The Heiress Strikes Back

The maid's daughter was parading around in my diamond necklace, passing herself off as me.

In the nightmare I just snapped awake from, she used that exact piece of jewelry to package herself as a high-society heiress and climb straight into my fianc's bed.

She bankrupted my family trust.

She left me to rot on the streets.

My nails dig into my palms until the skin turns white. The dream is over. There is no way in hell I am letting that trash happen.

Chapter 1

I open my eyes, my stomach twisting into a tight, nauseating knot. Just flashing back to that bizarre nightmare makes me want to dry-heave over the side of my mattress.

What a joke. Me? Falling for a toxic player like Pierce? Fighting off other girls over him like some desperate pick-me?

Pathetic.

The guy is a walking red flag. He hooks up with anything that breathes and practically parades his flavor of the week right in front of my face. Thanks to him, every ex he's ever had treats me like public enemy number one.

It's been an exhausting nightmare for years. Honestly, just seeing his face makes my skin crawl.

And then there's Everly

My train of thought snaps. The housekeeper, Wanda, clears her throat from the doorway. "Miss Astrid, my Everly just transferred to the local private Ivy League prep school. Could she temporarily move into the detached guest house in your backyard?"

I lift my gaze to Wanda. She shifts her weight, offering a tight smile that barely hides her entitlement. I don't give her an immediate answer. She's worked for my family for years; she knows how I operate.

With my parents constantly traveling for business, I basically have the entire estate to myself. By normal logic, I wouldn't have a solid reason to shoot her down.

But then the nightmare flashes behind my eyes again.

In that dream, Wanda's precious daughter was a walking disaster zone. Once she moved in, she practically made a sport out of breaking priceless family heirlooms. She even trashed that million-dollar custom Steinway grand piano because she couldn't keep her sticky fingers to herself.

And if I demanded she pay for the damages? She'd just widen her eyes and play the innocent victim, making me look like the wicked witch. Not to mention the way she'd stare at my jewelry box, her eyes practically drooling with greed. Being watched like a hawk every single day wore me down until I finally tossed her an old, unworn diamond necklace just to get her to stop staring.

I'd just grabbed it at random. But of course, that single piece of jewelry became her golden ticket to tricking half the city into thinking she was old money. Is that what they call main character energy? Hard pass.

Dream or no dream, there is zero chance I'm letting Everly step foot on this property. My family might have cash to burn, but I am not running a charity for ungrateful freeloaders.

"Wanda, I don't like strangers living in my space."

She doesn't back down. "My Everly is such a good girl, Miss Astrid. It would only be temporarily just for a few years."

Temporarily? A few years? The sheer audacity of this woman.

I cross my arms, holding her gaze. "Wanda, what is your monthly salary here?"

She blinks, clearly thrown off by the sudden pivot. I raise an eyebrow, waiting.

She swallows hard. "Ten thousand dollars"

"Ten grand a month. Is that not enough to cover your living expenses?" I ask, my tone turning sharp.

"You already rent a perfectly fine apartment in the city. Why are you so hell-bent on shoving your daughter into my backyard?"

Wanda's expression sours. She pinches her lips together, going dead silent.

I drop my hands and turn to walk away, but she finally cracks.

"Miss Astrid, I'm just terrified my daughter will feel inferior living in a regular apartment while going to that elite school," she pleads, her voice dripping with artificial desperation. "I'm swallowing my pride to beg you. Please, just let her stay on the estate."

I bite my tongue to stop from laughing. The absolute nerve of this woman.

Inferior? Because she lives in a normal apartment? Who does she think she is, American royalty?

I lock eyes with her, my voice dropping an octave. "Don't bother coming in tomorrow. You've only worked half the month, but I'll have the accountant cut you a check for the full four weeks. Consider the rest severance pay while you job-hunt."

Wanda's jaw practically hits the marble floor. "W-what? Why?"

My gaze cuts right through her. "You think I don't know you've been clearing out my walk-in closet?"

"I I just saw you weren't wearing them anymore" Wanda stammers, her fingers twisting nervously into her apron. "I only took them back for my Everly"

"Whether I wear them or let them rot in the dark is my business. You don't just steal from me." I step closer, invading her space.

"Wanda, you've worked for my family for years. I turned a blind eye when you lifted my haute couture. But right now, you are going to pack your things and get the hell out, or I am calling the estate's armed security to drag you off the property."

Realizing I'm not playing games, Wanda pales, scrambles back, and rushes down the hall to pack her bags.

The vivid scenes from my nightmare still pulse in the back of my skull. I don't know if firing her based on a dream makes me crazy, but the woman's greed was already out of control. I refuse to keep a parasite under my roof.

Chapter 2

"Astrid, weekend yacht party, you in?" Pierce leaned against his flashy convertible, blocking my path on the tree-lined avenue of our private university.

