Adopted to Biological? Keep Your Golden Child Scapegoat Out novel Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The crystal chandelier in the hotel ballroom made my head spin, its refracted light bouncing off my camera lens and casting my tense profile in sharp relief.

Lily, one of my assistants, was crouched on the floor unpacking equipment.

The plastic latches snapped open with crisp little clicks, but they couldn’t drown out the panic churning in my chest.

I should’ve known. Sienna’s wedding-how the hell was I supposed to avoid them?

“Scarlett?”

A sharp female voice jabbed through the air like a needle. My hand froze mid-grip on the camera.

When I turned around, Sienna’s wedding gown swept across the top of my shoe, the pearl embellishments scraping painfully against my foot.

Her fingers clutched the hem of her dress so tightly they’d gone white.

Her eyes were wide with disbelief, like I was some kind of filth that had just crawled in uninvited.

Freddie stood behind her. One of his cufflinks was undone. When his eyes landed on me, he flinched-like he’d been burned-and immediately looked away toward the dessert table.

“Who the hell let you in here?” Sienna took a step forward, her voice climbing loud enough to draw stares from nearby guests.

“I need a photographer for my wedding, not some nobody who can’t even hold down a real job.”

Lily frowned and started to step forward. I tugged lightly on her sleeve.

My fingers brushed the camera strap. The cold touch helped me pull myself together.

“The client hired me.”

“The client*?” Sienna laughed-sharp, mocking. “The clients are my parents. You think they’d hire you? The ungrateful bitch who hasn’t come home in ten years?”

Her words hit like a hammer. Dull. Heavy. Brutal.

I thought back to when I was twelve. I’d knelt in front of her, begging her not to tell Mom and Dad about my diary. She’d laughed just like this and said, “You were always extra baggage anyway.”

Then I heard familiar footsteps at the entrance.

Mom and Dad walked in. Mom wore a dark red gown, her pearl necklace sitting crooked at her collar. Dad’s tie hung loose and sloppy around his neck.

Chapter 5

When Mom saw me, she stopped for a second. Her expression flickered-complicated, unreadable-before she turned to

Sienna.

“We hired Scarlett. She’s good at what she does. And affordable.”

Sienna whipped around to glare at her. “Mom? Have you lost your mind? She’s-”

“She’s your sister.” Dad cut her off. His tone was flat. He still didn’t look at me-like I was some irrelevant stranger.

“The wedding’s about to start. Don’t make a scene.”

Sienna’s face flushed an ugly shade of red. Then she turned back to me, her eyes venomous.

“Good at what she does? Please. She just plays around with a camera to scrape by. Mom and Dad raised you for eighteen years. You didn’t come home for ten! And now you take a little money and act all high and mighty? Did you forget who bought you dresses when you were little? Who paid for your preschool?”

Her voice got louder and louder. The murmurs around us grew with it.

My knuckles went white around the camera. I waited for Mom or Dad to say something-anything. Even just “Don’t talk to her

like that.”

But Mom just turned her head away, staring at the macarons on the dessert table. Dad pulled out a pack of cigarettes, then shoved it back into his pocket, irritated.

All he said was, “Sienna, don’t hold up the wedding.”

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