Chapter 4

Everyone began calling her "Princess." They fought to pick up her tab at lunch, and somehow, someone was always willing to "handle" her tedious data entry work for her.

Her Instagram followers skyrocketed—mostly colleagues from the company. The account was awash with fragments of the "high life": staged photos in high-end restaurants (the food barely touched), shots from behind holding a champagne flute (filled with cheap sparkling water, a budget brand I could identify just from the bubbles in the photo), and various unboxing videos of luxury goods.

The photo that angered me the most, however, was a selfie she took with our family’s Thoroughbred, "Storm." Storm was my grandfather's gift for my eighteenth birthday—a champion horse with a temperament so sensitive that no one was allowed near him except for me and his professional trainer.

That evening, lying with my head on Julian's lap, I showed him the pictures. He swiped through a few, visibly annoyed. "It seems someone has stolen your identity, darling. This isn't funny at all. How can she do this?"

"Such is human nature," I said, as Julian ran his fingers through my hair. I whispered comfortingly, "When a person craves something that doesn't belong to them, they begin to weave lies. But lies require more lies to support them, and eventually, the whole thing collapses."

"I think I should fire her."

"On what grounds?" I raised an eyebrow. "Because she brags on Instagram? The company doesn't have a policy prohibiting employees from exaggerating their personal lives. Unless she affects work, or..."

"Or what?"

"Or if she directly offends the real Miss Sterling." My eyes glimmered in the dim light.

"Do you want me to step in?"

I thought for a few seconds, then shook my head. "No, let me handle it. But promise me one thing—if she tries to involve you, you must tell me immediately."

Julian leaned down to kiss me. "I handle billions of dollars in transactions every day; do you really think I have time to entertain the fantasies of an intern?"

But I had underestimated Bella's ambition.