Chapter 49
Gemma
I feel their eyes on me. Everyone in the room who heard Claire’s
words.
“I’m sorry,” I say. I smile my brightest smile and flip my long, thick red hair over my shoulder. “Did you just accuse me of sleeping my way into this event?”
I let a small smile play around my mouth and gave her a pitying
look.
“I donated a necklace worth five hundred thousand dollars.”
Even saying it hurts a little.
I could have used that money for so much, but simply having money wouldn’t give me access to the doctor I wanted to speak to like I thought being at this event would.
I took the risk because I thought it could lead to a cure for my
mom.
As upscale as Hope Moon Hospital is, they still haven’t been able to fix her.
I keep asking them to check for silver poisoning, because I know that’s what Reyna did. But she must have figured out some way to
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make it undetectable. No silver ever shows up in my mom’s test
results.
By now, those people think I’m crazy.
A new doctor might have listened. But there’s no hope for that
now.
It’s a real problem, unlike whatever narrative Claire has constructed in her mind.
Still, it’s extremely uncomfortable to be accused of sleeping around for money with this many sleezy, questionably moral men staring at me.
People whisper and Claire sneers. “We’ll see about that! I’ve already notified security.”
I just smile and wait. When security comes, they approach me, not
Claire.
The guard looks apologetic and says, “Miss, I’m so sorry. We confirmed that your donation is right. Thank you for your generosity. Is this woman bothering you?”
Hearing security speak so respectfully to me, Claire’s face turns a deep shade of angry red.
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Around us, people start to whisper.
“What is that girl doing, causing a scene here?”
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“Ha! I bet she just did it because she’s jealous. Goddess, look how
beautiful the woman in blue is. She’s flawless!”
“Isn’t that other one Cassian Blackwell’s spoiled cousin? Why is she messing with some random woman?”
“Random? She looks familiar, doesn’t she…?”
“It just goes to show that wealth doesn’t mean someone has
class.”
At the whispers, Claire’s face gets even redder.
I smirk and say, “Do you still think I slept my way in here, Claire?”
“It wasn’t me!” Claire bursts out. “It was Reyna! She told me how poor you are! You even quit your job. There’s no way you can have the money to be here…”
Reyna, who’s standing off to one side, looks startled at Claire’s words. She puts a look of sympathy on her face.
I could tell it was fake, but that was only from a lifetime of dealing with my half–sister.
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I almost feel bad for Claire. She has no idea what a snake Reyna really is.
“Oh, Claire,” Reyna says in her softest, kindest voice. “I told you some unfortunate things about Gemma’s past. I never said she
couldn’t afford to be here.”
Reyna looks practically angelic standing there, and I want to laugh, but I don’t.
Of course, everyone is going to believe her. Of course, she set Claire up to embarrass me and threw her under the bus when it
failed.
From Claire’s face, I would bet that Reyna had just outright
lied. She probably had told Claire I for sure had slept my way in, knowing Claire is too stupid to keep that kind of thing to herself.
Then I watch as Reyna falls silent, leaving Claire to fend for
herself.
Claire wails, stomps, and runs from the crowd. It looks like she’s making a beeline for the bathroom.
As she departs, Reyna says, “My goodness. I apologize everyone. It looks like I’ve accidentally made a scene!”
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Everyone laughs and the crowd disperses except for Reyna. I look
at her and say, “You know, if you keep betraying people like that, one day you’re going to lose everything.”
The innocence doesn’t fall from Reyna’s face for a single second as she says, “Gemma, I have no idea what you mean.”
Then she leaves, too.
“That was…interesting.” Jace walks to my side.
I sigh. My feet throb, so I take his offered arm and lean on it.
“Yeah,” I say. “I think it’s time to get out of here.”
But as we walk toward the door, someone grabs me and wrenches me around.
I bite back a scream.
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