(Olivia)
Standing there with Derek, a small part of me still couldn’t get rid of the shock from all he’d just told me.
His being the heir to Stone Industries was a twist I hadn’t expected, but it made sense now. The way he always carried himself, so confident and put together, was suddenly less of a mystery. But while I was still thinking about it, my mind drifted to something else.
Derek had suggested I invite my adoptive family to the ball. It seemed like a dream a way to show them I wasn’t the nobody they’d treated me like all those years.
I hadn’t thought about them much since leaving. But standing here, with all this excitement around this new life, the idea of inviting them made me feel… torn.
I wanted them to see me as I was now, but I didn’t want their judgment to taint it,
