Chapter 5

"I don’t care, I’m waiting here anyway," Denise said before hanging up. Well, Lily was her ride-or-die after all. About ten minutes later, Denise finally saw Lily heading over. "Oh my god, girl! What are you even wearing? Is that a man’s shirt?! Don’t tell me you got laid last night, Denise!" Lily stared at her like she’d seen a ghost. Denise had known Lily would show up. "Close enough. Vivian and Arthur drugged me and set me up." "Seriously?! That’s messed up. Okay, Vivian being evil I get—she's your stepmom and all—but Arthur's your real dad! How can he even sleep at night?" Lily was fuming. As Denise's bestie, she really felt her pain. "What can I do, right? Anyway, weren’t you supposed to be in Cynthia’s class? How’d you manage to bail?" "I have my ways. Told her I had a 'stomachache' and needed the bathroom." "And then poof, disappeared down the toilet, huh?" "Exactly. Otherwise, people would be side-eyeing you right now like you just walked off a scandal set in that outfit." Denise found a public restroom to change into Lily’s spare clothes. Luckily, they were pretty much the same size. "So, what now?" Lily asked, pulling a face. "What else? Suck it up and move on. You should go back to class though, or Cynthia might actually send people to fish you out of a toilet." "You're so annoying," Lily muttered as she turned to leave. Denise wandered down the street alone, heading slowly toward the Montgomery house. That ache in her chest hadn’t gone away. Her own father did this to her. She had a half-sister—why couldn't they throw Samantha Montgomery at Mr. Donovan instead? Why her? Thinking about everything she went through last night, Denise clenched her fists. She swore she'd get her revenge one day. No more letting them walk over her. When she finally got home, the whole family was waiting. "Oh wow, look who finally decided to come back," Samantha said with a smug grin. Her half-sister couldn’t sound more fake. "You useless girl! You’ve got some nerve showing your face after what you pulled last night!" Arthur roared the second he saw her. "You’re my father! How could you?! Just for a bit of money, you literally sold me off? Disgusting!" Denise shouted back, heart broken all over again. Smack! Arthur slapped her hard. "Ungrateful brat! I gave you life—least you can do is repay me! Mr. Donovan fancied you, and you repaid him with a smashed ashtray to the head?! You trying to ruin me?" All Arthur cared about was his precious contract. "Exactly! Denise, do you even consider the consequences of your actions? Thanks to you, Mr. Donovan canceled the deal and swore he’d never work with our company again!" Vivian chimed in, delighted to throw gasoline on the fire. She was just dying for Arthur to beat the crap out of Denise. “Someone get the belt! I’ll teach this wretch a lesson today!” "I'm your daughter. If I'm a wretch, then what does that make you?" Denise shot back, eyes cold. She was past caring. Before, she would've stayed quiet. Not anymore.