I was a bundle of nerves by the time I made it to the office after school on Monday. The board had to approve my ideas for the new business model and projects.The projects involved meant a great deal to me and even more to the Beta community. I couldn’t let them down. It would be even worse than the way I failed Amy.I hadn’t eaten all day, and my stomach was rumbling, but there was no way I could eat until after my presentation to the board.Yet, when Victor showed up in my office with mocha lattes and chocolate muffins, I couldn’t help nibbling on a muffin. He knew me well.“I’m glad you’re here,” I told him. “Look.” I held out a shaking hand for him to see.I wasn’t sure until he walked into my office just now if he would come to the presentation this afternoon. He had been distant since I asked him that question about kissing a few days ago.Maybe I should bring it up later to see what I had said wrong.“You’ll do great,” Daisy,” Victor insisted. “You and your report are prepared
“Daisy, we need to talk about this,” Victor said. “Let’s go outside and walk in the garden.I didn’t want to talk about it. My mind was trying to process what was happening, and it wasn’t handling it well.Leaping to my feet, I shook my head. “Please, Victor, not now. I need to be alone.”Alex’s face grew hard again. “Leave her alone, for now, Victor. “This is a difficult time for her and me.”I ran from the room and rushed upstairs, where I hid in the library. Looking around the space where I spent much of my time, I wondered if Olivia would love this room full of old books like I do.I sat down and hugged one of the throw pillows scattered on the couch while I cried until my nose was clogged and my eyes felt scratchy.While I was wiping my eyes, Benson knocked on the door before popping his head inside. “Are you alright, Miss Wilson?”“I’m not Miss Wilson, Benson.” Fresh tears ran down my face as I said the words. “You should call me Daisy for however long I’ll be here.”Alex said I
The night went by too quickly, and it was time for me to leave the best and most loving home I’ve ever had.Except for the overnight bag, my belongings had been taken to my new home on Third Avenue in the city. Jennifer and some of the other maids had unpacked my things there last night. The apartment was ready for me.After going downstairs with the overnight bag, I found Alex in the living room. He was silently crying.My tears began to flow, too, as I went to him and sat down.He took my hand and raised it to his lips. “It doesn’t matter if we are connected by blood or not, sweetheart. You will always be my daughter. I want you to continue using my last name and stay in touch.”I nodded. “You have been so good to me.”“I will continue to be there for you for as long as possible,” he vowed.His arms went around me, and we held each other tightly. “I love you, Daisy, he said.“And I love you, Alex,” I said. “Thank you for making my life better. I don’t regret a moment I spent here wi
My heart pounded, and my legs felt rubbery as I leaned against my oak front door and waited to open it for Victor.I wanted to see him. I missed him and needed the way he made me feel like I could do anything. But I knew his being here had to be the end of our relationship.No, it wasn’t a relationship. It was only an arrangement, similar to a business deal.If I were Alex’s daughter, our deal would have worked out well for him. Now that we knew I wasn’t, I felt guilty for the time he wasted with me. All of his efforts, like teaching me how to dance and how to be a CEO, had been a waste of his time.But I enjoyed pretending to be his fiancée until things got carried away, and I ended up caring about him more than I should.I will remember our one incredible kiss for the rest of my life. There was something about Victor that just the touch of his hand made me tingle.There was a knock on the door. He was here, and I knew what I had to do. A fake engagement with a counterfeit heiress wo
“I am not leaving here until we talk,” Victor declared. “You are not being reasonable. It isn’t like you.”I looked at him defiantly. He was making it more difficult for me to do the right thing. “How do you know? Maybe my real family are unreasonable people.”He ran a hand over his hair and made an exasperated sound.“Despite not knowing your parentage, I know you well,” he argued. “I’m not leaving until we sit down and talk about it like I wanted to when Alex first told us about Olivia.”“I don’t see the point,” I said. “Talking won’t change anything. Alex wants to give what you have always wanted to Alberta’s husband. And once again, I am not Alberta.”“Daisy, I don’t know what will happen to the leadership position,” Victor said. “I’m not worried about it right now. You shouldn’t be either.”“I don’t believe you,” I said. “It is all you have wanted for years. It’s why you made the agreement with me in the first place. If you were willing to be engaged to a girl you didn’t know to
Okay, Daisy, you win,” Victor said, and I heard him walk out the door.I closed it behind him and ran to my bedroom. Collapsing onto my new bed, I began to sob. I punched the pillows a few times and soon felt drained.I was finally happy living with Alex in his mansion. I had a father, friends in the servants, and two handsome male friends.Why did everything have to be taken away from me?“Self-pity isn’t any better than someone else pitying you,” I told myself and swung my legs off the mattress to sit on the edge of the bed. “Many people would love to have what you do.”Besides, Victor would have married somebody else one day. What did it matter if it was Olivia?I stood and went to the double glass doors that led onto my new balcony. Pushing one side open, I stepped outside.I closed my eyes as the sun’s rays touched my face. I was outside, but being outside in the city was an entirely different experience from being outside in the country.The sounds of traffic and some machinery
It seemed like Olivia had taken my place in every way. All the Alphas who used to try to be my friend now flocked to her.She was petite and pretty, with curly brown hair reaching the middle of her back. Her brownish-green eyes were perfect ovals, and she moved gracefully, like a ballerina.The way she touched William’s arm when they spoke told me she was attracted to him. He seemed flattered by her attention, and I saw them chatting in the hallways later in the day.The rest of my Friday was as dismal as the first half of the day. Besides losing my seat next to William and all my friends to Olivia, some of the Alpha kids resumed their attempts to torment me.However, I wasn’t the shy, geeky girl of the past. Their efforts to humiliate me didn’t always work out well for them.At lunch, as I sat at an empty table near a gaggle of popular girls, one asked me how it felt to go from riches to rags. Another called me a homeless nobody.“Wow, you girls are getting your gossip from a lame so
“Daisy, you look too much like your mother for it to be a coincidence,” William said. “My parents say you are the spitting image of Joanna Wilson. Everyone who has ever seen her or has been inside Alex’s ballroom can see it.”“Alex said my maid must have molded my looks, so I resembled Joanna in the portrait.”“No way!” William exclaimed. “I remember you before you began wearing contacts and makeup. You have your mother’s eyes, and the shape of your face is exactly like hers.”I didn’t know what to say.“Your bright green eye color is rare,” he pointed out. “They are the exact shade as Joanna’s, while Olivia’s are hazel green.”“That’s true, but it wasn't hard evidence.”“I’ve been talking to Olivia to draw more information from her for my investigation,” William said. “There are several more reasons why my parents and I think she's an imposter.”I was stunned. William and his parents think Olivia is an imposter! How many other Alphas thought this, too?I reminded myself it didn’t mea