I don't smoke, and the smell of the cigarette dangling from his lips instantly triggered a headache. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Busy."

His tone carried that trademark arrogance. "Make time."

In his dreams. My schedule is packed back-to-back with prep courses and campus commitments. I don't have a single second to waste on his games.

"Seriously, no."

"Fine. When are you free?"

I didn't even look at him. "Try next year."

"Right, right. Miss Astrid is too elite for us peasants."

I rolled my eyes, ignoring the bait. It takes serious dedication for a guy to stay this obnoxious from childhood all the way to college. God knows what trip he's on today.

"Save your toxic Alpha routine and move. I have things to do." I couldn't be bothered to deal with him, using my iced shaken espresso to shove him aside and keep walking.

I honestly cannot fathom why my dream-self fell for Pierce. He doesn't check a single box for me.

His personality is a trainwreckcall him "edgy" if you want to be polite, but mostly he's just an arrogant jerk. More importantly, I like my guys clean-cut and grounded. Pierce doesn't even exist in the same zip code as those words.

Once I finally ditched him, I spotted someone who actually hit my aesthetic right on the mark.

Silas. The rumored psychotic mastermind who controlled Wall Street's underground capital, supposedly possessing a sick and fatal obsession with me, the supporting character.

Silas and I have shared classes for three years, and we've probably exchanged fewer than ten words. I have no idea how or why he supposedly fell for me in that nightmare.

Apparently, he even launched a ruthless, scorched-earth revenge campaign against Pierce, all in my name. As for how it ended, I have no clue.

The "author" of my dream apparently dropped the plot before the finale. Makes sense. With a setup that unhinged, who knows how to wrap it up?

Wait. He doesn't even live in this neighborhood.

While I was spacing out, a sudden weight hit me. Someone wrapped their arms tightly around my waist. I snapped my head up. Silas.

He held onto me, his voice shockingly intimate. "Astrid"

My muscles tensed. I pushed hard against his chest, breaking the contact. "What are you doing?"

Panic flashed across Silas's face. He stepped closer. "Astrid, it's me. Silas."

I sucked in a sharp breath, fighting the sudden urge to slap him across the face. "I know who you are."

The light in his eyes dimmed, then ignited again. "It's fine. At this point in the timeline, you haven't fallen for me yet."

The statement was pure madness. But my brain caught up immediately. I'm supposed to fall for him in the future.

I deadpanned, giving him a massive eye roll.

Silas caught my reaction, an urgent edge bleeding into his voice.

"Astrid, I came back from the future."

Wow. The universe really is just a giant simulation. I just dreamt I was living inside a trashy novel, so a time-traveling Silas wasn't off the table.

Butentertaining the thought is one thing. Giving him the satisfaction is another.

I smiled, nodding slowly. "I believe you." Watching his face light up, I flipped the script.

Silas's smile shattered. He swallowed hard, his jaw tight.

"I know it's a lot to process. That's okay. I just need you near me."

Right. Was this a new pickup line? Hard pass.

"Are you are you close with Pierce?" Silas asked, his jaw tight.

I offered a fake, plastic smile and took a deliberate step back. "Our families have done business together for decades. We grew up at the same country clubs. What do you think?"

I might despise Pierce, but on paper, our families were deeply tied.

The color drained from Silas's face. "I don't want to micromanage your social circle, I just" His voice trailed off, his shoulders slumping. He looked exactly like a kicked golden retriever.

I checked my watch, then glanced back at him. "Do you have anything else to say?"

He opened his mouth, closed it, and finally shook his head. "No."

"Great. I'm leaving." I had a spot reserved at the campus library, and I wasn't wasting another second standing on the sidewalk.

"Astrid, where are you going?"

I froze. Wait. Wasn't Silas supposed to be some untouchable, ice-cold mastermind?

Why was he acting like a stage-five clinger? Did his entire personality factory reset?

"I'll go with you."

I scoffed, flashing him another heavy glare, and kept walking.

"I just want to be around you a little longer," he said, his voice dropping into this pathetic, wounded tone. "Just let me look at you."

What the hell was that face? He was looking at me like I had dumped him at the altar or was about to drop dead tomorrow.

Having a guy like Silas stare at me with that much intensity sent a shiver straight down my spine. Time to abort.

I stopped playing games and delivered the rejection point-blank. "Silas, I'm not into you."

He didn't even flinch. "That's fine. I'm into you enough for both of us." There was actual bounce in his voice.

Confirmed. Silas had lost his mind over me. It really wasn't my job to give him life advice, but since he was currently orbiting me like a lost satellite, I threw him a bone. "Being desperate is a bad look, but being a spineless Simp is even worse."

Silas just laughed, unfazed. "You're amazing when you're ruthless, Astrid."

I let out a harsh breath. Forget it. A simp is going to simp. There is no saving him.

