Poor Little Rich Girl | ✓

Chapter 21: I Think You're A Pretty Nifty Girl

Chapter 21: I Think You're A Pretty Nifty Girl

The news of us going broke finally broke two weeks later. Up until this very moment, I was hoping, praying and believing that the truth wouldn’t get it, no matter how hard Samuel fought to make sure that it did. We’ve been living here in Tennessee for a little over a month now and April just started a few days prior. Things were actually going…okay-ish up until now. I mean, not great because I’m still poor of course, but they weren’t going too terribly.

Currently, I’m sitting in my tiny bedroom at my grandma’s house, holding the daily newspaper up close to my face, reading the icky article about us. There’s a black and white photo of me…on the ground…centimeters away from the cow dung that I almost fell in that day two weeks ago. The other picture is of my brother, and it’s not a very pleasant one. It’s of his fist and an angry expression that was on his face before he punched the photographer in the face.

The article is long and very, well, bad. I’ve already read it like, six times since Spencer brought the paper in here to me this morning, throwing it at me. It’s a pretty long article too; it covers about half of the page.

From Riches to Rags in Sixty Seconds

Multi-Millionaire Jack Vandergeld and his wife, Vanessa Vandergeld have allegedly lost their fortune. Mr. Vandergeld’s widely successful, world-famous design and engineering conglomerate was reportedly taken over by Jimmy Camden. You may recall that Camden and Vandergeld have always been at opposite ends, always going head to head when it comes to their companies. Camden, owner, creator and CEO of design and engineering company Camden Corporations had reportedly bought up half of Vandergeld’s company’s stock- making him a major shareholder. From there, Camden managed to buy the rest of the company’s shares of stock, successfully stealing Vandergeld’s own company from him.

The Vandergeld’s immediately sold their yacht, multi-million dollar mansion is Los Angeles, California, their beach houses in Maui, Malibu, Spain and Greece. The vacation homes located in France, Italy, The Netherlands, England, Australia, Southampton and Budapest were also amongst their property which were repossessed by banks in order to pay their debts. The family also had second, third, fourth and fifth homes in Upper Manhattan (located in New York), Miami, Florida and Bora-Bora, respectively. All homes have been repossessed by the retailers or sold.

Son of power-couple Leah Watkins (owner of Watkins Cosmetics) and Victor Watkins (owner and CEO of world-wide famous restaurant corporation, The Muse) Samuel Watkins, ex-boyfriend of the Vandergeld’s only daughter, Stephanie, first leaked the story to the public. Claiming that he, “just wanted to visit,” his, “beautiful girlfriend in her time of heartache,” Samuel Watkins reportedly left the family’s Puerto Rican vacation and flew to Tennessee- where the Vandergeld’s have taken shelter with Vanessa Vandergeld’s mother. Watkins describes the living conditions as, “absolutely mortifying.” Samuel Watkins also admits that he, “tried to help,” his then-girlfriend by, “giving her some money.” Watkins revealed that Miss Vandergeld and himself got into an altercation after she revealed her, “disgusting and immoral acts,” to him.

Not long after Watkins was released from the county jail, the story was released and paparazzi flooded the farm on which the Vandergeld’s are living. Photographers say that Miss Vandergeld was on her way to school dressed in, “clothes totally un-Stephanie-like,” and refused to take pictures. Luckily photographers were able to snap a few, one pictured above. Spencer Vandergeld- the family’s eldest son, apparently came to his sister’s rescue before punching a paparazzi in the face. The injured paparazzo, Elliot Thompson made it out with a concussion and a broken nose. Charges have not yet been filed against eighteen year old Vandergeld.