The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress novel Chapter 15

They'd known each other forever—Alicia was that childhood friend she and Jeanette had grown up with.

Truth was, Alicia and she had been at odds since they were kids.

If anything, things were even worse now.

Watching Alicia stalk toward her, cheeks flushed with anger, Citrine couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Alicia demanded, her voice tight, as if she'd just landed a punch on a pillow.

Citrine watched Alicia struggling to keep her temper in check and thought, not without a trace of contempt, Still as clueless as ever. What a waste of energy—getting riled up over nothing.

She didn't bother to sugarcoat her words. "You've been runner-up for as long as anyone can remember, and yet you still have time to meddle in our business."

"If you really have that much free time, maybe you should hit the books and finally shake off your second-place streak."

Alicia's jaw clenched. Being called "runner-up" was the one thing she couldn't stand; it made her blood boil.

But as she remembered the rumors swirling around the school forums, her expression softened, if only a little.

"Citrine, after all those nasty things you've done, you've already been kicked out of the Iverson family."

"It's only a matter of time before you're expelled from Primus Academy, too. I can't wait to see how smug you'll be then."

Alicia spat out the words through gritted teeth, already savoring the thought of Citrine's downfall.

Without the Iverson name, let's see how arrogant you can be.

Having said her piece, Alicia finally felt a bit better.

Citrine, however, just kept on smiling—cool, unbothered.

"Without the Iverson family, I'm still me. And as for being expelled? That's never going to happen."

In fact, Citrine thought, losing the Iverson family would only make her stronger.

In her previous life, she'd done everything to protect the Iversons, never once thinking about herself, giving up so much along the way.

Achievements, recognition—those things had never mattered. The only thing she'd ever longed for was the faintest trace of familial affection, so slight it barely existed.

Raymond couldn't even imagine how she'd managed to escape from that place.

Even he, as an adult, felt a shudder of fear at the thought of it.

Adler, his assistant, had never seen the boss this furious. Internally cursing the Iversons, Adler forced himself to continue with the report.

"Miss Citrine only managed to escape after she turned fourteen. We haven't been able to uncover anything about what happened after that."

He hesitated, then added, "It's possible someone deliberately erased all traces of her life abroad during those years."

Raymond nodded. "Makes sense. If someone went to the trouble of wiping Citrine's records overseas, there's no way we'd be able to dig anything up."

"All right. You can go now."

Once Adler had left, Raymond stepped to the floor-to-ceiling window and lit a cigarette.

He'd grown up in an unhappy home himself and had never planned on marrying or having children.