Chapter 3

Over the next few days, Silas stuck to me like a stage-five clinger. When move-in day finally hit, I breezed through registration and grabbed my duffels.

Silas immediately reached for the straps, but I slapped his hand away. Hard pass. We aren't related, and we aren't dating; there is zero chance I'm letting some guy waltz into an all-girls suite.

I had just pushed open the door to our top-tier four-person suite when I heard someone haughtily announcing from atop a plush French velvet sofa: "Listen up. I'm Everly, the sole heir to the Lin and Song family trusts."

Wait. Did her main-character programming glitch out? In my nightmare, Everly never outright claimed to be an heiress.

She just strategically kept her mouth shut whenever people jumped to conclusions. That calculated silence was exactly why everyone bought her act hook, line, and sinker by the finale.

Now she's just screaming it from the rooftops? Bold strategy.

I froze, my hand hovering over the brass doorknob.

Click. The door swung fully open. Everly's monologue snapped shut. The air in the suite instantly flatlined.

Everly launched the first strike. She glared at methe rude intruder ruining her main character momentand rolled her eyes so hard I thought she might check out her own brain. "Is your outfit literal trash from the Walmart clearance bin?"

I glanced down at my clothes, then let my gaze slowly drag up Everly's outfit. The dress she was wearing? A designer piece I bought last season, wore twice, and tossed to the back of my walk-in closet.

No diamond necklace, though. Makes sense. Without access to the estate, she never had the chance to swipe my jewelry box.

Catching my stare, Everly preened, her chin tilting up. "Like it? My mom picked out this custom couture for me. Cost about twenty grand."

Correctionyour mom stole it while vacuuming my rugs.

I didn't even waste breath on a response. I just mirrored her massive eye roll, dumped my bags on an empty mattress, and started unpacking.

Apparently, my silence wasn't enough attention for her. Everly raised her voice, dragging out the vowels. "Just a heads-up, girls, I have a ton of high-value designer items. Don't let me catch any of you trying to steal my stuff~"

Cleo glanced at me, then shifted her razor-sharp gaze to Everly. The corner of her lip curled upward. "Knockoff," Cleo scoffed.

Cleo and I moved in the same elite circles. We weren't best friends, but we knew exactly who was who.

Everly flinched, the color draining from her face. Her face flushed a patchy red. "Excuse me? Do you know who I am? You"

"Am I supposed to be terrified?" Cleo cut her off effortlessly. She arched a manicured brow and threw a knowing glance my way. "Right, Astrid?"

No one else had even said a word, but Everly's eyes instantly welled up with tears. Her voice pitched into a breathless, injured whine.

"You two know each other? You're literally ganging up to bully me! What did I even do?"

In my nightmare, Everly's whole profile relied on that icy, unbothered heiress facade. Deep down, she was supposed to be cripplingly insecure with a glass ego, crying the second someone chipped her armor.

Right now? I wasn't seeing insecurity, and I definitely wasn't seeing any pride. Just the heavy, toxic stench of a classic manipulative Mean Girl playing the victim card.

"Astrid, your name is Astrid, right?" While Cleo and Everly were facing off, Willow tapped me on the shoulder and shoved her iPhone into my hand. "Your photo just blew up on the campus anonymous gossip app. Half the Alpha frat guys are literally posting bounties for your Insta handle!"

[Major tea: The new Alpha sorority pledge is literal queen behavior. She's got that killer porcelain skin and flawless curves]

Honestly, I know they were talking about me, but the hype was crossing into borderline unhinged territory. I scrolled down a few swipes and hit a post authored by none other than Everly. She made it so painfully obvious. The headline read:

[The new freshman is unreal. Definitely takes the crown for rush week. An absolute 10/10 even without makeup! Just a random bystander posting this tbh! Everly]

Below the caption was a grid of Everly's heavily filtered, full-glam, strategically angled thirst traps.

I almost choked on a laugh. What "random bystander" facetunes a stranger's photos to oblivion? The filters were cranked so high, you wouldn't be able to pick her out of a police lineup.

Chapter 4

Today, like clockwork, Silas was glued to my side in the dining hall. My phone buzzed against the table.

It was a call from Pierce: "Coming to the pool party tonight? I'll introduce you to my new girlfriend."

Pierce had this sick obsession with parading his new flavors of the week in front of me, even though they all crashed and burned within days. Seriously once a trash bag, always a trash bag.

I had zero time to entertain his pathetic mind games. I opened my mouth to shoot him down, but Silas beat me to it. He leaned into the mic. "She's busy."

The line went dead silent for a second before Pierce snapped through the speaker, disbelief dripping from every word. "You're seeing someone? Who the hell is it?"

"You dare cheat on me? Finejust wait. Where are you right now?"

I stared at the screen. The guy was clinically insane