Chapter l240

Chapter 0240

The evening of the fundraising gala, Elva and I changed into our glistening golden dresses and waited in the parlor with the other candidates for Nathan to come and bring us to the event.

We stood near Susie for a while, but she was distracted. She had prepared notecards for her pitch, as well as some responses to questions she might be asked. She read through them aloud, over and over.

“I’ll hide them up my sleeve if I have to,” she said, when I asked her about them.

Elva twisted and turned, catching light on her puffy shirts. Then she tried to catch it with her hands. She

giggled at her own antics. “So pretty…” she whispered to herself.

“Piper. Speak with us.”

I glanced up to see Veronica approaching, with Tiffany close behind.

My nerves spiked, and I worried they had seen Jane again. But when I looked closer at Tiffany, she

wasn’t carrying her tension in quite the same way she had the previous two times she approached me.

This time, she seemed more excited than anxious.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked, forcing myself calm.

“How we should split Julian’s time during the gala,” Tiffany said. The two came to stand before Elva and

“Splitting his time evenly would be the most logical,” Veronica said. “We will already be competing with

each other in our pitches to the benefactors. It would be fruitless to compete for Julian’s attention as

well.”

“Plus, bickering amongst ourselves won’t look good to the benefactors,” Tiffany added. “Not to mention,

the uncomfortable position it would put Julian in.”

Veronica gave a quick, curt nod. “Julian shouldn’t need to trouble himself with that.”

I stared at them both in disbelief. Compared to Linda, Lilliana, Olivia, and almost every other candidate ! had dealt with, aside from Susie, these two genuinely seemed to have Julian’s best intentions at heart,

even more than their own.

I couldn’t help but be in awe of them, as well as incredibly grateful that they were the ones I was working

with now. At least, in part.

Across the room, Lilliana and Olivia were in a conversation of their own, all fake smiles and dagger-

I doubted this same conversation with them would go half so well.

“Piper, you take the first hour with Julian,” Veronica said. “Then Tiffany. Then me.”

Tiffany and I both agreed.

“May the best candidate win,” Tiffany said.

Veronica looked at her. “I intend to,” she said, deadpan. A tense moment passed, but then the edge of

her l*p curled up into a smile. She’d been joking.

Tiffany immediately burst into a laugh.

I smiled too, just a little. One of my few real smiles since Jane held a knife to my throat. I knew I would

have to smile a lot tonight, to win over the benefactors, so I had been practicing in the mirror, trying to

find the smile that looked the most convincing.

It was nice not to have to fake it, even if only for a passing moment.

Not long after, Nathan came into the room to collect us, and we were being herded to the ballroom.

As with each of the previous balls, each candidate was announced and led down the stairs. When it was

our turn, I lifted Elva into my arms and carried her. As soon as she reached the bottom, she squirmed to

be let down. I complied but made her hold my hand instead.

“I don’t want to hold hands.”

“You have to,” I said. “Those are the rules.”

“What rules?”

She seemed cranky tonight. I wondered if she was getting enough sleep.

“We talked about this, Elva. It’s unsafe to let go of Mommy’s hand.”

Elva pouted but didn’t argue. She hung her arm like a wet noodle, perhaps her last line of defiance. I could hold her hand even if she didn’t put any effort in, so I didn’t mind.

As per the agreement with the other candidates selected by Julian, I began to search him out in the

ballroom. He found me first, suddenly appearing at my side.