The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress

After Kali was taken away, Quentin sat on the couch, his face clouded with anger. He never would have imagined that the girl he'd grown up with could change so much.

Sure, the Glenwood family's bankruptcy had affected her, but that couldn't be the whole story.

Quentin couldn't help but feel disappointed in her. Still, because of their shared childhood, he didn't have it in him to truly blame her.

The next morning, just as Quentin was about to tell Theo about what had happened, news arrived from the old manor-something had happened to his father.

When Quentin rushed over, he watched helplessly as the police led his father away in handcuffs. Fury and panic surged through him, the veins on his forehead standing out as he pointed at the officers.

"What right do you have to arrest my dad?"

"Dad!" he shouted, his voice cracking with desperation.

"Quentin, don't do anything stupid!" Theo grabbed him tightly, holding him back.

Quentin stilled for only a second. Then, as if something had just struck him, he shook off Theo's hand and stared at him, his voice low and grim. "Citrine Carmichael. It was her, wasn't it?"

"It was all her doing," he said, his eyes reddening.

Theo hesitated, unsure what to say.

In their previous lives, Citrine hadn't gone after the Mirage Cay incident, largely because Quentin hadn't pressed it. But in this life, she'd taken down the Glenwood family first.

The Aldridge and Cooper families had been closely tied to Glenwood for years; calling them partners in crime wasn't far off. For all they knew, those two families might have been involved in Mirage Cay as well. If that was true, it was only a matter of time before they followed Glenwood's fate.

After a long silence, Theo finally asked, "Your family was involved in Mirage Cay too, weren't they?"

He knew almost nothing about his family's business dealings, but he was all

Vermillion Vanguard had taken down Mirage Cay, exposing all the horrors that had been committed there over the years.

everything made sense. Quentin's face went

put profit above everything else, it was easy to believe he'd be capable of

was true, their family was

had called

had fallen under Citrine's spell, this was the first time the three of them had gathered

as Hastings arrived, Quentin cut to the chase. "Was your family involved

his family's business. When he'd first found out about the dealings with Mirage Cay, he'd warned his father again and again to cut ties,

had befallen the Cooper family didn't surprise

moment's

suddenly lit up with an idea

looked at Hastings intently.

family

Tryto set

This scandal is way too big," Hastings replied with a weary shake of

stand by and watch as our families get thrown

eyes. "You do the crime, you pay the

the one who

she'd led people overseas to bring down Mirage Cay, not that she'd

things Citrine had said before, and nodded

his fists, anger rising.

when Theo caught his arm, voice stern. "Don't