I was tooshocked to move or speak. I couldn’t even blink.
“Don’t spend it all at once, Laney,” Talia said, plump red lips turning up in a smirk.
It felt like a knife had been thrust right into my ribcage. Heat flushed through my body, a vein pulsed on my left temple, and every muscle quivered.
I dropped the envelope at my feet.
“What… what is this?” I choked out. Dizziness was overcoming me now, and I felt like I might drop to my knees and hurl all over the stage.
Talia smiled wickedly, too-white teeth bared like a lioness moving in for the kill. “I can’t believe you actually fell for it,” she crowed into the microphone, amplifying my humiliation for everyone else in the room. “Did you really think we’d hand over one red cent to a piece of trash like you?”
“But…”
She turned her head to face the dancefloor. “Did you see her face?” she called out. “She really thought she won something!”
Laughter rose in the crowd. Cruel, throaty cackling, like a coven of witches. It seemed to echo through the ballroom and into the halls beyond, reaching every nook and cranny of the hotel. I pictured guests upstairs joining in as staff members whispered behind their hands about my shameful moment.
“Why?” I whispered, more to myself than Talia. Even though the ballroom was huge, the walls seemed to be closing in on me. I started gasping for air, legs wobbling.
They planned this. They all planned this together, just to humiliate me as much as possible.
I should have listened to that little voice in the back of my mind; the one that warned me over and over, like a flashing red light above an alarm. But no, I chose to be optimistic for once. I chose to believe these smug rich kids could actually be kind and accepting to someone like me.
Now I was paying the price.
I thought it was bad on Tuesday, when I was embarrassed in front of everyone at the cafeteria, but this was so much worse. This time the other students led me to believe they actually liked me and wanted me here, only to pull the rug out from under me as soon as I stepped onto the stage, where my abject humiliation could be put on full display under the bright lights.
I stood soaking in the vicious laughter, head spinning. “You don’t even like Hunter,” I murmured. “You told me that.”
Talia smirked. “And you were stupid enough to fall for it, Trash,” she replied. “Did you really think any of us would turn against the Princes for some Walmart-shopping new kid?”
I kept shaking my head, wrapping my arms around myself as my shoulders hunched up. I wanted to curl into a ball, disappear into myself, only I couldn’t move properly. My legs and feet were still frozen to the stage, refusing to cooperate.
“By the way,” Talia said. “That dress? No one with even a modicum of taste would buy or wear it. It’s so tacky I literally want to vomit.”
Over her shoulder, I could see Hunter stepping up onto the stage from the other side. Five of his Prince minions were with him—Kairo, Jake, Asher, Justin, and Elijah. To the right of them, I spotted Trina and Adam frantically cutting through the snickering partygoers, heading toward the stage as well.
Hunter strode right up to me, a dazzling smile illuminating his handsome features with cruel amusement. My stomach clenched at the sight of him.
“Have you got the message yet, Trash?” he asked. His voice was low and dark. Cold and angry like a rolling storm. “We don’t want you here. You need to get the fuck out of this town.”
“Why? I didn’t do anything to you,” I bit out, tears stinging my eyes.
“She’s pathetic, isn’t she?” Talia said in a simpering tone, reaching out to stroke Hunter’s arm. “I still can’t believe she actually thought we’d give her any money! It’s so funny!”
He ignored her, shaking off her hand as he reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a checkbook and a pen. “I think I actually should offer you that fifteen grand, Trash,” he said, staring right at me. “You must hate me by now, so it’ll kill you to accept it… but money is money, and you need it, don’t you?”
He leaned over the small table nearby and neatly wrote out a check. Then he dangled it in the air. “Come and get it,” he said. “It’s real, I promise. Fifteen thousand is nothing to me, so I won’t miss it. But you will if you don’t take it.”
“She probably doesn’t even have a bank account to deposit it in,” Talia said. Next to her, Letitia and Grace snickered behind their hands.
Before I could even think about taking the money, Trina and Adam reached the stage. Trina lunged forward and snatched the check from Hunter’s hand. Then she tore it into pieces and scattered them all over the floor. “You’re disgusting,” she hissed. “All of you. I can’t believe you’d do this to her.”
Talia sneered. “Shut the fuck up, Trina. You’ve made it clear where your allegiance lies, so no one cares what you have to say anymore. You too, Adam.”
“Oh, fuck off, you pathetic little snake,” Adam shot back, crossing his arms. “Do you really think this is going to make Hunter want you again?”
