Wealth, status, and beauty define the elite of Kensington Prep. Every one of them possesses the ability to get away with anything and everything they want, unscathed and remain as privileged and superior as ever.
But Amory Scout decides that tim...
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"What did you say?"
My kitten heels sink in the carpet as I march over towards Grandpa Calloway. "Why do you look like a young girl, Deidre?" Grandpa Calloway frowns at me as I approach him. "Are you a ghost?"
The last bit is a whisper as he cups my cheek with one hand. I feel tempted to move his hand away, slap his touch away from me, but I'm too engrossed in what Grandpa Calloway is saying. Maybe the way I can find out more about Deidre's relationship with her husband's father is to pretend to be Deidre, Orson's dead mother.
"Yes, yes, I am," I stutter out. "What happened?"
Grandpa Calloway's eyes are brimming with tears; they're glassy, fringe with disappointment. "I did try to protect you. I really did. I'm sorry she made you marry Elijah to hide him."
I feel stupefied. "Hide...?"
"Orson," he whispers.
Suddenly, everything clicks for me. Like a key piece to the puzzle, just that little information allows me to connect all the dots. The birth certificate. The conversation with Miss Mckinley. Why my appearance has caused such a reaction to Orson's grandmother.
Deidre Hollows was Delia Calloway's handmaiden, one of her most loyal servants. I originally thought that Orson's father, Elijah, met Deidre at her time at Calloway Manor when what actually happened must have been an affair between Jeremy Calloway, the titan of the Calloway empire, and Deidre. Deidre must have gotten pregnant with Jeremy's baby. And that baby must be Orson.
From what Jeremy Calloway is telling me, Delia found out about the affair and rightfully furious and humiliated, she forced Deidre to marry her only son to hide the birth of the child and save face. Make it look like it was Elijah's son. This whole time, the emotionally abusive relationship between Orson and his father is actually a mean-spirited put-down competition between two brothers and Orson has no idea.
"But I promise to punish her, Deidre," he promises me, grasping my hand tight with surprising strength. The way he looks at me inquisitively, with such sureness, makes me wonder if he even is crazy in the first place, "And I already did. I'm going to give him everything."
My heart is in my throat as I struggle to find my voice, "Everything?"
"Because of what she did to you, I made sure that only sons of the Calloway family are allowed to inherit the Calloway Estate and all of its fortunes."
My jaw drops. "But that means-"
"Orson and Elijah are the only living heirs entitled to the Calloway fortune," another voice interrupts. I'm frozen in motion. It's half a second before my gaze wanders to the door.
Lurking in the open doorway of the library, she is there. The shadow she throws seems so large that her five feet swallow the office hall. Delia Calloway.
