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ChapterOne
ALICE
Vibrant strobe lights flashed across the sea of writhing bodies on the dance floor, casting a kaleidoscope of colors onto the polished surfaces that surrounded me. The bass-heavy music thumped in my chest, each beat threatening to steal away my breath as it filled up the room.
My nostrils were struck by the scents of sweat, perfume, and alcohol, creating a heady concoction that only served to calm me down. I only felt at ease when I was drinking and partying, and Château Noir was the hottest club in LA. By some miraculous stroke of luck, I’d managed to get in without anyone realizing who I was.
The anonymity was lovely.
Sheer heaven.
And I wasn’t about to give it up.
"Hey Alice, are you ready for me to call us an Uber?" Dinah shouted through the thumping house music from the barstool beside me.
"Fuck no!" I yelled back to my personal assistant. "I'm not nearly drunk enough yet!" I waved a hundred-dollar bill at the bartender, less worried that he'd recognize me and more concerned that he wouldn't replace my vodka gimlets as fast as I was pounding them down.
The humiliation was still too new, too painfully raw. My social media accounts were blowing up so bad that I'd turned off my phone a couple hours ago.
They say it’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play them. Well, I’d been dealt a winning hand—maybe the best hand you can possibly get—and somehow I’d managed to completely blow it.
I wasn’t an idiot.
I was just unlucky.
Really, really unlucky.
I say I was dealt the best hand of cards because my entire family is famous. Like,insanelyfamous. My dad is Derek Darling, a retired big-shot NFL quarterback. My mom is Valentina Darling, a world-famous supermodel. My parents raised me and my sisters in Malibu...on ‘Darling Dynasty,’ a reality TV show that’s been running forever. It’s been filming since my parents announced they were expecting their first baby.
I hated growing up in front of the cameras. Kids at school would only be friends with me because they thought I’d help make them popular or because their parents thought my parents would make them popular. Most people only saw dollar signs when they looked at me. I guess word got out that if me or my sisters were invited to someone’s birthday party, your odds of getting an insanely awesome gift were all but guaranteed.
Things only got worse with puberty, and everything that went along with it, like boys, acne, and tits that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Boys never liked me for who I was. They just liked the idea of who they expected me to be.
Also, the tits.
Mine were impressive.
And I had them before most other girls had theirs. Which resulted in tons of teasing, and being accused of having a boob job in junior high, etc.
As fast as my tits grew, my friends from grade school transformed into mean girls. Then the mean girls turned into sadistic bullies that made my life hell. And all of my angry outbursts and awkwardness was captured on film for the entire world to see on endless reruns ofDarling Dynasty.
Fast forward to our twenties, and my older sister Marcella had a leaked sex tape that launched her into a booming swimwear and lingerie company. My younger sister Bianca took some cues from our mother to start her own modeling careerandcreated a makeup brand that was dominating all the others.
And I...
Well...
I was still the unluckiest member of our family.
I wasn’t driven to hustle like Marcella was. I wasn’t handed every opportunity on a silver platter like baby Bianca. The only things I was really good at were shopping, drinking, and fucking.
So when Remy, my venture capitalist boyfriend, gave me the opportunity to invest in a business and help me launch my very own line of shoes, I jumped at the chance to create my own empire.
Instead of being famous for falling out of limos and puking on red carpets, I could have a legitimate business of my own, just like the rest of the Darling Dynasty.
All I had to do was help design pretty high heels, strappy sandals, and then show them off on my social media sites. As long as I bankrolled the project out of my trust fund, Remy promised to take care of the details and make me a success.
Sounded like a win-win.
