The Rejected True Heiress (Liora) novel Chapter 40

“Bianca should’ve never let you get away with that attitude,” the lip gloss girl finally spat, chest heaving.” You’re a disgrace. To this school. To her.”

Ah. There it was.

So it was Bianca.

I grabbed the closest girl by the arm and shoved her just hard enough to send her flying out of my stall, stumbling straight into the sink.

“Tell her I said thanks,” I muttered. “And that she can keep it coming.”

The girl blinked. “What?”

“You hit like a chihuahua. And Bianca yaps like one. Must be contagious.“.

Her lip curled. She froze.

“You little wretch!” she shrieked, grabbing a mop bucket from the corner and flinging its contents at me.

Filthy water hit like a cold, filthy wave.

She tossed the bucket down with a bang. “Ugh, come on, Bridget!” she barked, storming out with her friend close behind.

The bathroom door slammed shut, leaving me alone in the stall, dripping. I took a slow breath. My hair was soaked and clinging to my neck. My clothes stuck to my back. I smelled like wet grout and questionable choices.

“Gross,” I muttered.

“Gross,” someone echoed.

My head snapped up.

Bianca stood there by the mirrors, arms folded, hair gleaming like a perfect pageant queen, smug as a

snake in satin.

“You look terrible,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Per usual.”

I peeled a chunk of something unidentifiable from my sleeve and dropped it to the tiles.

Bianca leaned against the sink like she owned the plumbing. “You know, I always imagined you’d look better with your ego rinsed off.”

I didn’t answer right away, just stoof up, water dripping from my hair like I was about to crawl out of a well and haunt someone. Preferably her.

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Chapter 40

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“Enjoy your little stunt?” I asked, voice flat.

She blinked. “Stunt?”

“You know,” I gestured to the mop water still puddling at my feet: “The whole ‘release the hounds‘ bit. Sending half the school after me like I insulted your designer lineage.”

She clicked her tongue. “I mean, yes I am enjoying the show. But Liora, please.” She turned, touching up her lipgloss in the mirror. “Do I look like someone who would waste actual effort on you?”

“Yes,” I said immediately.

Her eyes narrowed, lips twitching at the corners. “Cute.”

“Not really.” I moved to the sink next to her, squeezing out my hair. “But if you’re going to orchestrate a school–wide bullying campaign, maybe next time, be a little less obvious.”

“Darling,” she purred, brushing invisible lint off her already–perfect sleeve. “I wish I could take credit for this. Really. But unfortunately for both of us-” She leaned in, eyes glinting. “-I didn’t do it.”

I stared at her.

She smirked.

“No offense, but if I wanted to break you,” she said softly, “you’d be broken.”

I folded my arms. “So who was it then? Your little minions don’t breath without your permission.”

Bianca’s grin grew wider. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would, actually.”

She tilted her head, faux innocent. “You really don’t know?”

“Bianca.”

She clicked her tongue again, slow, savoring it.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she whispered, leaning in like she was about to share a secret. “It wasn’t me who gave

the order.”

I frowned. Her perfume was hitting my nose like a brick.

“It was Callum.”

The name hit like a slap, faster than the girls had been. I didn’t flinch, but something in my gut twisted.

“Liar.”

My mind instantly went back to him in the moonlight, the way he looked smiling at my dry jokes. He

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Chapter 40

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wouldn’t.

She laughed, a delicate, delighted little thing. “Oh, I’m many things. But not about this.”

I said nothing.

She stepped back, straightening her posture, giving me one final glance like she was dusting me off her shoes. “Callum pitied you, that’s all it ever was. But even that has limits. He’s exhausted, Liora–tired of you dragging him into scandal after scandal, like it’s some twisted hobby of yours. He’s trying to restore his pack’s honor and there you are, clinging to him like some tragic charity case. Don’t you ever stop to think how selfish it is? Him fighting with his parents over… you? Honestly, if you had even a sliver of dignity, you’d do the right thing–for once–and disappear.”

With that, she turned on her heel and left the bathroom, hair swaying like the wind could reach it through

these walls.